STRESS: A WORKING MODEL

Stress has been defined in three different ways: as a stimulus as a response, and as an interaction. When some people talk about stress, they are referring to an environmental stimulus, as in ‘I have a high-stress job.’ Other considers stress a physical response, as in ‘my heart races when I feel a lot of stress.’ Still other consider stress to result from the interaction between environmental stimuli and the person, as in ‘I feel stressed  when I have to make financial decisions at work, but other types of decisions do not stress me.’

 

Psychologists have contributed a lot to stress research included a concept of stress and a model for how the body defends itself in stressful condition. They conceptualized stress as a nonspecific response, repeatedly insisting that stress is a general Physical response caused by any of a number of environmental stressor. A wide variety of different situation could prompt the stress response, but that the response would always be the same.

 

The working model of stress we use in our approach to stress counseling is known as 'transactional'. This model provides a simple but realistic explanation of the complicated nature of stress as it addresses the inter-relationship between the internal and external world of individual.

 

In the model, the psychological processes are of fundamental importance. How
a person reacts to an event is more due to his or her perceptions of it and his or her perceived abilities to deal with it than the event or situation itself. Therefore, the event can be considered as a potential ‘trigger' to activate the stress response
but not necessarily the main cause of its activation. Once the event has passed,
the person may remain disturbed about it due to the action or interaction of
the different modalities. For example, individuals suffering from a chronic
form of stress, known as post-traumatic stress disorder, may repeatedly see
negative images of the event, may have many negative cognitions, may have
physiological symptoms of severe anxiety, and may avoid anything that reminds
them of the event. This response can still occur years after the stressful event.
In other cases, clients who suffer an apparently harmless life-event, such as the
death of a pet, become overwhelmed by immense grief, as the event takes on
another personal meaning; for example, anxiety about their own death or
memories of the loss of a close family member.

 

To help understand this transactional model, it can be broken down into five discrete stages.

 

In stage 1, a pressure is usually perceived by the individual to be emanating
from an external source in the environment, for example, having to meet an
important deadline. In fact, there are also day-to-day physiological and
psychological needs or demands an individual has in order to survive such as
food and water.

 

Stage 2, reflects the individuals perception of the pressure or demand and her
appraisal of her ability to deal with it. If the individual perceives that she can
cope, even if she is being unrealistic, then she may stay in the situation; for
example, working towards the deadline. If it happens that the person perceives
that she cannot cope, then at that moment she may experience stress. However,
added to this equation are social, family or cultural beliefs which the individual
may have absorbed into her belief system. Thus, if the individual believes that
she 'must' always perform well at work, any innocuous deadline may assume
great importance. In reality, the 'must' is an internal and not an external pressure
as the individual does not have to hold rigidly on to this belief.

 

In this stage, then, the individual decides whether she has the resources to cope
with the external and internal pressures of a specific situation. If she believes
that she can deal with the situation then her stress response is less likely to be
activated. However, if she perceives that she does not have the coping strategies
to deal with the situation then she progresses on to Stage 3 of the model.

 

In Stage 3, psycho-physiological changes occur. Taken together these comprise
what is generally known as the 'stress response". There is usually an emotion or
combination of emotions such as anxiety, anger or guilt. These emotions may have behavioral, sensory, imaginable, cognitive, interpersonal and physiological components. In addition, there will probably be behavioral and cognitive attempts to change the environment or escape from the situation and thereby reduce the pressure. However, like animals, some individuals have been known to freeze with fear, which is not always helpful.

 

Stage 4, relates to the consequences of the application of the coping strategies or responses of the individual. Once again, the individual's perception of the coping strategies applied is important. Consequently, if an individual believes that his intervention is not helping, he may picture himself as failing, which in itself, becomes an additional strain in the situation. Actual failure to meet the demand is also detrimental if the individual truly believes that the demand has
to be met in a satisfactory manner.

 

Stage 5,  is concerned with the feedback system. Interventions may be made by the individual, which may either reduce or alter the external and internal pressures. If this occurs, then the organism may return to a neutral state of equilibrium. However, if the interventions are ineffective, then the individual may experience prolonged stress. This has many psycho physiological consequences, which may even lead to mental breakdown or death in extreme cases. Death may be due to the prolonged effect of the stress hormones, adrenaline, noradrenaline and Cortisol, on the body.

 

Previous success in handling major stressful situations reinforces a person's belief in her ability to deal with any stress in the future. Individuals who have managed to cope with difficult life-events may view themselves as possessing coping skills which they can apply in similar situation. This is known as 'self-efficacy' and is a major cognitive component in the appraisal of future event as non-threatening and therefore not stressful. They may hold beliefs such as: 'I'm in
control.’ ‘I know I can do it,’ These will not be a problem, ‘This will be a challenge and not stressful.’ These beliefs often prevent the person from going beyond Stage 2 of our multimodal transactional model.

 

 

The General Adaptation Syndrome:

 

Among the many gifts showered by God on mankind, one is the ability of human body to cope with day-to-day stress. Before we make-up our conscious mind to manage stress, it’s our autonomic nervous system which comes to the rescue.

 

The body's generalized attempt to defend itself against stress is known as the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). This syndrome is divided into three stages, the first of which is the alarm reaction.

 

During alarm, the body’s defenses against a stressor are mobilized through activation of the sympathetic nervous system. This division activates body systems to maximize strength and prepares them for the ‘fight or flight response’. Adrenaline (epinephrine) is released, heart rate and blood pressure increase, respiration becomes faster, blood is diverted away from the internal organs toward the skeletal muscles, sweat glands are activated, and the gastrointestinal system decreases its activity. As a short-term response to an emergency situation, these physical reactions are adaptive. However, many modern stress situations involve prolonged exposure to stress, but do not require physical action.

 

The second phase of the GAS is the resistance stage. In this stage, the organism adapts to the stressor. How long this stage lasts depends on the severity of the stressor and the adaptive capacity of the organism. If the organism can adapt, the resistance stage will continue for a long time. During this stage, the person gives the outward appearance of normality, but physiologically, the body's internal functioning is not normal.

 

Continuing stress will cause continued neurological and hormonal changes. These demands take a toll, setting the stage for what is described as diseases of adaptation, those diseases related to continued, persistent stress. Among the diseases considered to be the result of prolonged resistance to stress are peptic ulcers and ulcerative colitis, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, hyperthyroidism, and bronchial asthma. In addition, resistance to stress would cause changes in the immune system, making infection more likely.

 

The capacity to resist stress is finite, and the final stage of the GAS is the exhausation stage. At the end, the organism’s ability to resist is depleted, and a breakdown results. This stage is characterized by-activation of the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Under normal circumstances, parasympathetic activation keeps the body functioning in a balanced state. In the exhaustion stage, however, functioning is at an abnormally low level to compensate for the abnormally high level of sympathetic activation that has preceded It. Exhaustion frequently results in depression and sometimes even death.

 

So let’s make a commitment with ourselves that we must make all the efforts to manage stress before it makes us its prey. In the next issue we will discuss how our thought process affects our day-to-day stress.  

 

 

Dr. H.S. Pal, is a leading Stress Management Consultant and author of Best seller book, ‘Tit For Tat to Treat For Tat’. He can be contacted at; drpal262@yahoo.com