Stress part 2

Neutrality of stressors[edit]
Stress is a non-specific response.[5] It is neutral, and what varies is the degree of response. It is all
about the context of the individual and how they perceive the situation. Selye defined stress as “the
nonspecific (that is, common) result of any demand upon the body, be the effect mental or
somatic.”[5] This includes the medical definition of stress as a physical demand and the colloquial
definition of stress as a psychological demand. A stressor is inherently neutral meaning that the
same stressor can cause either distress or eustress. It is individual differences and responses that
induce either distress or eustress.[9]

Types of stressors[edit]
A stressor is any event, experience, or environmental stimulus that causes stress in an individual.
[10]
 These events or experiences are perceived as threats or challenges to the individual and can be
either physical or psychological. Researchers have found that stressors can make individuals more
prone to both physical and psychological problems, including heart disease and anxiety.[11]
Stressors are more likely to affect an individual's health when they are "chronic, highly disruptive, or
perceived as uncontrollable".[11] In psychology, researchers generally classify the different types of
stressors into four categories: 1) crises/catastrophes, 2) major life events, 3) daily
hassles/microstressors, and 4) ambient stressors. According to Ursin (1988), the common factor
between these categories is an inconsistency between expected events ("set value") and perceived
events ("actual value") that cannot be resolved satisfactorily, [12] which puts stress into the broader
context of cognitive-consistency theory.[13]