ANGIRA GUPTA

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Stress & Stress Management

What is stress?

Stress is a term used to describe various mental and bodily pressures experienced or felt by
people throughout their lives.
Stress is defined as "a state of psychological and physiological imbalance resulting from
the disparity between situational demand and the individual's ability and motivation to
meet those needs."

Dr. Hans Selye, the main proponent of stress theory and concept of stress, described stress as
"the rate of all wear and tear caused by life."

According to Lazarus, stress is “a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives

that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize".

According to Folkman “stress is an internal state which can be caused by physical demand
or by environmental and social situations which are evaluated as potentially harmful,
uncontrollable or exceeding our resources for coping."

Stress can be positive or negative in nature. Stress acts as a good facilitator when the situation
gives an opportunity to the person. It acts as a motivator for our 100% performance. Stress
acts as a negative facilitator when that very particular person faces social, physical,
organizational and emotional issues and is not able to cope with those on hi/her own.

A simple definition that can be used is: Stress occurs when pressure exceeds your
perceived ability to cope.

Types of Stress:

There are 4 types of stress that people experience-

1) Eustress: The term used with ‘stress’ is from the Greek ‘Eu’ which means ‘Good’. It is a
type of stress that provides immediate strength. It arises at points of increased physical
activity, creativity and enthusiasm. It is a positive stress that arises when motivation and
inspiration are needed. Example: A gymnast experiences eustress before a competition.

2) Distress: It’s a negative stress brought about by constant readjustment or alteration in a

routine. It creates feelings of discomfort and unfamiliarity. There are two types of distress-
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● Acute stress: Acute stress is the most regular form of stress in our everyday life.
Acute stress deals with the pressures of the near future or dealing with the very recent
past. It is a very intense stress phenomenon that arrives and disappears very fast but is
able to do some amount of damage in one's life. Acute stress is a short-term stress and
as a result, does not result in a prolonged damage that long term stress causes.
● Chronic stress: Chronic stress is not like acute stress. It is a prolonged stress that
exists for weeks, months or even years. It has a dangerous effect on people that can
become a very serious health risk if it continues over a long period of time. Research
showed that chronic stress can lead to memory loss, damage in spatial recognition and
decrease appetite. The severity of the effects varies from person to person. In research
it has been seen that women are able to take longer durations of stress than men
without showing the same symptoms and affects. Men can deal with shorter stress
duration better but it's been seen that once males hit a certain threshold, the chances of
them developing mental health issues increases dramatically.

3) Hyper stress: It occurs when an individual is pushed beyond what he/she can handle.
Hyper stress results from being overloaded or overworked. When someone is hyper stressed,
even little things that go wrong in their life can trigger a strong emotional reaction.

4) Hypo stress: It is the opposite of hyper stress. It occurs when an individual is bored and
unchallenged. People who experience hypo stress are often restless and uninspired. A factory
worker who performs repetitive tasks, might experience hypo stress.

What Is A Stressor?

A stressor is a chemical, biological, or environmental condition, an external stimulus or an

event due to which stressful reactions are caused to an organism. Stressors have physical,
chemical and mental responses inside our body.
1. Physical stressors produce stresses on skin, bones, muscles and nerves. Chemical
stresses also produce biomechanical responses in the body metabolism and tissue
repair. Physical stressors may produce pain and impair our work performance.
2. Stressors may also affect brain functions. There are various stress hormones that
travel in the bloodstream to relevant organs that lead to our flight-or-fight response.
3. Mental and social stressors may also affect behavior and how individuals respond to
these stressors. Because of stressors one can have a mental breakdown or can adopt an
unhealthy living or start using alcohol/drugs.

What is GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome)?

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), is a term used to describe the body's short-term and
long-term reactions to stress. Physical stressors are like starvation, being hit by a car, or
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suffering through severe weather. Emotional or mental stressors like, loss of a loved one, the
inability to solve a problem, or even having a difficult day at work.
Originally described by Hans Selye (1907-1982), an Austrian born physician who gave the
general adaptation syndrome (GAS), a three-stage reaction to stress. Selye explained his
choice of terminology as follows: "I call this syndrome general because it is produced only
by agents which have a general effect upon large portions of the body. I call it adaptive
because it stimulates defense.... I call it a syndrome because its individual manifestations
are coordinated and even partly dependent upon each other."
Hans Selye thought that the general adaptation syndrome involved two major systems of the
body, the nervous system and the endocrine (or hormonal) system. He then explained
what he considered as three distinctive stages in the syndrome's evolution. He named these
three stages the alarm reaction (AR), the stage of resistance (SR), and the stage of
exhaustion (SE).

What Is Burnout?

Burnout is a syndrome of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion coupled with feelings
of low self-esteem or low self-efficacy caused by excessive and prolonged stress. When you
are overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet the demands. As the period of
stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain
role in the first place.
The term 'burnout' is a relatively new and first coined by Herbert Freudenberger in 1974 in
his book, Burnout: The High Cost Of High Achievement. He originally defined burnout as,
"the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one's devotion to a cause or
relationship fails to produce the desired result".
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It is characterized by three main domains:
● Exhaustion
● Cynicism
● Feeling of reduced professional ability

Symptoms of Stress:

Physical signs and symptoms of stress

● Feeling tired and drained most of the time

● Lowered immunity, getting sick a lot
● Frequent headaches or muscle pain
● Change in appetite or sleep habits

Emotional signs and symptoms of stress

● Sense of failure and self-doubt

● Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated
● Detachment, feeling alone in the world
● Loss of motivation
● Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
● Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment

Behavioral signs and symptoms of stress

● Withdrawing from responsibilities

● Isolating yourself from others
● Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done
● Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope
● Taking out your frustrations on other
● Skipping work or coming in late and leaving early

HOW TO MANAGE STRESS?

Take a break from the stressor: It can be difficult to get away from an enormous work
project, a crying baby or a growing bill with a good amount on it. But when you give yourself
permission to step away from it, then you also let yourself have time to do something else.
That something else can literally help you have a new perspective or practice techniques to
feel less overwhelmed with life. It's important to not avoid your stress but even just
20-minutes to take care of your mental and physical health is always helpful.
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Exercise: The research keeps growing - exercise benefits your mind even as well as your
body. There's a lot of long-term benefits of a regular exercise routine, that we know. In spite
of knowing so much about it we don't actually do any of that. But even a 20-minute walk,
run, swim or dance session can give an immediate effect that can last for several hours. Our
brains are interconnected with our emotions and facial expressions, so laughing can actually
help you reduce stress.

Get social support: Nowadays, in these busy lives we have forgotten to connect with people,
by that I mean connecting with real people and not over social media. Call a friend, if you
feel like, talk for hours, laugh about your naïve times or your college days, trust me that
helps. When you share your concerns or feelings with another person, it does help relieve
stress inside you as well as that person's too. But it's important that the person whom you talk
to is someone whom you trust and whom you feel can understand and validate you

Yoga: Yoga is an ancient group of physical, mental and spiritual practices, which mainly
originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Astika (orthodox) schools of Hindu
philosophical traditions. Yoga has been highly acclaimed worldwide. In the current times,
yoga has been used in various ways for psychological disorders. Yoga helps prevent stress
and related disorders. It relaxes the body and also helps increase the vital energy of the body.
It increases positive energy inside our body and removes toxins, which in a way helps our
body to cope with all the stressors around us.

Meditate: Meditation and mindfulness practice help the mind and body relax and focus.
Mindfulness can help people see new perspectives, develop self-compassion and forgiveness.
When practicing any form of mindfulness, people can release emotions that may have been
causing the body physical stress. Much like exercise, research has shown that even
meditating briefly can show immediate benefits in reducing stress.

Relaxation Techniques: Relaxation techniques are very useful ways of controlling stress.
These techniques are also used in therapy sessions. There are mainly 2 types of relaxation
techniques- Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique (JPMR) & Deep breathing
relaxation. Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a technique that reduces muscle
tension through a series of testing and relaxing exercises involving the major muscles in our
body. Deep breathing relaxation is a technique that uses deep breathing (inhale & exhale)
through the nose. By pulling and pushing the first abdomen and then chest the deep breathing
is done. After inhaling one needs to hold the breath for a few seconds and then exhale slowly.

Coping Strategies: Coping strategies are the ways people deal with stressful situations.
Coping strategies are intended to moderate or buffer the effect of stressor on emotional &
physical well-being (Ingledew, Hardy & Cooper, 1997). There are two types of coping
strategy mainly- Emotion focused coping & Problem focused coping.
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1. Emotion Focused Coping: In this coping strategy people use behavioral & cognitive
strategies to manage their emotional reaction to stress. Behavioral strategies are like,
seeking out others who offer social support, using alcohol or psychoactive drugs or
keeping themselves busy to distract attention from problems. Not all mechanisms are
positive in their way. Cognitive strategies are like changing how a stressor is
appraised or denying unpleasant information. 3 types of emotion focused coping can
be distinguished- Escape/Avoidance, Distancing, Positive reappraisal.
2. Problem Focused Coping: It’s a coping strategy for dealing directly with a stressor
in which the person either reduces the stressor’s demand, or increases his/her
resources for meeting its demands (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). There are 2 types of
problem focused coping- Proactive/Preventive, in which people attempt to anticipate
or detect potential stressor and act in advance to prevent them or to mute their impact.
They do this by applying different mechanisms. As example, A student who tackles
an overwhelming course led by taking her assignments into a use of smaller
manageable tasks. Another is Comparative, in which people react to or attempt to
escape from a stressor that cannot be avoided. For example, A person who suffers
from hypertension because of a stressful job may adopt a more nutritious diet.

Ref: https://psychedbloggers.blogspot.com