Stress, stressful, stressors, stress resistance, stress susceptibility, stress reaction, post-traumatic stress - there are many terms that try to facilitate an understanding of what stress actually is. It is often understood as a stimulus that increases our body's activity. But also as a reaction of the body. A distinction is made between physical and psychological stress. Finally, we talk about susceptibility or resistance to stress. Pronounced in all cases and used in many terms. What is stress? Is it a negative or positive feeling? Does it push you to act, to develop, or does it paralyse you, make you stagnate?
Table of contents:
- Understanding stress in general
- How do we recognise when we are under stress? Physical symptoms of a stress reaction
- Psychological exponents of stress
- Mental resistance, resilience, mental toughness
- Stress - psychostimulant or psychodepressant?
Understanding stress in general
Already when trying to define stress, the first difficulties are encountered, as the phenomenon is described and experienced by both doctors and psychologists. It is therefore not surprising that stress is defined differently by specialists basically in the field of somatic problems, and differently by those dealing with, among other things, the specifics of the human psyche, social relations or personality formation. For the medical practitioner, stress will be any threat of disruption to the homeostasis (dynamic equilibrium in functioning) of the organism, which requires compensatory measures so that the effect is as balanced as possible. For example: too high an ambient temperature is unfavourable, it can cause an increase in the body's internal temperature, so mechanisms are activated that cause, among other things, sweating, so that the excess heat is removed externally with the sweat. Stress factors can be any mental, physical, chemical or disease stimuli.
Psychologists understand stress as a dynamic relationship between a person's adaptive capacities (susceptibility to stress, mental toughness) and the situation he or she is confronted with, which requires a specific physical and/or mental response. The level of stress experienced is therefore dependent on personality and personal characteristics.
According to Strycharczyk and Clough ('Mental resilience. Strategies and tool for development'), factors that influence our response and the level of stress experienced include:
- personality - people with a weaker emotional mental construct react differently and those with a greater mental toughness component react differently.
- age - young and older people tend to cope better with stressors than middle-aged people. Of course, this is only a statistical model.
- gender - women seem to have more mechanisms to cope better with stressors (e.g. more willing to seek help, conversation, support).
- social support - developed family and friendship relationships, i.e. people who help us cope with stressful situations
- physical activity - a well-known and widely used method of relaxation is physical activity, which is effective in relieving stress
- mental resilience - more on this later.
There are many variables that determine an individual's experience of stress . This is compounded by many more variables, such as where we experience it - we will behave differently at work and in our home environment. At work, we will experience less stress from a large project if we are given more time to prepare, the freedom to plan our activities, and the support of our colleagues.
How do we recognise when we are under stress? Physical symptoms of a stress reaction
There is no doubt that stress is associated with a variety of symptoms that we can recognise, both physical and mental, emotional. This is because our organism segregates the stimuli reaching it essentially as positive, negative and neutral, and selects an appropriate response - 'accept', 'fight/ flight', 'remain indifferent'. Stressful stimuli of various kinds are perceived as negative, so the control centre (central nervous system) activates mechanisms to cope with the 'threat'.
Basically, we are talking about four systems that are co-responsible for the observed stress symptoms:
- theautonomic sympathetic nervous system - mediated by the catecholamines adrenaline and noradrenaline
- thehypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (H. pyloriA) - mainly via the final product, the so-called 'stress hormone' cortisol. The role of the activator of the H. pyloriA axis in the brain is performed by the sinusoidal site, which in turn is activated...by the H. pyloriA axis. This bidirectional connection influences the development and amplification of the stress response
- serotonergic system
- dopaminergic system
During a difficult, stressful situation, the above-mentioned systems take over the functioning of the human being, which is observed in the form of, among other things, the following
- increased arterial blood pressure
- increased sweating
- dry mouth
- increased heart rate and respiration
- dilated pupils
It is not difficult to conclude that a state of prolonged increased mental strain, stress, pressure, etc. cannot have a beneficial effect on a person's health. Persistently elevated arterial blood pressure alone can lead to serious cardiovascular complications, including stroke, heart attack and cardiac arrhythmia! Dry mouth can result in, among other things, an increased risk of infection in the mouth and throat, as well as impaired digestion and absorption of food. Increased sweating, especially if accompanied by chronic diarrhoea and vomiting, can lead to electrolyte disturbances, which are very serious. A prolonged stress reaction is certainly not an easy state for the organism and compensatory mechanisms must be exhausted after a certain time (exhaustion phase according to Hans Selye)
Psychological exponents of stress
While the physical symptoms of a stress reaction are relatively constant and the same in most subjects, the psychological exponents of stress represent a peculiar mosaic and an extremely wide spectrum of possible symptoms. It is not possible to encapsulate the symptoms into a single psychopathological syndrome and call it 'stress syndrome'. Patients may present with a variety of often opposing symptoms -- from agitation, irritation, excitement to depressive episodes and social withdrawal. The severity of psychological stress symptoms depends on the individual's construct -- his or her psychological resilience and other individual characteristics.
Mental toughness, resilience, mental toughness
Does everyone experience the burden of stress in the same way? Doug Strycharczyk and Peter Clough in their book entitled. 'Mental Resilience. Strategies and tools for development' describe how they see the application of mental toughness in many areas of life and work. They have conducted research and formed their views on mental resilience, as they point out, based on constructs such as resilience and mental toughness. What do we mean by these terms? What important personality traits are they talking about? How do they condition the stress experienced?
Resilience , in a basic, general sense, is the ability to recover from failure. Resilience is a dynamic process in which a person uses various protective factors, competences and specific skills to access them. It can be said that he or she tries to counteract as much as possible the havoc caused by failures, stress and the enormous psychological burden. Importantly, the effect of resilience is to strengthen the individual's mental construct - one can use the analogy of a phoenix reborn from the ashes - after an apparent 'fall', it comes back stronger, richer in new experiences. A person characterised by resilience is not afraid of challenges, is not afraid of the risks associated with them, because he or she is aware of his or her ability to counteract possible failures.
Rachel Jackson and Chris Watkin, in their research on resilience, showed that this skill can be measured and, moreover, it can be learned and developed. To do so, they developed a corresponding development programme that includes emotion regulation, control of impulsive behaviour, an analytical approach to the causes of obstacles encountered, a sense of efficacy (self-confidence), realistic optimism (thinking positively about the future, but maintaining realism), empathy and openness to new possibilities. By following their advice, a person can develop resilience and thus increase the ability to work under a high stress component.
Mental toughness , on the other hand, is, one could say, developing the right thickness of armour within oneself, which ensures that stressful events do not have easy access and impact on the mental and physical stability of our organism. Hardiness, according to Suzanne C. Kobasa, is influenced by three intertwining elements: a sense of control, an attitude of challenge and commitment. Feeling that one has a say in the course of events allows one to choose the right response to the difficulties encountered. Commitment, as opposed to passive acceptance, also builds the belief that I am the moderator of my fate and builds toughness. Approaching challenges with a degree of flexibility reflects the natural nature of our lives, which are changeable rather than stable. Seeing potentially stressful changes as challenges has the effect of alleviating the stress accompanying a situation.
Mental resilience as understood by Doug Strycharczyk and Peter Clough is a personality trait that largely determines how successfully we cope with challenges, stressors and pressures. Importantly, the authors emphasise that this trait does not depend on circumstances. They build the construct of mental toughness on four pillars (the so-called 4Cs):
- Challenge - seeing a challenge as an opportunity
- Confidence
- Commitment - persistence in the execution of tasks
- Control - the belief that one can influence one 's own destiny
This model is described in detail in the already cited book "Mental resilience. Strategies and tools for development."
Stress - psychostimulant or psychodepressant?
It all depends on what level of stress intensity and duration we are talking about. Short-term stressful stimuli push us to be more active, forcing the body to engage more layers of personal capacities and physiological responses. Without stressful, stimulating stimuli we stagnate and give up on development. A human being, if he or she is not challenged, is unlikely to choose to develop because it is more comfortable to exist lazily.
On the other hand, prolonged stress of a high intensity causes the opposite reaction in a person - withdrawal, depressive symptoms, mental exhaustion. As in every area of life - the golden mean and adaptation to individual personality traits are important. There are certain abilities mentioned earlier (resilience, mental toughness, mental toughness) that can be developed and which make us treat the challenges of life as an opportunity, as a possibility to develop and feel motivated to act in the first place. So get on with it! Stress does not have to mean only negative experiences.