The General Adaptation Syndrome - Essay Example

 Fight-or-flight response means that either the body gets ready to fight back the stress situation or becomes ready to flee. Resistance phase can be understood as the next stage in which, the body starts homeostasis, which means that it tries to normalize the physiological provocation because of ongoing stress. The exhaustion phase occurs when the stress becomes chronic and the immune system gets weak welcoming diseases in the body.Chronic stress affects various body systems because the first and foremost system that it assaults is the immune system.

With continuous stress, the body undergoes an exhaustion phase that weakens the immune system, which eventually welcomes different diseases affecting various body systems. All the body systems are connected with the nervous system and when the nervous system gets exhausted resisting stress resulting in lack of immunity, various body systems such as cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal system, and many others. Dr. Wilder Pennfield experimented employing electrical stimulation “to map the cortex of conscious human patients”.

With this experimentation, he was able to realize that our prefrontal lobes, which are liable for ‘fear’, ‘anxiety’ and ‘emotional memory’, contain a certain motor portion that keeps the ability to overrule the signals of other bodily systems. The prefrontal lobes are quite useful in foreseeing and enabling us to keep away from dangers, but also dangerous for us in case of overstimulation. The prefrontal lobes have an effective role in stress management because they are involved in reflective actions that make us ready to anticipate some kind of stress and avoid it beforehand.

The primary appraisal in the transactional model of stress can be described as an assessment of the potential threat in terms of its being stressful or not. The stressful threat is dealt with by analyzing the amount of damage, the anticipation of future damage, and the prospect of development. The secondary appraisal in the transactional model of stress is the evaluation of resources that can be employed for dealing with the potential threat. If the accessible resources are less as compared to the potential threat, a stressful condition is created.

A codependent person has a number of characteristics such as inability to function by himself, who relies on another person in terms of his behavior and thinking, their relationships are usually unstable and extreme, have chronic issues related to their being lonely, they have low self-worth, have dysfunctional families, they need more care and affection and face self-denial. The symptoms of co-dependency can be controlled by treating with positive assertiveness, cognitive psychotherapy, chemical therapy, behavioral therapy, and self-help methodologies.