Stress from Various Perspectives - Essay Example

? Stress and Health Affiliation) This essay explains stress from various perspectives and discusses different types of situations that cause stress. We even examine the negative impact of stress to the emotional and the physical health of human beings. The essay even discusses how an individual can remain healthy by thinking positively and looking at things in a positive manner. The word stress is defined differently by different people coming from different backgrounds. Any individuals would define stress in relation to pressure, a negative emotional response or tension. Traditional psychologists define stress as a reaction to any internal or external stressor and they even discuss stress in relation to cognitive, physical, behavioral and biological changes. Certain psychologists have even stated that in certain forms stress is healthy and pleasant and in certain forms it is unhealthy and unpleasant. According to Lazarus and Launier, stress is referred to as a deal between an individual and his or her environment. For example: work overload is a stressor or the environment and the way an individual reacts or deals with work overload is the reaction to that particular stressor. Over the years various theories about stress have been produced by psychologists, one of these theories is fight and flight model produced by Cannon. According to Cannon external environmental threats results in fight or flight as a reaction. This means that external environmental factors such as increase in decrease in share prices, makes an individual fight (wait for the share prices to rise) or flight ( sale of the shares at a loss). During 1956, Selye gave the theory of general adaption syndrome. The theory states that there are three ways an individual reacts to a particular stressful situation and these ways are divided into three stages. The first stage is the alarm stage, in this stage an individual’s activity level increases as soon as he experiences a stressful situation. The second stage is the resistance stage, in this stage, an individual tries to cope and reverse the impact o the first stage. The third stage is exhaustion; in this stage the individual has lost the capability of resisting the stressful situation due to repeated exposure to stressful stimuli. These two theories suggest that stress is an automated reaction to any stressful situation or stressor. The most recent study produced by Lazarus does not states that stress is an automated response. The theory states that an individual feels stressed if he or she perceives an event to be stressful (Contrada, 2011, p.195). For example: An individual has only 10 hours to complete a 10 page assignment, the individual will be stressed if the individual perceives that the time available to complete the assignment is very less. On the other hand, the individual will not be stressed if he or she feels that 10 hours for 10 page assignment is enough. The perceiving of an even to be stressful is even referred as appraising. Lazarus states that there as two types of appraisals: primary and secondary appraisal. He states that in primary appraisal, an individual first determines whether an event is stressful or not stressful. If the person has determined a particular situation to be stressful, next he has to figures out a way to respond to the situation. The way he reacts to a particular situation is recognized as secondary appraisal. After huge amount of evidence, stress has been linked with the health conditions of an individual. Studies have even shown that stress is one of the root causes of various severe illnesses experienced by individuals. Stress affects the cognitive and the behavioral health of a human being. An individual suffering from stress may experience sleeping disorders, might start increasing consumption of food and might even abuse substance. Stress even affects the physical health of an individual in a negative form. An individual’s behavior changes under stress in accordance to the different stages of stress an individual experiences. Individuals perform actions or exhibit behaviors that can affect his health in a negative manner. For example: an individual experiencing stress might start driving very fast or lose his concentration while driving and might experience an accident in which he causes damage to himself and others. Various studies have been conducted to figure out the physiological consequences experienced by an individual under stress. These researches have made researchers conclude that there are two groups of physiological consequences experienced by an individual due to stress. Research suggests that when an individual perceives a situation to be stressful, this initiates a reaction in the sympathetic nervous system. Reaction to a stressful situation may cause increase in the production of catecholamine which might result in increase or decrease of blood pressure, sweat, heart pace and pupil dilation. These reactions to stressful situations are just like the reactions explained in the fight and flight theory. All these reactions are considered normal to a certain degree, but if these changes intensify they can further result in kidney failure, heart diseases and may increase the probability of infection in body. The second set of physiological changes that take place due to stressful situation are changes initiated in the HPA (Hypothalamatic – pituitary - adrenocortical) (system Fink, 2010, p.342). These changes cause increased usage of carbohydrates and increased probability of inflammation. These changes are not detected by individual suffering from stress. These changes are similar to the three stages discussed Selye because these changes result in damaging consequences for a human body. These changes damage the functionality of the immune system and neurons in the hippocampus. The changes might result in loss of memory and other cognitive issues in the long run. According to Kiecolt - Glaser stress can result in depletion of hormones needed to fight against cancer and repair DNA; he even stated that stress can increase the creation of T cells which can elevate the development of tumor in human body. Glaser’s believes that if an individual perceives illness as stressful, the probability of recovery from disease decreases. All the above stated theories and findings of researchers clearly show that cognitive state can affect the nervous system in a negative way and this in turn impacts the immune system in a negative manner. The approaches stated above clearly represent that an individual should think positively about himself and the world. These approaches further conclude that negative thinking can make an individual behave in a negative manner which will impact an individual’s health negatively and these researches even show that nervous system can directly impact the health of an individual in a negative manner. The negative impact of stress had motivated researchers to figure out ways through which psychological state can help in modification of the functioning of the immune system. This shows that if an individual remains positive and his mood remains positive, his immune system will function in a better way and on the other hand if an individual thinks negative and his mood remains negative his or her immune system will not function correctly and will cause diseases (Weiner, 2003, p.79). Even organizational psychology states that managers should help in motivation of employees, if employees are motivated they will perform well and if they are de-motivated they will not enjoy work. This means that if employees are in a positive mood they will work hard and will try to achieve organizational goals and will be ready to accept hard challenges. Stress can have a damaging impact on all human beings, it is better to counter stress at an early stage as stress in the long run can be a cause of major health problems. Bibliograpy: Contrada, R. J., & Baum, A. (2011). The handbook of stress science: Biology, psychology, and health. New York, NY: Springer Pub Fink, G. (2010). Stress science: Neuroendocrinology. San Diego, Calif: Academic Weiner, I. B., Freedheim, D. K., Schinka, J. A., & Velicer, W. F. (2003). Handbook of psychology. New York: Wiley. Read More