Consequences of psychological stress

Cannon, defines the attack or flight response (one of the main consequences of stress): emergency mechanism that in a very short period of time, energizes the body to respond to the threat, attacking or fleeing ". Its components are physiological and correspond to one and correspond to an SNA discharge through its sympathetic branch: it facilitates the release of hormones by the adrenal marrow (adrenaline and norepinephrine). The activation of the somatic system is increased, increasing muscle tone and respiratory rate. Salye, picked up Cannon's approaches and integrated them into the stress response pattern: General Adaptation Syndrome.

1. The General Adaptation Syndrome
2. The axes of response to stress
3. Why are we different from stress
4. Modification of the negative effects of stress

The General Adaptation Syndrome

The General Adaptation Syndrome (SELYE) is a general pattern, in the face of local reactions (local adaptation syndrome) produced by aggression, for example physical or chemical, to a specific organ. The aggression occurs through non -local perceptual systems and the response is independent of the type of aggression. Phases of the General Adaptation Syndrome:

1. Alarm reaction: reaction of the organism to conditions for which it is not adapted. Two moments: shock (initial attack or flight reaction) and counter-choke (rebound reaction due to mechanisms, homeostatic). The activation that occurs that occurs during this phase is due to the activation of the Neural and Neuro-Endocrine axes. Accompanied by both negative and positive emotions.
2. Resistance status: When stressful conditions are maintained over time and the body cannot continue continuously to activation. It is an adaptation of the alarm phase, but allows you to continue maintaining high levels of physiological activation. Activation is due to the endocrine axis. Accompanied by negative emotions.
3. Exhaustion phase: exhaustion of the body due to lack of reserves to continue maintaining activation levels (it arrives at its last ends at coma and death). If before the exhaustion phase, a new stressor appears, there will be no phase of counter-star or resistance, but a new phase in fact will begin that can go directly to the exhaustion phase. Accompanied by negative emotions (they are a consequence of an increase in blood cortisol).

The axes of response to stress

These mechanisms, axes or response systems are different, although complementary to each other, and depend on the duration and intensity of the trigger conditions.

In the first place, the neuronal axis comes into operation: corresponds to the sympathetic, parasympathetic and somatic nerve systems. Responsible for the alarm reaction.

To maintain the stress reaction for a larger time, the second axis is activated, neuro - endocrine system: which is a system neural and endocrine mixed, Responsible for the Resistance Phase. 3. The endocrine axis: responsible for the most chronic and prolonged stress responses. It is subdivided into four subexes:

• Adrenocortical
• Somatotrophic
• Thyroid
• Posterior pituitary

Why are we different from stress

We have been giving the self -assumption that the response to stress is general, that is, indifferent to the trigger conditions and the people who suffer from them. There are two complementary phenomena from each other that can distort this principle. Are the situational and individual specificities.

1. Situational specificity: o Specificity of response to trigger conditions, refers to the existence of patterns of psychophysiological activation appropriate to particular stimular situations. The person responsible for situational specificity is a genetic preparation to respond to certain situations. Refers to the response trend by a group of people to a particular situation. Example: "Vision of Blood".
2. Individual specificity: or individual response stereotype, refers to the characteristic way of responding to each person with their physiological system.

Each subject can develop a personal form of stress response. Refers to a person's response tendency to a group of stimular situations. From all this it follows that we would have a new stress response pattern that would be a specific response, both for the effect of situational and individual specificity, in the face of the general response. There would therefore be three possible stress response patterns:

1. Lack of response to poor stress or response: scarce or null responses variations in psychophysiological activity. They would exclusively show spontaneous variations or responses of low amplitude, the result of the level of general activation of the subject and not a consequence of the introduction of a stressor.
2. Response of the General Syndrome of Adaptation or Reactive Response to Stress: marked changes in the subject's activity in certain situations, being concordant to each other in all psychophysiological activities.
3. Reagent response patterns with specific or fractional activation: They correspond to changes in psychophysiological activity but only with a part of their systems or subsystems, with null or poor responses with the rest of the systems.

Modification of the negative effects of stress

We can modify the negative effects of stress through:

1. To intervene About triggers: through behavioral procedures such as "stimular control" techniques and "self -control"
2. To intervene on cognitive and affective valuation processes, through cognitive intervention procedures such as "problem solving technique" and "cognitive restructuring".
3. To intervene On the consequences of stress through physiological intervention procedures "deactivation techniques" and "biofeedback".

Deactivation techniques: Reduce physiological activation levels, producing relaxation states. Categories:

1. Voltage exercises - distension
2. Breathing procedures
3. Mental imagination procedures

In second place we have the techniques of Biofeedback or biological feedback, which are a set of techniques that allow the search and development of strategies to establish self -control over certain physiological activities. Biofeedback is based on measuring a physiological activity that is not noticeable to the person, then that activity is amplified so that the changes that occur in it can be discriminated by the same by minimums as these are and, finally, such changes are shown through a visual or auditory system, so that the subject can learn to control them. The training consists of three parts:

1. Search for strategies between person's resources to modify physiological activity, to find by essay and error the slightest modification of the physiological activity that is subject to training. It is the strict sense of biofeedback.
2. Training of strategies to gradually achieve greater changes.
3. Training generalization: The person must achieve control over their physiological activity without being reflected by the biofeedback instrument, so that he can use what learned in any condition.

Thus, through the deactivation and biofeedback procedures we can modify the negative consequences of stress and, restore the initial and adaptive response that is the general adaptation syndrome.

• Positive reevaluation: Active coping strategies. Try to get everything positive for the situation
• Depressive reaction: Feel overflowed with the situation. Be pessimistic about the results denial absence of acceptance of the problem disfigure or distort its valuation planning to mobilize coping strategies.
• Analytical and rational approach to the problem: CONFORMISM TREENCY TO PASSIVITY. Lack of control over the consequences of the problem.
• Disconnection acceptance: Mental distractive thoughts to avoid thinking about the problem situation.
• Personal development: Consideration of the problem in a relatively, self -stimulus and positive personal learning
• Emotional control: Mobilize resources to regulate and hide one's feelings
• Distancing: Cognitive suppression of the emotional effects that the problem generates
• Distract activities suppression: Paralysis of all kinds of activities to focus on the search for solutions
• Count the coping: Postpone coping until greater and better information occurs
• Avoid coping: Do nothing to avoid worsening the problem or by assessing that the problem is irresoluble
• Solve the problem: Direct and rational action to solve the problem situations
• SOCIAL SUPPORT TO PROBLEM: Perform actions aimed at looking in other information and advice
• Behavioral disconnection: Avoiding any type of response or problem solution
• Emotional expression: Channeling the coping made expressive manifestations to other people
• Social support: Search in others of support and understanding
• Palliative response: Includes elements that seek the avoidance of the stressful situation: smoking, drinking, eating, etc.

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