Stress and stressors, which are and how they affect us

Stress is the way in which the brain establishes in our body, an answer to any demand or demand for our context.

From any type of family, school, social or labor challenge to traumatic events, a stress generating response can be triggered.

He stress, Therefore, it is A psychophysical reaction that originates in our body caused by interaction with our context when our brain estimates that contextual demands exceed our resources To face them and that, therefore, we can estimate as a danger to our balance and well -being (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). It is not an emotion in itself, but more specifically a primary psychophysiological reaction generating emotions such as fear, anxiety or anger, which will accompany our organism's response to the stressful event.

The process of adapting to these threatening events called stressors is a daily routine of our lives, with positive results for our well -being in most cases, although sometimes adaptation attempts may have a negative or insufficient result for the subject.

While stress is a psychophysiological process of contextual adaptation in the presence of a stressful event, Anxiety is an emotional reaction of general alert to the personal consideration and assessment of a diffuse threat. In this way, continuous stress states can lead to chronic anxiety states.

Content

• Origin and history of the term stress
• Stress, is it good or bad?
• 3 different types of stress
  • 1. Acute and recent stress
  • 2. Daily stress (acute episodic)
  • 3. Chronic stress
  • Bibliographic references

Origin and history of the term stress

The origin of the term stress is found in the English word distress. Like the term Resilience, It was already used in physics, but in the opposite direction that the latter since while distress It refer in the field of physics to force that acts on an object when, when overcoming a certain magnitude, it produces the destruction of said object, the term Resilience refers to the ability of some metals to return to their previous state after an impact (Coronado-Hijón, 2021). This incompatibility between resilience and stress has been verified in various investigations (Beutel et al, 2010).

The application of the term stress to the human scope begins from medicine Dr. Hans Selye who published an article in 1.936, in the British Journal Nature, referring to a stereotyped response called General Adaptation Syndrome (SAG) and unfolds throughout three sequential phases. The first is the so -called reaction of alarm And if the harmful factor persists, the organism initiates a second stage of endurance And if the situation extends a few months, the agency enters a third stage of exhaustion. Years later, Selye used the term stress to define the response with which the agency reacts to harmful factors called stressors (Stressors).

Stress, is it good or bad?

As we have said, the stress response is basically an answer to the demands of our context and therefore has an adaptive value. Complications lie in the high quantity and intensity of physiological resources that must be activated in the body before these responses of exceptional demands of the environment, before which, If the stress process is frequently activated, the agency undergoes exhaustion that prevents balance from establishing again u metabolic homeostasis, thus generating disease processes.

Body and mind are part of everything we are. To describe it by large brush strokes, we will begin by explaining that the brain is formed by an anterior or neocortex part, which is the rational brain, a middle part, formed by the limbic system, which is the emotional brain and a rear part that we can call the instinctive brain. These three parts are interconnected with each other and, through the middle brain, also linked to the entire body through the autonomic nervous system. In such a way, Any thought about what happens to us is linked to a biochemical reaction in the brain, consisting of the secretion of chemicals called neurotransmitters, that act as messengers of these thoughts for the activation of reactions and psychophysiological responses according to each specific thought.

At present, the study of the origin of stress is contextualized from a psychosocial perspective. Medical Sociology Research have found that the exhaustion of the human organism Given the continuity of the psychophysiological response of stress to prepare an adaptive action and impotence obtained in the control of psychosocial stressors that generate it They can lead to cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, peptic ulcer, muscle aches, asthma, jaquecas, decreased quality of life, depression and other health disorders (Cockerham, 2015).

3 different types of stress

1. Acute and recent stress

According to the data of the American Psychological Association, the acute stress disorders They are the most frequent sequel in the experiences of traumatic events that suppose a vital risk, security or physical or emotional integrity, of the person.  It is generated from the demands and pressures of the most recent past and the early demands and pressures of the closest future.

Acute stress can even be exciting and fascinating in small doses, but its excess can produce psycho -emotional exhaustion.

2. Daily stress (acute episodic)

When acute stress becomes everyday episodes, the accumulation of daily frustrating experiences with these micro stressors can be a greater negative impact on subjective well -being than even major or vital events.

The data of the American Psychological Association show us that it is frequent that People with daily stress reactions show excessive agitation, bad character, irritation and even states of anxiety and tension which can sometimes be shown as hostility behaviors that negatively affect interpersonal relationships. Professional performance can become a very stressful scope for them.

In some studies, a relationship has been found with the personality "type A" prone to heart problems and that was originally detected and described by the cardiologists to enter Friedman and Ray Rosenman, as the extreme example of propensity to acute episodic stress. People with type A personality are characterized by an "excessive impulse of competence, aggressiveness, impatience and an overwhelming sense of urgency".

3. Chronic stress

When we experience stressful events continuously and openly in time without predictable end, we are exposed to the risk of chronic stress.

It is not a succession of events, as in everyday stress, but in a gradual long -term and continuous beginning of stressful events, whose outcome is often unpredictable by the person who suffers them, as well as quite problematic for its coping and resolution. There is plenty.

Many of These chronic stressors are related to our main social and labor roles, understanding these as a complex of expectations and demands on person's behaviors which holds a certain function according to its social or labor position. The role is therefore a social or work function in which the expectations of those who demand and those of the subject requested in a context of communication and social interaction are interwoven.

To understand the most relevant types of chronic stressors related to the performance of social and professional functions or roles, we can summarize the classic classification shown more widely in the book Resilience: How to overcome pressures and social adversity (https: // gather.bind.Net/Handle/123456789/11708) based on personal performance or role in certain contexts, where we can identify chronic stressor among the following:

• Overload of family or professionals.
• Conflicts between roles with incompatible demands that hinder the proper performance in some of the roles involved.
• Low identification with the assigned role that generates a lack of commitment and involvement.
• Role restructuring, triggered by the inevitable changes produced in the evolution of many types of functions or roles.
• Interpersonal conflicts in roles interactions, such as those originated in couple relationships, filial paternal, work, etc.… This is the most frequent chronic stress modality.

The ambiguity of role or indefinition in the associated functions and responsibilities and that generate conflicts between subject's own expectations in the face of their role or function, as well as the interaction between the subject's expectations and other people affected by the performance of the subject's role. This modality is Frequent in professional work contexts, as well as in the roles of couple and subsidiary paternal.

The negative effects of stress are influenced by the type of coping we make, in such a way that A dysfunctional coping in an acute stress situation can trigger chronic stress and thus become an important health risk, while, on the contrary, A resilient coping facilitates recovery and even overcoming in stressful situations.

The first necessary resilient strategy is to learn to identify and differentiate our situations and stressful events at every moment or problematic situation, as well as their relationship between them and the consequences that carry us, since stressful experiences of one type can lead to another type of stressful experiences (Coronado-Hijón, 2021).

Stress vulnerability test

Bibliographic references

• Beutel, m. AND., Glaesmer, h., Wiltink, J., Marian, h., & Brähler, and. (2010). Life satisfaction, Anxiety, depression and resilience across the life span of men. The Aging Male, 13(1), 32-39.
• Cockerham, WC (2015). Medical Sociology in motion. Jumper.
• Coronado-Hijón, A, (2021). Resilience; How to overcome pressures and psychosocial adversity. Editorial Universe of Letters (Grupo Planeta) https: // gather.bind.Net/Handle/123456789/11708
• Lazarus, RS and Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, assessment and coping. Springer Editorial.