question_answer

Differentiate between eustress and distress. Explain the different effects of stress with examples.

Or

Explain stress according to General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model giving examples from everyday life. Describe any one strategy for coping with stress.

Answer:

Stress can be classified as positive stress and negative stress. Positive stress is also called as Eustress. Eustress is the term used to describe the level of stress that is good for you and is one of a person?s best assets for achieving peak performance and managing minor crisis. Distress causes our body?s wear and tear. This disturbs our equilibrium and exceeds a person?s ability to cope.

There are four major effects of stress associated with the stressed state are:

(i) Emotional Effects: Those who suffer from stress are far more likely to experience mood swings and show erratic behaviour and that may alienate them from family and friends. In some cases, this can start a vicious circle of decreasing confidence, leading to more emotional problems.

(ii) Physiological Effects: Production of certain hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol increases. These hormones produce marked changes in heart rate, blood pressure levels, metabolism and physical activity. This physical reaction can be extremely damaging to the body in the long-term effects. Examples of physiological effects are release of epinephrine and nor-epinephrine, slowing down of the digestive system, expansion of air passages in the lungs, increased heart rate and construction of blood vessels.

(iii) Cognitive Effects: If pressure due to stress continues, one may suffer from mental overload, lose the ability to make sound decisions. Faulty decisions made at home, or workplace may lead to arguments, failure, financial loss or even loss of job. Cognitive effects of stress are poor concentration and reduced short-term memory capacity.

(iv) Behavioural Effects: Stress affects our behaviour in the form of eating less nutritional food, increasing intake of stimulants such as caffeine, excessive consumption of cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs such as tranquillisers, etc. Tranquillisers can be addictive and have side effects such as loss of concentration, poor coordination and dizziness. Some of the typical, behavioural effects of stress seen and disrupted sleep patterns, increased absenteeism and reduced work performance.

Or

Hans Selye studied what happens to the body when stress is prolonged. Selye studied this issue by subjecting animals to a variety of stressors such as high temperature. X-rays and insulin injections, in the laboratory over a long period of time. Selye noticed a similar pattern of bodily response in all of them. He called this pattern the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). According to him, GAS involves three stages. Alarm Reaction, Resistance and Exhaustion.

1. Alarm Reaction Stage: The presence of a noxious stimulus or stressor leads to activation of the adrenal-pituitary cortex system. This triggers the release of hormones producing the stress response. Now the individual is ready for fight.

2. Resistance Stage: If stress is prolonged, the resistance stage begins. The parasympathetic nervous system calls for more cautious use of the body?s resources. The organisms makes efforts to cope with the threat, as through confrontation.

3. Exhaustion Stage: Continued exposure to the same stressor or additional stressors drains the body of its resource and leads to the third stage of exhaustion.

Selye?s model has been critised for assigning a very limited role to psychological factors in stress. Researchers have reported that the psychological appraisal or events is important for the determination of stress.

Example, if you are walking at night and something jumped out from behind a tree, your hypothalamus \would tell the pituitary gland to release hormones. In addition to an increase in heart rate and breathing- rate, blood glucose levels increases to boost energy Hormones are released to help the body to react to the stressor until the stress is resolved or the body can no longer resist. Deep level reserves are used until the stressor is resolved or resources are depleted.

One of the coping strategies given by Endler and Parker is Task-Oriented Strategy. This involves obtaining information about the stressful situation and about alternative courses of action and their probable outcomes, it also involves deciding priorities and acting so as to deal directly with the stressful situation. For example, schedule my time better or think about how I have solved similar problems.