Stress may be regarded as a process of transactions in which the resources of the person are matched against the demands of the environment. The individual's appraisal of the importance of the demands is reflected in the bodily resources mobilized to meet them.
1. Man as a 'stressometer'
2. Underload and overload
3. Helplessness
4. Is stress dangerous to health?
1. Man as a 'stressometer'
One of the notions underlying the use of physiological and chemical techniques in human stress research is that the load that a particular environment places on a person can be estimated by measuring the activity of the body's organ systems. Technological advances, together with progress in the biobehavioural and biomedical sciences, have made new methods available for investigating the interplay between mental and physical processes. Much of what was previously the subject of speculation can now be recorded and measured, and as more of what happens in the different bodily organs becomes accessible to measurement, the effects that mental and physical processes have on one another become increasingly clear. We can record changes in heart rate that accompany changes in the environment. We can show how psychological processes are reflected in the activity of the brain, in cardiovascular functions, in hormonal activity, etc.; and we can see how hormonal changes reflect changes in mood, how blood pressure rises to challenge, and how the alertness of the brain varies with the flow of impressions transmitted by the sense organs.Since feelings and perceptions are reflected in the activity of many of the body's organ systems, individuals can themselves be regarded as 'stressometers', instruments that help to identify factors in the environment that tell hard on their mind and body. The environmental factors may be physical or chemical, such as noise or smell; or social and psychological, such as monotonous work, excessive information flow, or interpersonal conflict.
With the development of chemical techniques that permit the determination of small amounts of hormones and transmitter substances in blood and urine, neuroendocrinology has come to play an increasingly important part in stress research. Two neuroendocrine systems, both of which are controlled by the brain, are of particular interest in the study of stress and coping with stressful situations. One is the sympathetic adrenomedullary system, with the secretion of the catecholamines adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). The other is the pituitary–adrenocortical system, with the secretion of cortisol. These substances have several important functions: as sensitive indicators of the mismatch between the person and the environment, as regulators of vital bodily functions, and — under some circumstances — as mediators of bodily reactions leading to disease.
What do we know about the environmental conditions that activate these two systems?
2. Underload and overload
Stimulus underload and overload are typical features of modern society, and both of them trigger the adrenomedullary and adrenocortical response. In order to function adequately, the human brain requires an inflow of impulses from the external environment, but both lack and excess of stimulation threaten the homeostatic mechanisms by which the organism maintains an adequate degree of arousal. The optimal level of human functioning is located at the midpoint of a scale ranging between very low and very high levels of stimulus input. At the optimal level, the brain is moderately aroused, the individual's resources are mobilized, and full attention is given to the surroundings; he is emotionally balanced and performs to the best of his abilities. At low levels he tends to be inattentive, easily distracted, and bored. Conditions of extreme understimulation, involving both sensory and social deprivation, are accompanied by a state of mental impoverishment with loss of initiative and loss of capacity for involvement. When the brain is over-aroused, on the other hand, the ability to respond selectively to the impinging signals is impaired. Feelings of excitement and tension develop, followed by a gradual fragmentation of thought processes, a loss of ability to integrate the messages into a meaningful whole, impaired judgement, and loss of initiative.3. Helplessness
Psychological theories of helplessness emphasize the role of learning in the development of active coping strategies. A sense of hopelessness, paired with a reduced motivation to control, is likely to develop when people realize that events and outcomes are independent of their actions. Empirical evidence from many sources, including both animal and human experiments, shows that the organism responds differently to conditions characterized by controllability on the one hand, and lack of control on the other. On the whole it is consistent with the view that increased controllability reduces physiological stress responses, such as adrenaline and cortisol secretion, thus presumably decreasing bodily wear and tear.4. Is stress dangerous to health?
There is general agreement that mental stress may increase the risk of ill health and affect the course of both somatic and mental disorders. But the biological mechanisms by which stress translates into disease are still obscure. Relationships exist between stress and diseases such as myocardial infarction, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disorders, asthma, and migraine; however, it is only occasionally that a particular mental factor can be identified as the specific cause of a disease. As a general rule the psychological aspect is merely one thread in a complex fabric in which genetic components, environmental conditions, and learned behaviours are also interwoven.This lack of a clear picture of the links in the causal chain between stress and disease hampers our efforts to prevent harmful stress responses. However, we know a great deal about the mobilization of stress hormones under conditions of underload and overload, and although it is still not known when such stress responses lead to ill health it is agreed that they should be treated as early warning signals. Moreover, we also know a great deal about how stress that is liable to impair health can be counteracted. Stress responses can be dampened, for instance, by providing opportunities for personal control, which can then serve as buffer, warding off potentially harmful effects of, for example, overload at work.
In short, stress research has already contributed knowledge that can be used to shape the external environment so as to fit human abilities and needs. Such insights are being utilized more and more, particularly in working life, both in the organization of work and in the application of new technology.
(Published 1987)
— Marianne Frankenhaeuser
- Bibliography
- Bartlett, D. (1998). Stress: Perspectives and Processes.
- Frankenhaeuser, M. (1979). 'Psychoneuroendocrine approaches to the study of emotion as related to stress and coping'. In Howe, H. E., and Dienstbier, R. A. (eds.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 1978.
- — —  (1980). 'Psychobiological aspects of life stress'. In Levine, S., and Ursin, H. (eds.), Coping and Health.
- Lazarus, R. S. (1999). Stress and Emotion: A New Synthesis.
The Oxford Companion to the Mind. Second Edition. Copyright © Oxford University Press, 2004. All rights reserved.
