Human beings have always encountered stress ever since they set their foot on this earth. While the cave dwellers had little knowledge about the psychobiology of stress and modern techniques of coping fatalism was their only recourse. Ignorance was bliss and submitting to fate was wisdom. Humanity has come a long way since then. There is more knowledge about stress than ever. But the irony is that there are more victims of stress also,age and wage being no bar.
One of the most mysterious of mental states,stress is highly subjective and equally dangerous. Some stress is good as it activates,but an overdose kills.Stress tolerance is an individual attribute and is highly variable. Thus some succumb to the slightest pressure, while others remain cool even under high levels of it.However, stress is an inescapable part of human life and cannot be wished away. Psychological experiments have shown that even animals are vulnerable to stress.One of the first evidence of stress on health came from animal studies, the famous executive monkey study of early 50s. The damage that stress can do leaves no room for complacency.Though enough has been researched about the subject, the fact remains that it is not the stress per se that is problematic. What matters is the coping. Stress does not depend on external conditions only. It is affected by a host of factors,some inherent to the individual like the personality, the support system, the susceptibilities,and the lifestyle . People differ widely in their reactions to stress. This is due to the Stress Tolerance Quotient (STQ), which varies from individual to individual. Even though stress has been scientifically studied for a long time and the stress disease links are well established, the coping styles that can give individuals the all important stress resilience are still not clearly understood.
How a person responds to stress is his coping style which is usually individual specific.Broadly speaking there can be two coping styles, functional and dysfunctional , depending on how a person approaches it. The human body is superbly equipped to deal with stress provided a person picks up the appropriate approach. When individuals experience stress they adopt some strategies.The attempt is to manage the stressful experiences so that a state of psychological and physiological equilibrium is restored. Even if a conscious and deliberate strategy is not formulated some strategies are definitely adopted. For instance,the decision to leave the stress unattended.This also can be a style, only it is dysfunctional. Coping is a process that involves efforts towards the solution of a stress related situation. It is the way these efforts are made that determine whether one is able to cope with stress effectively or not. It is some kind of an intra psychic behaviour. Coping behaviours can range from most casual manoeuvres to highly effective problem solving behaviour. The fact of the matter is that most individuals do not understand the grammar of effective coping and become a victim of stress. However, effective coping can be learnt and abilities to handle stress can be developed. The trick lies in cognitive appraisal, that is seeing the big picture. Often people crack under pressure and become a victim of abnormal fears.This can be dangerous. Cognitive processes play a key role in determining the effectiveness of emotional reactions which are natural outcomes of stressful situations. Human beings often act irrationally under stress and breakdown under pressure. Typical personality patterns can be found in individuals when encountering stressful situations, which is largely determined by fear and uncertainty that often come with stress. An individual must assess the situation holistically and objectively.It is something like environmental scanning so that one can match it with strengths and weaknesses.Effective management of stress depends on coping mechanisms adopted by an individual. The first step is to analyse all aspects of the specific situation and identify all resources at hand to cope with distress. It is the motivational state that is critical and one must be maintained at a high level. Human autonomic systems prepare for fight or flight during stress, but the problem is that usually people opt for flight rather than fight. This has to change. The very decision to fight will initiate the process of the functional coping mechanism.There is the need to respond and not react.
shashwatchintan 