General Adaptation Syndrome Model

The connection between stress and human health has been receiving a tremendous amount of attention in the popular as well as scientific literature in recent decades. Knowledge of both has been expanding considerably and is in constant review and literature and studies produced surrounding the topic are continually expanding. In simple terms and as explained by the National Health Services (2014), stress in humans is the feeling of being under too much ‘mental, physical and emotional pressure’. Pargman (2006) explains that stress is a human response to a specific stimulus or stressor yet it can be both negative and positive. For instance, a student completing an essay is in fact not the stimulus, however the time frame, deadline date, quantity

of work can be referred to as the stimuli or stressor. How the student then responds to the stimuli is what stress is (Richard, Lazarus, Olkman, 1984). (AC 1)
Moreover, the causes of stress are limitless however can be sectioned into three categories; physical stressors, social stressors and emotional stressors (Alba, 2014). Physical stressors are associated with what causes stress on the body for example chronic pain or lack of sleep. Social stressors link in with individual’s everyday life and can include employment, loneliness and poverty (Smilo, 2008). Finally, Alba (2014) explains that emotional stressors are directly linked to an individual’s feelings for instance the emotion of failing or guilt. Moreover, prolonged stress can have serious consequences for an individual’s health. Although the body is ultimately designed to react and deal with stress, a continuation of stress can lead to a person becoming overworked. Physical symptoms can include; headaches, elevated blood pressure and chest pains for example. In more serious terms, some studies have emphasised that stress can both bring on or worsen some diseases such as diabetes (Cassidy, 1999). (AC 1 & 2)
More specifically, physiological features of stress is associated with when a person begins to experience headaches which in turn may cause an individual to be unable to sleep or feel unwell or sick which will occur as a reaction to stress (Enfors, 2004). Whereas, behavioural features of stress may mean an individual withdraws themselves from a situation which they are unable to cope with which in turn may cause a person to exert excessive behaviour as a way of trying to cope with stress (Berger, 2007). Finally, cognitive factors of stress can directly impact individual’s perceptions and disrupt their thought processes. Eventually, this could lead to the person having negative thoughts when under stress (Steckler, Kalin and Reul,2005). Moreover, it must be taken into consideration that individuals may react to stress in different ways due to gender, culture and personality differences for example. It can be stated that women are somewhat better at dealing with stress than men (Nauert, 2015), and Friedman and Rosenman (1974) study explored that someone with ‘Type A personality’ responds to stress differently than others. Lastly, people from different cultural backgrounds may respond to stress differently as social support and different types of coping strategies used to deal with stress may be used.

The General Adaptation Syndrome Model (GAS) which was developed by Selye (1936) and helps explain what happens when someone is stressed for example because of the death of a close relative (Nevid, 2012).

Nevid (2012) explains that the model is referred as general as the body produces the same response regardless of the stressor and adaptation refers to the point that the body will always try and cope with the stressor. In addition, the GAS model consists of three predictable stages which illustrates the body’s response to the stress. Stage one is known as the ‘Alarm’ reaction and at this point the body recognises the stressor (death of a close relative) and responds (Timby, 2009). More in depth, the hypothalamus in the brain triggers the production of adrenaline which in turn allows the body to fight or flight the stressor. The next stage, ‘Resistance’ occurs if the body copes with the continuing stress of the death of the relative for example (Olpin and Hesson, 2015). Hear the body is thought to adapt to the stressor and subsequently attempts to cope with it. It must be noted that at this stage, the bodies resources are gradually depleting meaning physiologically the body begins to deteriorate, for example lack of sleep or sickness occurs. The final stage of GAS is ‘Exhaustion’ where the body is no longer able to cope with stressor. At this point, the body is unable to maintain normal functions and the initial stress related symptoms from stage one may reappear, for example raised heart rate. Moreover, the body’s immune system may not be able to cope with the stress which could consequently result in a stress-related illness like heart disease (Timby,

2009).
Although the GAS model is widely known there is some doubt with the accuracy of its use. Curtis (2000, pp.68) argues that there is overemphasis on the physiological factors at the expense of cognitive and behavioural aspects. Mason (1975) points out that cognitive factors are responsible for stress reactions which proposes that Seyle’s 1936 model is not accurate. Moreover, Seyle (1936) studied his theory and model on animals rather than humans. It could be argued that due to this several aspects may be overlooked when the reaction of stress occurs, for example a human’s perception to a situation may be different to an animals. (AC 3)
Now stress, its causes and how humans react to stress has been discussed, this essay will go onto explain various coping strategies for stress. There are many ways of coping with stress and their effectiveness is dependable on the initial stressor, the particular individual and finally the circumstances of a situation (Roth and Cohen, 1986). Generally, strategies for coping with stress can be split into two separate categories; cognitive based and physiologically based. This essay will go onto explain two strategies for each category and then an evaluative comparison between the four will be done.
To begin, Stress Inoculation Training (SIT), is primarily a cognitive based coping approach which was first introduced in the late 1960s by Meichenbaum (Minkin, 2007). Later, Meichenbaum and Cameron (1973) explains that the SIT is proposed to individuals ideally before depression occurs due to stress and is operationalised into three separate stages; conceptualisation, skills acquisition and consolidation and application and follow through. Overall, SIT is based upon Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) model which recognises stress as occurring an individual’s ‘perceived demands of a situation exceed their perceived coping resources. In other words, it aims to manage stress by providing individuals with the skills to deal with a stressor in their life. Studies have found that it helps deal with the stress of chronic pain, helps people prepare for surgery and aids athletes in preparing for races (Meichenbaum, 2007; Mace, Eastman and Carroll, 1986; Langer, Janis and Wolfer, 1975).
A second, cognitive based strategy that could be used for coping with stress is Rational- Emotive Therapy (RET) which was designed by Albert Ellis in 1962. Fundamentally, this therapy asserts that the way people feel is responsible by how they may think (Ellis, 2007). In other words, people possess irrational beliefs which can result in stress. Therefore, RET aims to help individuals with irrational beliefs by altering the negative thinking patterns in order to overcome stress for example. According to Jenni and Wollersheim’s 1979 study on stress management training, RET was proven to be an effective way of dealing with stress among several individuals.

Alternatively, biofeedback is a physiological approach to coping with stress. It mainly involves four processes; feedback, relaxation, operant conditioning and transfer (Schwartz and Andrasik, 2005). Generally, biofeedback is a relatively non-invasive treatment to help control an individual’s body functions and uses sensors which check what the body is doing and in turn offers feedback (Khazan, 2013). On the whole, biofeedback aims to help individuals understand their mind and how their body works which subsequently is thought to help gain more control over the individuals health and stress (Schwartz and Andrasik, 2005). This strategy has virtually no side effects and has been proven to be effective over a long period of time (Eysenck, 2005).
Additionally, a second physiological approach to coping with stress is the use of drugs to ultimately reduce anxiety and therefore stress. Simply, the drugs used aim to directly treat the body of an individual struggling with stress. The most common drugs used are a group called Benzodiazepines (BZs) (Stewart and Conrod, 2007). On the whole, such drugs slow down the activity of the central nervous system and mimic or intervene in natural body processes. Such a strategy has been proven to be effective, more specifically by Kahn et al (1986) study which followed 250 patients over 8 weeks. The result of the experiment found that people consuming an anti-anxiety drug had more improvements than those who took a placebo. (AC 4.1)
Overall, each coping strategy for stress has been proven in different studies to help deal with stress. However, a comparison of the four strategies will now be discussed. STI strategy has several merits including its flexibility to tailor to an individual’s personal needs and is ideal for dealing with a variety of stressors (Dobson and Keith, 2010). Similarly, drugs are also easy to use however with this strategy there is risk of addiction and side effects for example tiredness and dizziness (Eysenck, 2005). Yet, biofeedback has little side effects but is more time consuming than using drugs for example (West, 2007). With all therapies excluding drugs, it must be taken into consideration that an individual’s commitment is essential and this could hinder the effectiveness of treatment if a person is unwilling to co-operate (Hall and Iqbal, 2010). In addition, RET can be a relatively invasive therapy that many may struggle to deal with, therefore biofeedback, STI or the use of drugs can be said to be less invasive and less demanding in that respect. On the whole, RET, STI and biofeedback all aim at dealing with the initial problems of stress which many believe to be more productive than the use of anti-anxiety drugs which simply treat the symptoms of stress rather than dealing with the initial problems (Nevid, 2008). To conclude, although each coping strategy has its merits and disadvantages, the effectiveness of each is dependent on the individual. (AC 4.2)
To conclude this essay has discussed how stress can affect health and what causes it, analysed behavioural, cognitive and physiological aspects to stress, described stress reactions through the evaluation of the GAS model and finally has compared four different coping strategies for stress.