Stress
Stress can be thought of as any event that strains or exceeds an individual's ability to cope. The extent to which stress is related to some of our most serious medical conditions was greatly underestimated until research dramatically altered our perceptions of our own health. Leading causes of death and disability such as heart disease and stroke are almost certainly linked to stress. Also immunity to infections is greatly affected by stress. It is even probable that the link between stress and immunity extends to susceptibility to cancer.Sources of Stress:
Major sources of stress include the following factors;
Frustration:
It results when we are not able to satisfy a motive.
Conflict:
Conflict is closely linked to the concept of frustration. Conflict occurs when two or more motives cannot be satisfied because they interfere with one another. Psychologists use the terms approach and avoidance in discussing conflicts. In this sense, we '' approach'' things that we want and ''avoid'' things that we do not want.
There are four major kinds of conflicts involving approach and avoidance
Approach-approach conflict: In this conflict, the individual must choose between two positive goals of approximately equal value, e.g. choose between two attractive jobs.Avoidance- avoidance conflict: This type of conflict involves more obvious sources of stress. Here the individual must choose two or more negative outcomes, e.g. the person with a toothache must choose between the pain of the tooth and the anticipated discomfort of going to the dentist.
Approach- avoidance conflict: Arises when obtaining goal necessities a negative outcome as well. A student who is accepted to a post-gradate study abroad will be in a stressful conflict if she knows that it will mean being separated from her fiancé and break up of her engagement. Attending the higher study will have both positive and negative consequences, so she may experience considerable stress, especially as the time grows nearer for beginning study. At greater distances, there is a stronger motive to approach than avoid, but at a shorter distances, the motive to avoid is stronger than the motive to approach, the stress is highest when the two conflicts are equal.
Multiple approach-avoidance conflict: Sometimes the conflicts that we face are complex combinations of approach and avoidance conflicts. This conflict requires the individual to choose between alternatives that contain both positive and negative consequences, e.g. a student has opportunity to join one of two engineering colleges, one with a high academic standard but students that he doesn't like and the other college with friendly students but with a lower standard.
Pressure:
The term pressure is used to describe the stress that arises from threats of negative events. It occurs in different fields of life, as in school, in work, in marriage and so on. The pressure of trying to avoid these negative event and problems at the different fields can sometimes be more stressful than the negative events themselves. The pressure of trying to avoid these negative events can sometimes be more stressful than the negative events themselves, as in marriage problems.