History of stress and strain
Anglo-Saxon scientists studying stress from various perspectives used, and still use, the term stress to denote the meaning of the word burden, i.e. as its synonym. In the past, the understanding of the concept of stress varied in content depending on the interests of experts with which the term was associated.
Hans Seley is considered the father of the stress situation. He lived most of his life in Canada, was born in Vienna, graduated from high school in Komárno and studied at the German University in Prague. Already as a young man he worked on various experiments. He discovered that different stressors act in different conditions, causing the same pathological changes. Thus, a reaction arose in which the body reacts to stimuli with the same response and labeled it as stress. (Bartůňková, 2010).
If we were to look back in history, we would find that doctors, artists, writers, biologists, etc. dealt with the issue of stress and stressful situations. even before this issue came to the center of attention of psychological science. Even its very psychological research and conceptual definition was first preceded by the fact that people used its laws of action empirically, experientially long before. An example is works of art that help us to realize what is related to a stressful situation, from the way it occurs through its course to the ways in which it can be solved, or what are its consequences for specific people. Even in the film, literary, religious, etc. in the works we can encounter facts that explain the interaction of the fact that critical stress situations best harden, but also reveal a person's character, that his personality, figuratively speaking, is born and formed "in battle."
Currently, the term stress is used to name the meaning of the word burden, i.e. as its synonym. However, in the historical development, it mattered precisely to experts and scientists, with what interest they looked at this term, that is, how they used it in their works. From this it follows that his understanding of content was not fixed, that is, it changed historically. For example, in the 17th century it was used in correlation with sadness, unhappiness, suffering or difficulties. With the development of physics and its research during the 18th and 19th centuries, this term was understandably associated with tension, force, great effort or pressure. It was only later, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, that thoughts and ideas about stress as a cause of impaired health and mental illness emerged. Psychologists and psychiatrists began to deal with this problem at the same time during the First World War, when due to mental disorders, soldiers could not adapt to war conditions to a sufficient extent, as the author Bratská (2001) points out, and these disorders were referred to as "nervous shocks, battle fatigue" and later as stress.
Author Walter Bradford Cannon is considered one of the first pioneers of the physiology of human emotions. In his experiments on laboratory animals, he noticed that if these animals were exposed to fear or intimidated in some other way, their peristaltic waves (rhythmic contraction of the muscles of the digestive system) in the stomach would sometimes suddenly stop working. Cannon collected evidence that pointed to the fact that if an animal is highly agitated, its sympathetic nervous system (part of the autonomic nervous system) combined with the hormone adrenaline mobilizes it, activates it for an urgent 'fight or flight' response. He summarized his knowledge in the book Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage. (Walter, 2011).
Another well-known scientist who was involved in the study and reaction of laboratory animals to various harmful stimuli (eg trauma, cold, bacteria, heat, etc.) was Hans Selye. In his research, he proved that the anterior part of the hypothalamus and the cortex of the adrenal glands play an important role precisely in the reactions to such stimuli. His work was beneficial not only to medical science, but also influenced experimental work and theoretical developments in psychology. Selye did not put emphasis on physical or biological factors for inducing stressful conditions, which have been in the center of attention for experts, but emphasized the importance of psychological and social factors.
Since the 1940s, the works of doctors (e.g. Wolf) have become public, citing a number of diseases related to stress and strain, which a person encounters during his life. The work of Grinker and Spiegel - Men under Stress (Men under Stress) from 1945 is considered to be the first monographic work focused on the issue of psychological stress, which discusses the reactions of military pilots who succumbed to psychological stress during combat.
A significant interest in the given issue (examination of workload) among psychologists can be observed especially after the Second World War, when the knowledge gained from the previous years could be applied in the field of work and teaching. The fifties of the last century brought for psychology the development of methodology, planning of experiments and the beginnings of a complex approach in the study of stress.
In the next period up to the present, we can see a stunning increase in the interest of psychologists in the issue of burden and stress on a person, which is evidenced by the number of works and publications not only in the world, but also in our professional literature, and they often form the focus of the content of contributions at various international congresses, conferences or symposia (Bratská, 2001).
Issues of stress and burden in the human individual
Various professional publications and studies provide very similar definitions of the terms load and stress. They define them as the physical pressure of the transferred weight, load, excessive performance from a human individual, organization, machine in complex situations and various circumstances that occur in society.
The term stress (from the Latin word stringo, stringere, strinxi, strictum – to tighten, to tighten, to pull in) means a state of psychological stress, which is caused by the action of a disturbing factor on a human individual (Hartl, Hartlová, 2000). The first author who dealt with stress theory and developed a theory of stress was Hans Selye. He defines stress as "a non-specific reaction of the organism to any load placed on the organism" (In: Kilíková, 2006, p. 10). "The term stress refers to all situations that cause tension, or emotional and psychological reactions to any mental and physical threats" (Košč, 1996, p. 69). The author Daniel (1984) defined stress in eight points that characterize it: 1. Stress can be characterized as a state of the whole organism, rather than a matter of the environment. 2. The stressful state is caused by differentiated environmental conditions. 3. Individuals respond to the same conditions in different ways. Some get into a stressful state quickly, others are more resistant. 4. The same person may or may not get into a stressful state when responding to the same stressful condition under different circumstances. 5. Consistent intra-individual, but different inter-individual psychological forms of response occur in stressful situations. 6. The behavior resulting from stress-inducing operations may be the same or different and depends on the situation. 7. The intensity and extent of the stressful state and the behavior related to it cannot be predicted immediately after knowing the very characteristics of the stimulus, but an analysis of the motivation and the situation in which the stressor acted is required. 8. Time factors can determine the importance of a given stressor and thus the intensity and extent of the stress state, as well as the optimum measurement of the effect.
Another author who dealt with stress was Janis. In his definition, stress is understood as a change in the organism, which in a state of threat can cause a high degree of tension, subvert well-established patterns of everyday behavior, weaken mental performance and induce unpleasant subjective states of affective exhaustion. The author Boroš (1999) states that the most typical manifestations of stress are anxiety, fear, nervousness, fear and anger, which a human individual experiences in a social environment. The author Křivohlavý defines this term as "the internal state of a person who is either directly threatened by something, or expects such a threat, and at the same time believes that his defense against adverse influences is not strong enough" (In: Oravcová, 2004, p. 287).
Social work representative Žiaková (2001) defines stress in more detail. He states that it is such a stressful situation that requires the development of increased activity, when a person's previous schemes of thinking, acting and behaving are not enough, but he has to reshape this old scheme. By stress, we understand the burden coming from the external and internal environment, which disrupts the balance of the organism and the environment. It is a reaction to a stressful stimulus or stressor.
Stressor is an environmental factor causing a state of stress in the organism, a stress reaction (Hartl, Hartlová, 2000, p. 569). In medicine, the term stressor is used for external stressful events and the term stress reaction for the organism's psychological and physical reaction to a stressor. Stressor, i.e. j. stress-inducing stimuli can be stimuli from the external environment, but also signals originating from the internal environment (Praško, 2003). Schreiber (1985, p. 20) distinguishes two main categories of stressors: Somatic stressors: External physical influences – cold, heat, various types of radiation, changes in atmospheric pressure, noise, vibrations, Somatic pathological conditions – hunger, thirst, pain, immobilization, bleeding, exertion, surgery. Psychological stressors: Individual stressors - conflict, frustration, unhealthy lifestyle, mental fatigue, anxiety from a personally unbearable situation, stressors from illness - pain, worries, immobilization, hospitalization, group stressors - from conflicts in relationships in the family environment, school, social stressors - insufficient financial evaluation, work overload, job loss, retirement.
The classification of stress and stressors is quite diverse in the literature. It is important not to forget the differential impact of a stressor on a specific person. In the same conditions, there is no stimulus that would be a stressor for all people who are exposed to it.
For the definition of a stressful situation, it is essential "the ratio between the degree (intensity, size, pressure, etc.) of the stressful situation (stressor or stressor) and the "strength" (abilities, possibilities, etc.) to handle the given situation" (Bratská, 2001, p. 32). We speak of a stressful situation (stress) only if the degree of intensity of the stressful situation is higher than the ability or possibility of the given person to handle this situation In general, it is a so-called over-limit load. It leads to a critical disruption of the organism's balance (Křivohlavý, 2003, p. 171). Stress is not automatically a bad thing (Melgosa, 1998, p. 20).
Stress and stressful situation are not the same term. The stressful situation is mainly caused by the already mentioned stress. The author Gáborová (2007) defines burden as those factors of a person's inner world that are characterized by unexpectedness, long duration of this state and its intensity.
The basic approach to the taxonomy of stress situations is the systematic classification according to Mikšík (1990). Mikšík (1990, p. 73 - 77) considers the basic types of stress situations that lead to psychological integration or disintegration of personality to be: Unreasonable tasks and requirements – overloading a person with a number of demands on his physical and mental strength, not respecting the laws of the organism's activity and not satisfying the needs, ambitions and tendencies of a person; accompanying phenomenon is the emergence of chronic fatigue or exhaustion; Problem situations – to navigate in unusual conditions and adopt new patterns of behavior, living conditions, hitherto unknown, unexperienced situations, which are: a) adjustment type – existential conditions require reshaping the usual way of life and behavior; b) creative type, they require the adoption of new solution procedures; Situations of dealing with obstacles – obstacles when reaching a goal in a given direction, or in selected procedures that cause a psychological state of frustration with the experience of disappointment and failure of intentions and efforts; they often lead to an ill-considered solution to the situation, while the solution requires purposeful regulation of behavior; Conflict situations – in the process of deciding how to act, when the individual is affected by equally strong tendencies in the opposite direction, in the fluctuation between possible alternatives of choice, indecisive attitude to the consequences of the choice or to the rejection of the decision, the adequacy of the solution depends to a large extent on the personality traits that are associated with risky behavior; Stressful situations – a disturbing circumstance acts during the implementation of the target activity in such a way that its pressure disrupts the optimal course, the conditions interfere with psychological functions, e.g. conditions of an unfavorable, atypical environment, implementing activities, time deficit in conditions of threat and anticipation of the consequences of faulty performance, or the pressure of "responsibility" in the broadest sense of the word.
The boundaries between individual types of load situations are not precisely defined, they often shift. In real life, for example, a frustrating situation takes the form of a conflict situation at the stage of resolution, a person can also understand the situation as a current threat to the existence of his life, and thus the situation becomes stressful. Such shifts occur if individual components of situations are not distinguished, e.g. origin, quality of load and stress. The author Vágnerová (2004) focused on different approaches caused by the stressful situation. Among the most important are:
Load processed as a challenge. For a person, a burden can be a challenge to overcome himself, his strengths, and after overcoming a stressful situation, a person feels more relaxed, full of positive emotions and positive reactions. If the result of overcoming the burden is satisfactory, a person's self-confidence and self-confidence are also strengthened.
Burden stimulating the need for defense and escape. A person who perceives experiencing a certain situation more difficult and considers it unmanageable tries to react by escape. It means that it is leaking from the load. This escape can also affect his self-confidence, especially in cases where escape from the load is more frequent. The feeling of an unmanageable load provides negative responses that can affect his performance, but also his attitude.
A look at the manifestations and levels of stress in humans
We ourselves know that the experienced stress is mainly based on two existing factors. The first is the external environment, in which we can include the environment at work, school, family, but also the environment in which we find ourselves. The second factor is our internal environment, because we can cause stress ourselves. On the basis of the mentioned factors, a person himself creates a kind of barrier against which he defends himself from stress.
During psychological stress, the living system activates alternative energy sources with its abilities, which is also understood as qualitatively intensified stress. This creates an alarming change in the organism. Under stress, there is tension in situational conditions, internal pressure and fatigue. We assess stress from a health perspective according to the degree (quantity), strength (quality) and frequency. Stress becomes risky to a certain extent (Račková, 2010, p. 142).
Man recognizes danger because he has dispositions for it, which are triggered by signals. Stress takes place from the beginning to the end in three phases:
1. Warning, mobilization
- this phase warns that a stress factor is present. Physical reactions are the first to appear. A person achieves a solution to a stressful situation if he is aware of its occurrence, therefore no consequences may occur (Račková, 2010, p. 142). The author Melgosa claims that if a stressful situation starts to "grow over a person's head" and the individual realizes that he no longer has enough strength, feelings of real stress will appear, which is why we call this situation the warning phase. It is caused by individual stimuli (only one source of stress is present here), a group of stimuli (it is several circumstances that collectively cause stress) (Melgosa, 1998, p. 25).
2. Resistance, resisting
- occurs when stress exceeds the warning stage. After this phase, a specific defense is created in the organism, which protects the organism despite the loss of the reserve.
3. Exhaustion
- during this last phase, a person becomes anxious (a morbid state of anxiety as a symptom of many psychoneuroses). These symptoms can occur simultaneously, separately or consecutively. Under normal circumstances, if a stressful situation occurs, the stress will surface and then disappear. But if stressors (the cause of stress) continue to act, a person's immune system weakens. In such a case, symptoms of flu, cold, migraine, pain in the spine, or even allergic reactions and skin diseases may appear (Račková, 2010, p. 142).
Events that are perceived as stressful are characterized by "uncontrollability, unpredictability and a degree that challenges the limits of our abilities and self-perception" (Lazarus, Folkman, 1984, p. 56). There are interindividual differences in the degree to which they evaluate the same event as uncontrollable, unpredictable and exerting pressure. Evaluation largely affects the perception of an event as stressful. The quantity and quality of experienced stress are expressed by four levels of psychological burden (Mikšík, 2007): Normal burden – demands are known, we have already encountered them, they do not stimulate personality development and lead to the use of stereotyped and automated ways of acting and behaving. Increased load – situations in which the usual methods of solving, acting and reacting are not sufficient, are new for a person and require increased effort and the acquisition of new skills and social abilities; they require changes in habitual ways of behavior without the negative consequences of stress. Borderline load – there is a significant discrepancy between equipment, preparedness and the demands of the external environment on a person, it assumes the use of psychological reserves, the accompanying phenomenon is negative consequences such as functional disorders of mental activity, behavioral disorders; significant physiological changes occur in the organism, the number of undesirable consequences on the psyche and overall health of a person increases. Extreme stress – a contradiction arises between the demands of the external environment and the human capabilities necessary to cope with them, a person is subjected to an intractable stressful situation for him, psychological failure is accompanied by significant behavioral disorders, changes in physiological and psychological processes in the organism, often with permanent negative consequences of stress on health, and if it persists, it also leads to disruption of social relationships. According to Charvát (1969), the psychological state of extreme stress, referred to as stress, also appears after the accumulation of several smaller stresses over a short period of time.
Our subjective experience of inconsistency, inconsistency between the demands placed on us by the external environment and our assumptions to handle these demands, can take on different sizes and different qualitative forms. It is precisely this quantity and quality of the experienced discrepancy that is expressed by the degrees of psychological burden. The author Mikšík (1969, p. 24), a leading expert in this issue, illustrated them using such a scheme:
Conclusion
Human sciences currently accept the understanding of man as a whole consisting of the integral unity of all his existential components. Individual human studies reflect a multidisciplinary focus with the aim of achieving progress in various issues related to the issue of stress and burden in humans as a consistent being in a social environment.
In ordinary life, we meet people who differ in a certain way from the majority. Such people form a minority in relation to the majority population, which is a natural and common part of society. The current time in which we live is new, confusing, often incomprehensible, full of serious economic and technical changes and especially social, economic and psychological problems that bring us stress and burden.
Burden and stress are part of our everyday life, we encounter them at work, in the family and in other areas of life. Changes are manifested not only in emotional experience, behavior and actions, but also on the physical side. Prolonged stress or its manifestations can have an impact on the overall condition of a person and his life in society.
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