Chapter 1. What is Stress?

“Stress is the Spice of Life; the absence of stress is death”

Definition
Stress has been defined in many ways by many different people. It has been a

topic of interest to medical professionals, social scientists, anthropologists, psychologists,

and even zoologists. For our purposes, it seems most enlightening to examine it from

several different perspectives, thereby getting a broad overview of the phenomenon, as

well as its roots in the history of humankind.

Any discussion of stress would surely be incomplete without some mention of the

work of Hans Selye, M.D. Considered by many to be the father of stress research, Selye

began studying the phenomenon of stress over 50 years ago. His classic and still widely

respected work, The Stress of Life, first published in 1946, gave us this definition: A

non-specific response of the body to a demand. It is still recognized today as the simplest

and best physiological definition of what happens within our bodies when we are

knocked out of our comfortable equilibrium.

Looking a little deeper into the mechanics of this phenomenon, we find that the

physiological stress reaction is our body’s response to any change, threat, or pressure put

upon it, from outside forces...or from within. Our body then tries to regain its normal

state and protect itself from potential harm. Thousands of years ago, during a far less

structured and complex era, individuals needed this response to stay alive and combat

various kinds of physical threats (animals, other humans, flood, fire, etc.). This is one of
many unique ways in which homo sapiens are equipped to survive in the world. The

purpose of stress, then, is to keep us alive and healthy!

Today, much of the stress we experience is manufactured in our minds. We

perceive a threat (loss of job, anger from spouse, not meeting a deadline) and we begin to

worry. Our bodies, lacking the ability to discern a deadline from a hairy beast, still react

in much the same way they did 4000 years ago.

Stress is inevitable. To be entirely without stress is to be dead! However, not all

stress is unpleasant. Selye distinguished between pleasant stress, which he labeled

eustress, and unpleasant stress or distress. When we discuss stress today we are usually

referring to distress, but we can all relate to pleasant situations or occurrences which have

caused us stress: weddings, births, promotions, receiving awards, reuniting with old

friends, and countless others. Any change, positive or negative, requires a response from

our bodies in order to adapt and bring us back to our relatively peaceful state.

We can also look at stress as a state of imbalance between demands (from inside

or outside sources) and our perceived abilities to meet those demands. This is

experienced most acutely when the expectation is that the consequences of meeting the

demand will be quite different from the consequences of not meeting the demand. For

example, if you were asked to create a marketing brochure and you felt confident of your

knowledge of the product and your ability to organize the information, create attractive

graphics, and put an interesting and attractive spin on the information, you will find the

whole experience far less stressful than if you considered yourself inadequately informed,

a poor writer, and not particularly creative. It would be doubly stressful if, on top of the

pressure for an eye-popping masterpiece, the initial recipients were to be a beta-test

feedback on their reactions to the new product based on your marketing piece.

Beliefs Eustress

excitement
elation
Expectations
approach
Internal
joy
Life Experiences

Conditioning
External panic
avoidance
Self-esteem
flight
fight
Confidence

Stress

Stressors Filters Stress Response

Stressors
The stress response is ignited by a stressor. Some common stressors include:

• Physical threats

• Threats to our self image

• An important life event

• A fight or conflict with a friend/relative/co-worker

• Tight deadlines

• Loss of something or someone we care for

physiological stress response. But here we begin to see individual differences. In order

for an event to be labeled a stressor, it needs to be perceived as one. A request from your

spouse to pick up a prescription at the drug store may be perceived as a completely

reasonable task and fit right in with other errands for that day (non-stressful). On the

other hand, it may require considerable juggling of an already full schedule and cause

some bad feelings or an argument between you and your spouse (stressful).

Like stress itself, stressors come in two varieties: distressors and eustressors. An

opportunity to stand up at a meeting and say a few words may be perceived as scary,

threatening or risky for one individual, but a second individual may have been expecting

or hoping to be called upon and see it as an opportunity to appear knowledgeable and

intelligent. The first sees the situation as a distressor, the second as a eustressor, or

positive challenge.

Theories

Type A vs. Type B

and our health has been that of cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman. They

observed two vastly different behavior types among their patients. One kind of behavior,

Type A, they found much more likely to lead to heart attacks in otherwise healthy

individuals. Individuals exhibiting Type B behavior, on the other hand, were less likely
to ever end up in a hospital bed with heart problems. The following table contains some

of the distinguishing characteristics of the two types:

TYPE A TYPE B
Moves quickly Moves unhurriedly
Eats fast Eats peacefully
Speaks rapidly Speaks slowly

Frequently feels impatient Patient

Aggressive and competitive at work Cooperative and collaborative at work

Very time conscious Not time driven, sometimes late

Easily upset or angered Easy-going

Highly motivated to achieve Generally satisfied

Perceived as strong and forceful Soft-spoken, laid back

Feels restless during periods of inactivity Enjoys leisure and quiet time

Frequently tries to do multiple tasks at Does one task at a time

once

Type A’s often achieve phenomenal career success and a great deal of recognition

for their efforts. However, the physical and emotional toll may be quite high. Along

with a coronary heart disease rate that Friedman and Rosenman found to be seven times

that of the Type B’s, Type A’s are rarely satisfied with what they accomplish. So they

drive themselves harder and harder, pushing other people away as a consequence. And
Type A behavior is not limited to work and career. Type A’s report less satisfaction with

family and other relationships, as well, further alienating those close to them. This might

lead us to conclude that the saying “it’s lonely at the top” may have more to do with

alienation and provocation than a mere pyramid of numbers.

P-E Fit
Another popular theory about stress is the Person-Environment Fit Theory,

developed at the Institute for Social Research. The focus of this theory is the relationship

between an individual’s perception of a task, their perception of their ability to complete

that task, and the motivation to complete the task. The hypothesis is that feelings of

stress should increase as the P-E gap widens. Findings indicate that this is in fact the

case, and that stress varies as a function of level of challenge (stress) preferred by the

individual.

Let’s take an example: Some engineers are challenged by long hours, a fast pace,

and a chaotic atmosphere. They enjoy the feeling of importance that comes with being a

big fish in a small pond where lots of people depend on them. And they don’t

particularly mind letting their job take priority over everything else in their life. Small,

newly formed, start-up companies need to look for individuals like this in order to create

a good person-environment fit. These engineers will thrive in that kind of climate.

On the other hand, if the president of a small start-up company decided to recruit

engineers with a good reputation and track record from IBM, he may soon discover he

has some very stressed-out people on his hands. Individuals who thrive in a large stable

environment often do poorly in chaos. It creates a level of stress for them that is often
intolerable. The same is true in reverse. An entrepreneurial engineer will feel stifled,

unmotivated, and out of place in a traditional, slow-moving company.

Coping
Stress is cumulative. Our bodies are well equipped to deal with a reasonable

amount of stress throughout our lives. However, as we shall explore in chapter 6, our

world is becoming more and more complex and demanding. It is particularly important

today, and will become increasingly critical in future decades, to make sure we have

adequate coping techniques to manage our stressful lives.

Coping techniques are thought patterns and behavioral habits that neutralize

stressors or mitigate their impact on us. When we receive a poor review at work, our

thoughts often focus on ideas like “my manager didn’t really have an adequate

opportunity to observe how hard I worked” or “my supervisor just doesn’t value non-

technical skills.” You’ve probably called these thoughts rationalizations. That’s exactly

what they are; rationalizing is a coping mechanism. (They’re much easier to see when

others are doing it!)

Coping is our effort to manage the demands we perceive as negative. Human

beings automatically develop complex coping mechanisms; it’s part of the socialization

and maturation process. These coping mechanisms differ widely from one individual to

another. And they range from trivial to severe.

At the extreme or severe end is what psychiatrists call repression. When

something truly devastating happens in life, especially when it occurs at a young age, our

minds may simply destroy all record of it in a desperate effort to maintain normalcy. The
memory becomes unavailable to the conscious mind. You could compare it to pressing

the “delete” key on your computer to wipe out a file. Much has been written lately about

repressed memories with regard to childhood sexual abuse. That is the kind of severe

trauma that can cause full repression.

At the milder end of the spectrum are unconscious coping strategies like moving

slower on a hot day or staying in bed when we don’t feel very well. We also engage in

many deliberate coping activities like putting cotton in our ears to work in a noisy room,

cuddling with the dog or cat when we feel lonely or unloved, or taking a long bubble bath

after a trying day.

Sometimes we must supplement these everyday coping mechanisms in order to

meet elevated demands. The fact that you are reading this book may mean you are

currently experiencing increased demands in your life. In the second half of the book we

will explore a great variety of ways in which you can enhance your ability to cope. You

may want to supplant old ways with new ones, or simply try some new techniques for

awhile.

Satisfaction
One final element completes our big-picture understanding of the nature of stress:

its mirror image, satisfaction. Stress and satisfaction often operate like a teeter-totter;

when one goes up the other goes down. But this is not always the case. It is possible for

someone to have high stress and high satisfaction, if they have a feeling of control and

choice in the situation, and have functional coping mechanisms. It is not as likely,

however, that someone with low satisfaction would also have low stress. Generally,
feelings of discontent or dissatisfaction go hand-in-hand with high levels of stress. In

Chapter 3 you will have an opportunity to assess your satisfaction level.