Triggers and responses to stress

Stress represents the body’s natural reaction to a change or a threat that requires an adjustment or a response.

While stress is a normal part of life in some contexts, certain types and patterns of stressful events can have long-lasting negative implications for physical and mental wellbeing.

Responses to Stress

An individual’s response to stress includes emotional, physiological, cognitive and behavioural reactions. An outline of the stress process is presented, with examples being included in the table below.

^{There is a causal relationship starting from a potentially stressful objective event, which triggers a subjective cognitive appraisal, which leads to emotional responses, physiological responses and behavioural responses.} 

Emotional reactions to stress

Common emotional reactions to stress include feelings of anxiety, dejection, anger, and annoyance. However, it is also worth thinking about positive emotional responses, such as excitement or determination, which may allow an individual to successfully adapt and cope with a stressful event.

The physical symptoms that individuals feel when they are faced with a stressful situation are the result of the physiological reaction of the individual’s body to the stressor.

Behavioural changes in response to stress may affect an individual’s day-to-day life by making them more withdrawn and thus spending less time with friends and family, or by leading an individual to develop new habits in order to cope with the stress, such as smoking or substance abuse.

The Cognitive-Transactional Model

Lazarus and Folkman (1986) developed a model of stress known as the Cognitive-Transactional model, in which stress is defined as the “relationship with the environment that the person appraises as significant for his or her wellbeing and in which the demands tax or exceed available coping resources”.

The definition highlights a key process that mediates how an individual reacts to a stressor: an appraisal.

^{The image shows a flowchart of the cognitive-transactional model of stress, as described above. Based on similar diagrams from Turner-Cobb and Hawken (2019) and Weesie (2017). Click to see a larger version}

Two-stage cognitive appraisal model

Lazarus (1970) proposed a two-stage cognitive appraisal model. The first stage involved a primary appraisal, in which an individual determines whether a potential stressor represents a threat.

If the potential stressor is not deemed a threat, no stress is experienced. However, if the stressor is appraised as threatening, a secondary appraisal takes place, during which the individual assesses whether they can cope with the threat. If the individual decides that they can cope with the threat, then no stress is experienced.

If the individual determines that they cannot cope with the threat, stress is experienced.

References

^{Lazarus R.S., Folkman S. (1986) Cognitive Theories of Stress and the Issue of Circularity. In: Appley M.H., Trumbull R. (eds) Dynamics of Stress. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping.(pp. 63-80) Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5122-1_4}

^{Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer Publishing Company. Lazarus, R. S. (1970). Cognitive and personality factors underlying threat and coping. In: Levin, S., Scotch, N.A. (eds) Social stress. (pp. 143-164) doi: 10.4324/9781315129808-8}

^{Turner-Cobb, J., & Hawken, T. (2019). Stress and Coping Assessment. In C. Llewellyn, S. Ayers, C. McManus, S. Newman, K. Petrie, T. Revenson, et al. (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine (pp. 229-236). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.}

^{Weesie, E. (2017). Psychological barriers in business transfers: how to cope with the transfer of SME ownership. Enschede: University of Twente. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.21660.18561.}