Stress and Coping

The Body Under Pressure

Stress is how we perceive and respond to environmental demands, or stressors, appraised as threatening or challenging.

Physiologist Hans Selye found the body's response to prolonged stress follows the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS):

Chronic activation of the HPA axis during resistance keeps cortisol elevated, suppressing immunity and raising cardiovascular risk.

Common pitfall: Assuming stress lives in the event itself. Under Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman's model, stress is a transaction dependent on appraisal.

Appraisal and Coping

Appraisal happens in two rounds:

• Primary appraisal: Is this a threat, a challenge, or irrelevant?
• Secondary appraisal: Do I have the resources to cope?

Coping is our effort to manage appraised stress through two distinct styles:

Neither style is universally superior. Match the strategy to the controllability of the stressor.