POSITIVE STRESS

STRESS.....
•motivate individuals to accomplish their goal
•As a drive to improve their skills by comparing their works with competitors
•make any necessary changes in their lives-based on fight-or-flight response
* fight-or-flight response helps individuals to detect danger and to provide a defence against infection or take appropriate steps to overcome danger
•many new discoveries and creative solutions

NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Physiological disorder
•Migraine •Asthma •chest pain •backache
•heart disease •frequent urination •high blood pressure •diabetes
•ulcers •loss of sexual interest •Stomach upsets •Menstrual disorders •Infertility cancer

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS
emotion:
- Anger - Anxiety - Depression -Nervousness
- Fear - Grief - Jealous - loneliness
- boredom - shame - hopelessness - Guilt

cognitive effects:
-Inability to make decision -Persistent thoughts of death
-Inability to concentrate -Mental blocks
- Frequent forgetfulness - Inability to rationalize
- Hypersensitivity to criticism -Pessimism
- Low self-esteem

Behavioral:
•Accident proneness •Drug taking •Emotional outburst
•Excessive eating •loss of appetite •Impulsive behavior
•Impaired speech •Restlessness •Aggressive
•Bad temper •Sleep disturbance •Excessive drinking
•Excessive smoking

Psychological Cause

Stress can cause by psychological or physical demands. For instance, conflict and frustration are examples of psychological demands. Physical demands might include infection, disease, or injury.

hological Cause

Along with physical stresses, such as illness, noise, or temperature extremes, there are three major psychological causes of stress: pressure, conflict, and frustration.

Pressure

When we strive to meet the social and psychological demands we impose on ourselves and that others impose on us, we experience pressure. There are two type of pressure; there are Internal Pressure and External Pressure. Internal pressure results when we attempt to maintain self-esteem by forcing ourselves to achieve higher standards: We study higher in school, try to be more popular with our friends, attempt to solve difficult challenges, and try to look attractive. Internal pressure is important for self-improvement. With internal pressure, we try harder to achieve.

External pressure results from the demands other people make on us. We try to please the people who are important in our lives. We may try to lose weight to please or attract a loved one, get high grades to make our parent’s pound, work hard to impress the boss, or compete to be successful so we will be admired by our friends. External pressure helps us adjust to a social environment.

Conflict

Conflict occurs when we experience incompatible demands or desires. In many cases, when the conflict is not resolved, the result is stress. Psychologists generally follow the lead of social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1935), who suggested that conflict can be characterized by two opposing tendencies: approach and avoidance.

In approach-approach conflict, we are attracted to two equally desirable goals that are incompatible. Choosing one goal means giving up the other one. For instance, we can see only one movie at a time. When we experience appoarch-appoarch conflict, we often have difficulty in making a decision. This lead to stress that would not have existed if we had not had to make the decision.

In avoidance-avoidance conflict, we are faced with two equally undesirable demands that we must choose between. With either choice we are not going to happy. For example, we might be terrified of water, but we don’t want people to laugh at us for not swimming. Because either outcome will be negative, we are bound to experience stress. Our objective is to choose the alternative that is less likely to be stressful. There is a strong tendency for us to try to escape avoidance-avoidance conflicts.

In approach-avoidance conflict, we are faced with a single goal that has positive and negative aspects. We might really want to have a car, but realize we cannot afford one. We might really want to run for an office in student government, but we are afraid of the responsibility. In this type of conflict we may consider the costs and benefits carefully before making a decision, being aware that the consequences are not all positive. Or we may remain undecided and let the opportunity slip away.

But sometimes we are not just experience conflict over two goals only. We experience conflict over two or more goals, both of which have positive and negative aspects. This situation is called multiple approach-avoidance conflict. For example, perhaps our family is considering a vacation, and the ideal destination (approach) is extremely expensive (avoidance), and a second choice would not be as much fun (avoidance) but would be more affordable (approach). Typically, we must make choices among several alternatives, all possessing positive and negative features. As you can well imagine, almost anything we do will result in some stress.

Frustration

Conflicts situations also often produce frustration. Frustration occurs when we are prevented from reaching a goal. When we experience frustration, we must either give up the goal or find another way to attain it. In either case, stress is produced. We experience a variety of frustrations in our everyday lives. Examples, We live in a society where time is important, and we get upset when we are delayed. People are frustrated when they must wait in line at a store, when a phone number is busy, or when someone is late.

When people lost something important, it frustrates them because it means they are deprived of goals. If they lose money or possessions, they may not be able to purchase things that they desire. If they lose someone they love, they are deprived of the future of a relationship. Failure also frustrates people. Sometimes they fail to win, to get a high grade on a test, or to impress other people. Sometimes they feel as though they have failed, even when they do better than expected, because they have such high expectations for themselves. Then their failures may produce guilt.

How to people respond to frustration? Frederikson and Dewe (1996) argued that frustration tended to lead to avoidance of the stressful situation. When we are continually frustrated we are likely to seek some distraction. I noticed that sometimes students who are doing poorly in a class tend to skip the class more. Other research suggests that people may respond to frustration with aggression, even when frustration is justified (Dill & Anderson, 1995).