CAUSES OF EMOTIONAL STRESS 



451 



motivations. One example is seen in men 

 who operate anti-submarine sound gear, 

 whose motivation to carry out the particular 

 activity over a long period of time seems to 

 become expended. If this condition (usually 

 called satiation) continues long enough, the 

 person will show strain, shifts of attention, 

 fatigue, and lowered efficiency. If it con- 

 tinues under high tension, emotional break- 

 down and personality disintegration may 

 result (8, 99). Satiation develops most rap- 

 idly when the individual feels he is repeti- 

 tiously marking time and not accomplishing 

 anything, and it is dispelled by either tem- 

 porarily shifting to other activities, or by 

 feeling that real progress is being made (cf. 

 45). 



Emotional stress may result from a con- 

 flict of motives. Such conflict may lie at 

 deep as well as at superficial levels. For 

 instance, a person may select a line of work 

 for what he thinks is a particular set of 

 motives; but this conscious assumption 

 may only cover up deeper contradictory mo- 

 tives, such as a desire to humiliate one's 

 parents, prove one's manhood, aggress 

 against authority figures, etc. (32). In such 

 cases, the individual who is prevented from 

 satisfying these deeper emotional needs will 

 tend to feel frustrated, torn apart, and un- 

 able to do his work effectively. Other ex- 

 amples of hidden conflicts were mentioned 

 earher, such as the need to express aggres- 

 sion, along with feelings of guilt and anxiety 

 over it. In many cases, the person may be 

 aware of the conflict, as when he does wish 

 to do his duty, but at the same time is driven 

 to avoid risk of injury, disability or death. 

 Such emotional conflicts are inevitable in 

 war, but if they are not resolved or mastered, 

 they will play havoc with the person's ad- 

 justment and performance. 



An individual's motivation and ability to 

 perform effectively in a stress situation may 

 be interfered with as a result of debilitating 

 physiological factors. These generally con- 

 tribute toward a depletion of energy reserves, 

 a disintegration of adaptive capacities, and 



hence increase susceptibility to breakdown. 

 Examples include excessive fatigue, insuffi- 

 cient sleep, extreme variations in tempera- 

 ture and humidity, poor and insufficient 

 nutrition, infections, injuries, illness, toxic 

 conditions, etc. (24, 91). These factors often 

 operate subclinically — i.e., they are not clin- 

 ically evident — so that their influence may 

 not be realized even by the man himself. 

 However, this does not minimize their impor- 

 tance as a contributing factor in lowered 

 efficiency or even breakdown as a result of 

 emotional stress (21, 24). 



Situation Conditions and Emotional Stress 



Besides the various factors within the in- 

 dividual which have been mentioned, there 

 are several situational conditions which may 

 precipitate the collapse of the individual's 

 adjustive mechanisms. In general, the anal- 

 ysis of such situational factors has been made 

 on the basis of investigations with animal 

 subjects (cf. footnote 3), and is discussed in 

 the literature on "experimental neuroses." 

 Reports and summaries of conditions under 

 which such behavior disorders may be ex- 

 perimentally induced through environmental 

 stress may be found in various sources (cf . 3, 

 47, 51, 52, 84). 



There are several common factors which 

 contribute toward the development of non- 

 adaptive behavior in animal subjects. They 

 are : excessive and overwhelming stimulation, 

 being caught off-guard after a series of less 

 intense stimuli, or specific susceptibilities of 

 certain types of subjects. A similar effect 

 results from the presentation of stimuli 

 which recur too frequently or for too long a 

 time to permit adequate adjustment or rest; 

 the monotonous repetition of a specific pat- 

 tern of stimulation with trivial, irrelevant 

 consequences. This condition generally ex- 

 ists when there is a strict adherence to a 

 highly rigid time schedule, even though its 

 duration is not excessive; the protracted 

 inhibition or forced delay of a response after 

 the signal to act is given. The suspense 

 and strain of such delay may be either self- 



