452 



PSYCHOLOGY OF STRESS 



imposed or the result of environmental re- 

 straints; forcing the subject to alternate 

 between action and restraint in response to 

 a particular stimulus pattern; forcing the 

 subject to make an impossible discrimination 

 between "positive" and "negative" stimuli 

 (i.e., those followed by "reward" or "punish- 

 ment"); or a sustained conflict between two 

 antagonistic drives. In such cases, the sub- 

 ject must be strongly motivated, and at the 

 same time prevented from evading the in- 

 soluble problem; similarly, on the action 

 side, forcing the subject to respond when no 

 specific response is available may result in 

 breakdown. 



In concluding this section, it will be noted 

 that several of these factors correspond to 

 the various conditions underlying the devel- 

 opment of emotional stress discussed earlier 

 in this chapter, such as inadequate cognitive 

 structure or motivational conflict. The ad- 

 ditional point should be emphasized that all 

 of the conditions which underlie susceptibil- 

 ity to breakdown of an individual's adjustive 

 mechanisms as a result of emotional stress 

 are mutually interdependent. For example, 

 if an individual is emotionally insecure and 

 anxious, he will find it difficult to evaluate 

 the situation clearly and to determine the 

 most effective path of action. On the other 

 hand, if he does not know what to do in an 

 emergency situation, he will tend to become 

 anxious and insecure. Consequently, with 

 regard to a potentially stress-producing sit- 

 uation, considered attention should be paid 

 to each of the various factors, in order to 

 minimize emotional stress and maximize effi- 

 cient performance. 



Results of Emotional Stress^ 



Emotional stress, if sufficiently intense and 

 prolonged, results in the disruption of one 



^ Relatively little space will be given in this 

 chapter to a consideration of the results of emo- 

 tional stress, for three reasons. First, the avail- 

 able information dealing with the results of break- 

 down from stress is both more extensive and more 

 adequately formulated. For obvious reasons, 

 students of human behavior cannot systematically 



or more of the adaptive functions of the 

 organism. Such dysfunction occurs when 

 the intricate m.echanisms of adjustment are 

 taxed beyond their normal limits of toler- 

 ance. The various symptoms of disturbance 

 which appear under such conditions indicate 

 that the individual's resources for mastering 

 the stress have been surpassed. The dura- 

 tion of the dysfunction may be either tem- 

 porary or permanent, depending on such 

 factors as the nature and severity of the 

 stress, the particular vulnerabilities of the 

 individual, the adequacy of his integrative 

 mechanisms and means of handling stress, 

 and whether he gains any advantage from 

 his symptoms. The focal point of the dis- 

 ability may involve the physiological, be- 

 havioral, mental, or interpersonal levels of 

 adjustment, or various combinations of 

 these. 



Physiological symptoms resulting from 

 emotional stress are called psychosomatic. 

 This type of disturbance may take the form 

 of a marked increase or decrease in the 

 activity of the affected organ system, and 

 may or may not involve irreversible struc- 

 tural changes. To understand and deal with 

 psychosomatic symptoms, both the physio- 

 logical changes and their emotional corre- 

 lates must be considered, since in many cases 

 they go hand in hand. 



The normal functioning of any self-iegu- 

 lating system which serves to maintain the 



study the various factors underlying the collapse 

 of an individual's adjustive mechanisms by impos- 

 ing sufficient stress. Rather, they must make 

 their observations after the breakdown has oc- 

 curred. Second, even though one understands 

 the results of emotional stress, it is usually not 

 possible to reconstruct completely the individual's 

 futile attempts at adjustment, or retrace the com- 

 plex pattern of events and reactions that led up 

 to the collapse of his adaptive behavior. That 

 is to say, we cannot learn from the results of break- 

 down very much about the causes. Third, in 

 terms of dealing with a practical situation, the 

 important thing is to understand and be able to 

 control the factors in the individual and in the 

 situation that might produce emotional stress, and 

 hence to prevent breakdown. 



