Yuri Viktorovich Shcherbatykh psychology of stress and methods of correction. The role of the cardiovascular system in the formation of stress reactions


Content
BLOCK 1.
1. Stress as a biological and psychological category
The role of the autonomic nervous system in the adaptation of the human body to environmental factors………………………………………………………3
2. Forms of manifestation of stress and criteria for its assessment
Methods for assessing the state of the cardiovascular system and the autonomic nervous system under stress………………………………………………..4
3. Dynamics of stress conditions
Classical dynamics of stress development in the concept of G. Selye………5
4. Causes of psychological stress
Causal classification of stress occurrence……………………..6
5. Feature of professional stress
Educational stress and its forms………………………………………………. .7
6. Methods for optimizing the level of stress
Classification of methods for neutralizing stress ………………………… 10

BLOCK 2………………………………………………………………………. 12
BLOCK 3………………………………………………………………………. sixteen
References…………………………………………………………….24

BLOCK 1.
Topic 1. Stress as a biological and psychological category
The role of the autonomic nervous system in the adaptation of the human body to environmental factors.
Higher nervous activity ensures the individual adaptation of the organism to changing conditions of the external and internal environment. It is determined (determined) by the combined action of many factors. These include, on the one hand, afferent impulses that enter the central nervous system from receptors that perceive endogenous and exogenous stimuli, i.e., stimuli from the internal and external environment, on the other hand, trace phenomena from the previous activity of the nervous system, i.e. i.e. memory. An important role in afferent impulsation belongs to sensory corrections (feedback), which transmit signals about the nature and effectiveness of body reactions through internal and external analyzers (in sports, for example, about the movements of body parts, the trajectory of moving projectiles during throwing).
Based on the analysis and synthesis of afferent impulses (including sensory corrections) and trace processes, new reflex acts and integral behavior of the organism are formed. Higher nervous activity is of great importance in the process of acquiring new motor skills and adapting to various physical exercises.
The mechanisms of higher nervous activity in higher animals and humans are associated with the activity of a number of parts of the brain. The main role in these mechanisms belongs to the cerebral cortex (IP Pavlov). It has been experimentally shown that in the higher representatives of the animal world, after complete surgical removal of the cortex, the higher nervous activity deteriorates sharply. They lose the ability to subtly adapt to the external environment and exist independently in it.
The absence of active food-procuring reflexes and defensive reactions to distant (distance) stimuli can lead to death from starvation or biological enemies.
In humans, the cerebral cortex plays the role of "manager and distributor" of all vital functions (IP Pavlov). This is due to the fact that in the course of phylogenetic development, the process of corticalization of functions occurs. It is expressed in the increasing subordination of the body's somatic and vegetative functions to the regulatory influences of the cerebral cortex. In the case of the death of nerve cells in a significant part of the cerebral cortex, a person turns out to be unviable and quickly dies with a noticeable violation of the homeostasis of the most important autonomic functions.
Topic 2. Forms of manifestation of stress and criteria for its assessment
Methods for assessing the state of the cardiovascular system and the autonomic nervous system under stress.
According to the results of numerous clinical observations and experimental studies, the cardiovascular system primarily responds to stress, and also becomes one of the first targets of stress. According to most researchers, the leading pathogenic factor in relation to the cardiovascular system under stress is the activation of catecholamine and adrenocordicoid mechanisms, which, through a violation of the permeability of the membranes of heart cells, lead to disorders of their metabolism and hypoxia. At the same time, researchers emphasize the two-way relationship between stress and ischemia of the heart muscle: on the one hand, ischemia often occurs as a result of a stress reaction that causes spasm and thrombosis of the coronary vessels, and on the other hand, ischemia caused by any cause causes pain, fear of death, and as a result - the expressed emotional stress.

Topic 3 Dynamics of stress conditions
Classical dynamics of stress development in the concept of G. Selye.
It should be noted that Hans Selye received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of this particular aspect of stress reactions - the activation of the adrenal cortex, which helps the human and animal body to overcome various difficulties with the help of special anti-stress hormones. This reaction is also triggered by the hypothalamus, but differs significantly from the previous one. Under the action of hormones of the adrenal cortex (glucocorticoids), all metabolic processes are enhanced, more glucose appears in the blood, inflammatory processes are suppressed, the body becomes less sensitive to pain - as a result, the degree of adaptation to the increased requirements of the environment increases.
Further development of events depends on how quickly the body manages to cope with stress, which successively goes through the stages of anxiety, adaptation and exhaustion.
If the stress factor continues to affect the body, then adaptation occurs - the stage of balance of the stressor and protective mechanisms, at which the body manages to more or less compensate for the damage from the negative impact. This stage can be experienced by an athlete in the middle of a long distance, by the head of a company during the implementation of a responsible project, by a student in the first half of the examination session.
However, staying in a state of stress cannot last indefinitely, since the reserves of adaptive energy, according to Selye's teaching, are limited. Therefore, if the stress factor continues to affect the body, physiological stress is replaced by pathological, in other words, a person becomes ill. Such psychosomatic diseases as arterial hypertension, nonspecific colitis, gastric ulcer and a number of other diseases are frequent complications of prolonged psychological stress.
Topic 4. Causes of psychological stress
Causal classification of the occurrence of stress.
The list of causes of stress is huge. International conflicts, instability of the political situation in the country, and socio-economic crises can act as stressors. In addition, the cause of stress can be: worker overload at the workplace, worker underload, role conflict and other factors.
Factors that influence the occurrence of personal stress in an organization can be divided into organizational, non-organizational and personal.
Organizational factors include:
- insufficient workload of the employee, in which he is not given the opportunity to demonstrate his qualifications to the fullest. This situation is often encountered, for example, in many domestic organizations that have switched to a reduced mode of operation or are forced to reduce the amount of work due to non-payments by customers;
- insufficiently clear understanding by the employee of his role and place in the production process, the team. This situation is usually caused by the lack of clearly defined rights and obligations of a specialist, the ambiguity of the task, the lack of growth prospects;
Non-organizational factors include:
- lack of work or a long search for it;
- competition in the labor market;
- the crisis state of the country's economy in general and the region in particular;
- family difficulties.
The consequences of exposure to stressful situations are very diverse and largely depend on the nature of the situation and the individual characteristics of the stressed employees. These consequences may be as follows:
- subjective, in which workers have feelings of guilt, increased anxiety, fatigue, frustration;
- behavioral - the occurrence of gossip, increased risk of incidents;
- physiological - deterioration in the health of employees, the occurrence of coronary diseases, fluctuations in blood pressure, etc.;
- organizational - an increase in staff turnover, an increase in the number of absenteeism, an increase in employee dissatisfaction with the work performed.

Topic 5. Feature of professional stress
Educational stress and its forms.
Stress in a student's life
Student life is full of emergency and stressful situations, so students often experience stress and mental stress. Basically, students develop stress due to a large flow of information, due to the lack of systematic work in the semester and, as a rule, stress during the session.
Emotional tension in students begins at least 3-4 days before the session and persists throughout it, even on the quietest days. The presence of emotional stress in inter-examination days is evidence that the examination session is accompanied by continuous, chronic stress. The consequence of such stress may be neurosis, i.e. functional disease of the nervous system. Then, first of all, the nervous system suffers, its resources are depleted, forcing the body to work at the limit. What loosens the nervous system, leads it to breakdown and the onset of the disease? It is generally accepted that neurosis occurs when a person is under stress for a long time. Neurosis is not a disease, but a kind of "normal" personality reactions in unusual stressful conditions. In turn, quarrels, failures and other life events that psychiatrists refer to as mental trauma lead to stress. The period of study has a significant impact on the formation of personality, so the problems of mental health of students are very relevant.
The level of neurotic disorders increases with each year of study. Students with neurotic disorders do not know how to organize their regimen, and this aggravates their asthenia (i.e., reduces the functionality of the central nervous system, manifested in deterioration of working capacity, mental fatigue, deterioration of attention, memory, increased reactivity with irritable weakness). Students with neurotic disorders do not get enough sleep, some of them do not use their days off for rest. Diseases of neurosis leads to a significant decrease in academic performance. Among the students of the risk group, the majority used alcohol to facilitate communication, improve mood and in difficult life situations.
The problem of stress is complex and multifaceted. Stress in the learning process must be managed. This is the task of the students themselves and their teachers, social educators, psychologists. Perhaps the ways to solve it lie in the professional motivation of students and in the introduction of the basics of a healthy lifestyle, training courses, and health-saving technologies into the educational process.
Stress is a kind of human reaction to mental or physical stress, which is a physiological unconditioned reflex. Stress is part of our daily life. It affects us from the hustle and bustle of the morning until late at night and even during sleep. Stress can be both useful and destructive: the useful one adds energy, and the destructive one manifests itself in the form of a headache, hypertension, stomach ulcers, chronic insomnia, mental disorders or other diseases.
For a modern student, as well as for any person in general, stress is not a supernatural phenomenon, but rather a reaction to the accumulated problems, to the endless process of dealing with everyday difficulties. Stress can be caused by factors related to the work and activities of an organization or events in a person's personal life.
For a university student, the problems and difficulties may be the following:

    lack of sleep;
    undelivered on time and unprotected laboratory work;
    tasks not completed or performed incorrectly;
    a large number of passes in any subject;
    the absence of a term paper or a project in the discipline at the right time;
    insufficiently complete knowledge of the discipline;
    poor performance in a particular discipline;
    overload or too little student workload, i.e. a task to be completed within a specific period of time;
Personal factors should not be discounted either. This may include illness of a family member, change in the number of friends, conflicts with classmates and loved ones, moving, significant personal achievements, changes in financial situation and other factors.
Subject. 6 Stress Optimization Techniques
Classification of methods for neutralizing stress.
The sooner you can stop the chain reaction of stress, the better you can manage stress in your life. You might think that if you eliminate all stressors from your life, then you will never experience stress and therefore never get sick from it. Since this goal is both impossible and undesirable, your attempt at stress management at the highest level of the model (life situation) will have to eliminate as much stress as possible.
There are many methods to deal with stress. Consider some options that any modern person can resort to.
1. When managing time, keeping things under control is just as important as managing stress. Feeling in control of a situation is probably the most important and fundamental attitude needed to overcome stress.
2. Defending yourself from stress, you can resort to imagination. It is used for mental relaxation.
3. Short walks in the fresh air.
4. Visiting cultural and cultural and entertainment institutions (theater, museum, exhibition, cinema, etc.)
5. Communication with friends or other pleasant company.
6. Laughter is a good stress reliever. It trains many muscles, relieves headaches, lowers blood pressure, normalizes breathing and sleep. At the same time, the so-called anti-stress hormones enter the bloodstream. During stress, the body also produces hormones, only stressful ones: adrenaline and cortisol.
7. Massage. You can also resort to self-massage.
8. Sports activities (jogging, swimming, playing sports, etc.). Any kind of physical exercise releases stress hormones.
9. There are a number of stress management exercises. These include 3 types of exercises:
    relaxation (autoregulatory breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, yoga);
    concentration exercises. They can be performed anywhere and anytime during the day;
    anti-stress breathing exercises.
So, stress is an integral part of the daily life of every person. The reaction to stress, as well as the beginning of the working day, diet, physical activity, the quality of rest and sleep, relationships with others, are integral parts of the lifestyle. It depends on the person himself what his lifestyle will be - healthy, active or unhealthy, passive, and, therefore, how often and for how long he will be in a stressful state.

BLOCK 2.
1. S.N. Gurbatov, A.I. Saichev, S.F. Shandarin “Large-scale structure of the Universe. The Zel'dovich Approximation and the Sticking Model”/ S.N. Gurbatov a, A.I. Saichev a, S.F. Shandarin. - Nizhny Novgorod State University. N.I. Lobachevsky, Faculty of Radiophysics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia //Advances in Physiological Sciences. - 2012. -T. 182. - No. 3. - p.232-262
Subject headings: Universe - structure - models of the universe.
Key words: model – Universe – Zeldovich – sticking model – gravitational equations – Burger – Turbulence.
The article refers to the problems of space and astronomy.
The article has a complex structure. It consists of an introduction, six chapters of the conclusion and a list of references.
The introduction substantiates the relevance of the issue raised in the article and analyzes the background of this topic.
This article considers a semi-analytical model for the formation of the large-scale structure of the Universe on scales from several megaparsecs to several hundred megaparsecs. The model serves as a natural generalization of the Zel'dovich approximation proposed in 1970.
The Zeldo?vic effect is a change in the intensity of radio emission from the background background due to the inverse Compton effect on hot electrons of interstellar and intergalactic gas.
The mathematical basis of the model is the Burgers equation for a small or even vanishingly small viscosity coefficient. The model provides a natural explanation for the observed distribution of galaxies on scales from a few megaparsecs to several hundred megaparsecs, resembling a three-dimensional mosaic or a giant cosmic web. Many of the model's predictions have been confirmed by modern observations. New theoretical and mathematical results related to the Burgers model and their applications to cosmology are discussed.
2. Journal of Higher Nervous Activity. I. P. Pavlov

Chief Editor:
I. A. Shevelev
The subject of the magazine:
The journal publishes the results of original theoretical and experimental research on the physiology and pathophysiology of higher nervous activity, as well as the general physiology of the brain and analyzers.
The purpose of the journal is also to highlight the connection between Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity and philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, and biology.
The journal contains review and critical works, reviews, reports on scientific sessions and conferences.
The journal is intended for a wide range of scientists, graduate students, faculty of higher institutions, senior students of philosophical, biological and medical faculties of institutes, as well as doctors and teachers.
The journal is published in Russian. Founded in January 1951. Published 6 times a year.

3. Biophysics.
Chief Editor:
HER. Fesenko
The subject of the magazine:
The journal Biophysics covers a wide range of problems related to the main physical mechanisms of processes occurring at various levels of organization of biosystems. In particular, these are problems of the structure and dynamics of macromolecules, cells and tissues; problems of environmental influence; transformation and transfer of energy; thermodynamics; biological motility; population dynamics and cell differentiation modeling; problems of biomechanics and tissue rheology; non-linear phenomena; problems of mathematical and cybernetic modeling of complex systems; computational biology.
The journal Biophysics takes a multidisciplinary approach and provides a complete picture of the significant background research being conducted in the countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. Reviews and mini-reviews highlight general problems. The size of articles is not limited.

4. Sensory systems.
Chief Editor:
M. A. Ostrovsky
The subject of the magazine:
The journal Sensory Systems should be considered as a continuation of the collections published by the Russian Academy of Sciences for forty-five years. We are talking about the well-known publications "Problems of Physiological Optics" and "Problems of Physiological Acoustics", published in 1941 - 1971, and the Yearbooks "Sensory Systems" (1977 - 1987).
The physiology of the sense organs, or in the modern, broader sense, the physiology of sensory systems, has always been characterized by an integrated interdisciplinary approach.
Articles are published on the main areas of fundamental research of sensory systems. The journal is intended to reflect the course of versatile research in the field of sensory physiology, to promote coordination and unification of the efforts of teams of various profiles, and to stimulate interest in one of the most exciting and responsible branches of brain science.
The journal is published only in Russian. Founded in January 1987. 4 issues per year.

5. Advances in modern biology.

BLOCK 3.
1. Spielberger-Khanin test
The Spielberger-Khanin test is one of the methods that investigate the psychological phenomenon of anxiety. This questionnaire consists of 20 statements related to anxiety as a state (a state of anxiety, reactive or situational anxiety) and 20 statements to define anxiety as a disposition, a personality trait (a property of anxiety). What Spielberger understands by both measures of anxiety can be seen from the following quote: "The state of anxiety is characterized by subjective, consciously perceived feelings of threat and tension, accompanied by or associated with activation or excitation of the autonomic nervous system." Anxiety as a personality trait, apparently, means a motive or an acquired behavioral disposition that obliges the individual to perceive a wide range of objectively safe circumstances as containing a threat, prompting them to respond with anxiety states, the intensity of which does not correspond to the magnitude of the real danger. Spielberger's Reactive and Personal Anxiety Scale is the only technique that allows differentially measuring anxiety both as a personal property and as a state. In our country, it is used in the modification of Yu.L. Khanin (1976), which he himself adapted to the Russian language.
Reactive (situational) anxiety is the state of the subject at a given moment in time, which is characterized by subjectively experienced emotions: tension, anxiety, concern, nervousness in this particular situation. This state occurs as an emotional reaction to an extreme or stressful situation, it can be different in intensity and dynamic in time.

Instructions for the situational anxiety test.
The subject is offered - “Read carefully each of the above sentences and cross out the corresponding number on the right, depending on how you feel at the moment. Don't think too long about the questions. Usually the first answer that comes to mind is the most correct, adequate to your condition.
Testing is carried out using a questionnaire form:
Situational Anxiety Questionnaire (Spielberger-Khanin)

"SITUATION"
1
 I'M CALM
1
 2
 3
 4
2
 NOTHING IS DANGEROUS TO ME
1
 2
 3
 4
3
 I AM IN TENSION
1
 2
 3
 4
4
 I HAVE REGRET
1
 2
 3
 4
5
 I FEEL FREE
1
 2
 3
 4
6
 I'M SAD
1
 2
 3
 4
7
 I WORRY ABOUT POSSIBLE FAILURE
1
 2
 3
 4
8
 I FEEL RESTED
1
 2
 3
 4
9
 I'M DISTURBED
1
 2
 3
 4
10
 I HAVE A FEELING OF INTERNAL SATISFACTION
1
 2
 3
 4
11
 I AM CONFIDENT
1
 2
 3
 4
12
 I'M NERVOUS
1
 2
 3
 4
13
 I CAN'T FIND MY PLACE
1
 2
 3
 4
14
 I'M HARD
1
 2
 3
 4
15
 I DON'T FEEL STRONG
1
 2
 3
 4
16
 I'M SATISFIED
1
 2
 3
 4
17
 I AM CONCERNED
1
 2
 3
 4
18
 I'm TOO horny and I'm not feeling good
1
 2
 3
 4
19
 I'm happy
1
 2
 3
 4
20
 I'M PLEASED
1
 2
 3
 4

The indicator of situational (reactive) anxiety is calculated by the formula:
, where
- the sum of the crossed out numbers on the scale items 3,4,6,7,9,12,13,14,17,18
- the sum of the crossed out numbers on the scale items 1,2,5,8,10,11, 15,16,19,20
If the RT does not exceed 30, then, consequently, the subject does not experience much anxiety, i.e. he has low anxiety at the moment. If the sum is in the range of 31–45, then this means moderate anxiety. At 46 and more - anxiety is high.
Very high anxiety (> 46) directly correlates with the presence of a neurotic conflict, with emotional and neurotic breakdowns, and with psychosomatic illnesses.
low anxiety (<12), наоборот, характеризует состояние как депрессивное, ареактивное, с низким уровнем мотиваций. Но иногда очень низкая тревожность в показателях теста является результатом активного вытеснения личностью высокой тревоги с целью показать себя в «лучшем свете».
When is the Spielberg test used?
2. Stressor.
Stressor (stress factor, stress situation) is an emergency or pathological stimulus, an adverse effect that is significant in strength and duration, causing stress. The stimulus becomes a stressor either due to the meaning attributed to it by a person (cognitive interpretation), or through lower brain sensory mechanisms, through the mechanisms of digestion and metabolism. There are various classifications of a stressor. In the most general form, physiological stressors are distinguished (excessive pain and noise, exposure to extreme temperatures, taking a number of drugs, such as caffeine or amvetamines) and psychological stressors (information overload, competition, threat to social status, self-esteem).
When does a stimulus become a stressor?
3. Psychological stress.

1.2. Psychological stress

The mental manifestations of the syndrome described by G. Selye were given the name psychological stress. R. Lazarus and R. Lanier in their works defined it as a person's reaction to the features of the interaction between the personality and the outside world. Later, this definition was clarified: psychological stress began to be interpreted not only as a reaction, but as a process in which the requirements of the environment are considered by the individual, based on his resources and the likelihood of resolving the emerging problem situation, which determines individual differences in response to a stressful situation.
In addition to the term "psychological stress", the literature also uses the term "emotional stress" and "psycho-emotional stress". Various researchers (sociologists, psychologists, physiologists, psychiatrists) put their own meaning into this term, which, of course, makes it difficult to create a single concept of psycho-emotional stress. Some researchers note that the emergence of this term emphasizes the inextricable link between stress and emotions and even the primacy of emotions in a complex reaction.
The content of this term includes both primary emotional and behavioral reactions to extreme impacts of the biological or social environment, and the physiological mechanisms underlying them. Most often, emotional stress was understood as negative affective experiences that accompany stress and lead to adverse changes in the human body. Subsequently, it was found that unexpected and strong favorable changes can also cause typical signs of stress in the body. Accordingly, emotional stress began to be understood as a wide range of mental phenomena, both negative and positive. G. Selye himself wrote in one of his later works:
The relevance of research into the mechanisms and consequences of emotional stress is emphasized by almost all leading specialists working in this field, regardless of the scientific direction (psychiatrists, psychologists, physiologists).
Thus, A. M. Wayne wrote more than two decades ago that “the main chronic current diseases of our time arise against the background of emotional distress, acute or chronic emotional stress.”
In one of the monographs on individual resistance to stress, K. V. Sudakov noted that psychosomatic diseases are formed on the basis of emotional stress: neurosis, cardiac dysfunction, arterial hypertension, ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, immunodeficiencies, endocrinopathies, and even tumor diseases .
According to some Western experts, 70% of diseases are related to emotional stress. In Europe, more than a million people die every year due to stress-related disorders of the cardiovascular system. The main causes of these disorders are emotional stress, interpersonal conflicts in the family and tense industrial relations, etc. These factors disrupt the function of the homeostasis maintenance mechanisms formed in the process of evolution. If a person finds himself in social conditions when his position seems unpromising to him (“No Future” Syndrom), then an anxiety reaction, a feeling of fear, neuroses, etc. can develop. Recently, it has been shown that emotional problems are the most important cause of disability compared to physical problems.
Despite the proximity of the concepts of "psychological" and "emotional" stress, it makes sense to more accurately define their content in connection with the following circumstances:
    emotional stress is inherent not only to humans, but also to animals, while
    psychological stress occurs only in a person with a developed psyche;
    emotional stress is accompanied by pronounced emotional reactions, and the development of psychological stress is dominated by the cognitive component (analysis of the situation, assessment of available resources, forecasting of further events, etc.);
    the term "emotional stress" is more commonly used by physiologists, and the term "psychological stress" by psychologists.
At the same time, both of these types of stress have a common pattern of development, include similar neurohumoral mechanisms of adaptive responses, and in their development, as a rule, they go through three "classic" stages - anxiety, adaptation, and exhaustion. Nevertheless, given the specifics of the subject of the course, as well as the leading role of the psyche in the formation of human stress responses, in the future we will mainly use the term "psychological stress", keeping the term "emotional stress" only when quoting other authors.
It should be noted that the authors of many basic textbooks on various branches of psychology often give rather vague and arbitrary definitions of stress, mixing the concepts of biological, psychological and emotional stress. Thus, the author of a three-volume textbook on psychology, R. S. Nemov, combines the concepts of “stress” and “affect”, which fundamentally differ both in strength and duration. As you know, the duration of affects is seconds or minutes, while the development of stress requires weeks, days or, in acute cases, hours.
Stress is a state of mental (emotional) and behavioral disorder associated with a person's inability to act expediently and reasonably in a given situation.
In terms of discussing this definition, it can be noted that this definition is more suitable for the concept of "distress", since with certain types of stress, the productivity of activity, on the contrary, increases. The author of another textbook on general psychology, A. G. Maklakov, classifies stress as one of the types of emotional state, and one
etc.................

The classical concept of stress G. Selye and its development. Biochemical and physiological manifestations of stress. The role of adrenal hormones in the adaptation of the human body to a stress factor.

236 Applications

Appendix 3. Thematic plans, program, questions for the exam 237

Introduction of the concept of psychological stress by R. Lazarus. Features of psychological stress. Differentiation of stress and other conditions.

Topic 2. Assessment of the level of stress

Forms of manifestation of stress: behavioral, intellectual, physiological and emotional.

Objective methods for assessing the level of stress: indicators of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems of the body; analysis of the activity of the autonomic nervous system; assessment of psychomotor reactions of the human body under stress.

Subjective methods for assessing the level of stress: psychological tests and introspection (self-monitoring of the internal state under stress).

Approaches to predicting stress. The problem of assessing the stress-resistance of a person.

Topic 3. The dynamics of the flow of stress

General patterns of development of stress. Classical dynamics of stress development.

Influence of stressor characteristics on stress level (stress intensity, its duration and characteristics of individual sensitivity to stress).

Factors influencing the development of stress: innate characteristics of the body; parent scripts; personal characteristics, level of anxiety; social environment factors; cognitive factors.

Consequences of stress: psychosomatic diseases and post-traumatic syndrome.

Topic 4. Causes of stress

Subjective causes of psychological stress: inconsistency of genetic programs with modern conditions; stress caused by cognitive dissonance and psychological defense mechanisms; stress associated with inadequate attitudes and beliefs of the individual; stress caused by the impossibility of realizing an urgent need; stress from inadequate implementation of conditioned reflexes.

Objective causes of psychological stress: living and working conditions; interaction with other people; political and economic factors; emergency circumstances.

Causal classification of stressors and ways to overcome stressors of various types.

Topic 5. Occupational stress

General patterns of occupational stress. The phenomenon of professional burnout. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Professional deformation of personality.

Examples of occupational stress: study stress; manager stress; medical stress; sports stress.

General healing methods for stress relief. Traditional methods of stress neutralization. New informational methods of stress neutralization.

Tactics to deal with stress depending on the time of its onset.

Ways of self-regulation of the psychological state during stress: autogenic training; breathing techniques; muscle relaxation; work with one's own thoughts and beliefs (self-rational therapy); dissociation; visualization; conditioned reflex techniques; pragmatization of stress; religion as a way to deal with stress.

Neutralization of stress with the help of psychotherapy. Rational psychotherapy, neurolinguistic programming, hypnosis.

Eliminate the causes of stress by improving behavioral skills.

Conflicts as a source of stress. Improving communication skills. Low self-esteem as a source of stress. Formation of confident behavior. Frustrations as a source of stress. Teaching effective goal setting skills. Constant time trouble as a source of stress. Mastering the techniques of time management.

Sample questions for the exam for full-time students 1


  1. The problem of stress in biology and medicine.

  2. The classical concept of stress G. Selye and its development.

  3. Hormonal and physiological manifestations of stress.

  4. The evolutionary structure of the human psyche and stress.
1 For part-time students, the teacher selects a list of questions based on the volume and list of topics read.

238 Applications


  1. Features of psychological stress.

  2. Behavioral signs of stress.

  3. Intellectual signs of stress.

  4. Physiological signs of stress.

  5. Emotional signs of stress.

  1. Objective methods for assessing the level of stress.

  2. Subjective methods for assessing the level of stress.

  3. Approaches to predicting stress and assessing stress resistance
    sti person.

  4. General patterns of development of stress. Influence of characteristics
    stressor to stress level.

  5. Factors affecting the development of stress.

  6. Consequences of stress: psychosomatic illnesses and post-trauma
    matic syndrome.

  7. Subjective causes of psychological stress.

  8. Objective causes of psychological stress.

  9. Causal classification of stressors and ways to overcome stress
    litters of various types.

  10. General patterns of occupational stress.

  11. Examples of occupational stress.

  12. Healthy lifestyle and its impact on stress. physical ak
    activity is an important factor in the normalization of stress.

  13. Biofeedback as .

  14. Tactics for dealing with stress depending on the time of its onset
    leniya.

  15. General overview of the methods of self-regulation of the psychological state
    during times of stress.

  16. Autogenic training as a method of optimizing stress levels.

  17. Breathing techniques as a method to optimize stress levels.

  18. Muscle relaxation as a method to optimize stress levels.

  19. Autorational therapy as a method of optimizing stress levels.

  20. Neutralization of stress with the help of psychotherapy. Types of psycho
    therapies used to reduce stress levels.

  21. Addressing the Causes of Stress by Improving Behavior
    sky skills.
Appendix 3. Thematic plans, program, questions for the exam 239

  1. Conflicts as a source of stress. Community improvement
    active skills.

  2. Low self-esteem as a source of stress. Formation
    confident behaviour.

  3. Frustrations as a source of stress. Effective goal setting.

  4. Constant time trouble as a source of stress. Time management.

  5. The activities of a psychologist in diagnosing and minimizing stress
    at the client.

  6. The activities of a psychologist in the diagnosis and prevention of stress
    In the organisation.
Appendix 4. The program of seminars and topics of abstracts ... 241

Appendix 4

PROGRAM OF SEMINAR LESSONS AND TOPICS OF REPORTS ON THE TOPICS OF THE COURSE "STRESS PSYCHOLOGY AND METHODS OF ITS CORRECTION"

Seminar 1. The problem of stress in biology, medicine and psychology

Introduction

The phenomenon of stress, discovered by Hans Selye, is one of the fundamental manifestations of life, as it allows organisms to adapt to various environmental factors due to the universal complex of neurohumoral reactions. This term became one of the symbols of medicine of the 20th century, and then went beyond this science into related fields of biology, psychology, sociology, and simply ordinary consciousness, becoming fashionable, commonplace and ambiguous. This was facilitated by a real increase in the amount of stress in people due to urbanization, an increase in the pace of life, an increase in the number of interpersonal interactions (including conflicts), as well as an increasingly obvious discrepancy between the biological nature of a person and the conditions of his social existence.
If the founder of the doctrine of stress initially considered its hormonal and biochemical aspects, then subsequently an increasing number of researchers began to pay attention to the psychological component of stress. It turned out that the extremely complex and sensitive human psyche is capable of seriously modifying the nature of the "classical" stress described in the works of G. Selye. It became clear that without understanding the neurophysiological features of the functioning of the human brain, as well as emotional and cognitive processes, moral attitudes and personal values, it is impossible to predict and manage human stress reactions. Thus, the increasing role of theoretical and practical psychology in creating a unified interdisciplinary concept of stress becomes obvious.

As the Russian psychophysiologist Yu. I. Alexandrov writes, “stress has become one of the most fashionable medical and psychological diagnoses. This diagnosis is made to a person when he has any problems in his personal life, at home or at work that lead to a deterioration in his mental and physical health.
At the same time, doctors, physiologists, psychologists and social workers often invest completely different content in the concept of stress, because of which people may develop an incorrect, distorted idea of ​​​​this phenomenon. For a practical psychologist, it is desirable to be able to identify not only psychological, but also physiological, behavioral and other signs of stress in order to correctly assess the severity of the situation and help people cope with their problems. Therefore, this textbook is built on an interdisciplinary basis, which allows to give psychology students a holistic view of such a complex phenomenon as stress. In this matter, it is very important to maintain the optimal balance between narrow specialization and a broad view of the problem. On the one hand, a practical psychologist should focus on his subject of research and, first of all, identify the psychological causes of stress and changes occurring in the human psyche, and in case the situation goes beyond the scope of his competence, transfer his client to another specialist (psychiatrist or general practitioner). On the other hand, the psychologist himself must have that minimum knowledge of the physiology, medicine and biochemistry of stress, which will allow him to determine the criteria for going beyond the area of ​​his professional capabilities. To do this, in this textbook, much attention is paid to the physiological and medical aspects of stress, which seems to be quite justified, because by the fourth year, psychology students are already completing the study of such subjects as "Anatomy of the CNS", "Physiology of the CNS", "Physiology of GNI and sensory systems and Psychophysiology. The author of the manual took into account the fact that the concept of "stress" is briefly discussed in other training courses included in the State Standard - in "General Psychology", in "Labor Psychology", in "Psychology of Health", etc. Therefore, the task of this special subject is to combine together the knowledge about stress received by students over three years within a single concept based on the principle of nervism, traditional for the Russian scientific school.
In the process of studying such a course as "Psychology of Stress", students learn the basic concepts on which the science of stress is based, study the various forms of manifestation of stress, learn about modern methods for assessing the level of stress and acquire the ability to adequately assess its severity.
As they study the course, students also establish the main causes of stress (primarily psychological) and the factors influencing the dynamics of the development of stress processes. For their future work, psychologists must know not only the general patterns of occupational stress, but also their main varieties. By integrating the information gained from this course with their other knowledge and skills, students master the most effective methods for optimizing stress levels: various methods of self-regulation and techniques used in psychotherapy.
The structure of the textbook includes theoretical sections, questions and tasks to test the assimilation of knowledge, cited and recommended literature for each section. Approximate topics of seminars and essays, exercises and practical tasks, relevant psychological tests and answers to test tasks are included in the appendices. Methodological material for teachers is also given there: approximate thematic plans for the course, program and questions for the exam.

List of abbreviations

BP - blood pressure.
SBP - systolic blood pressure.
DBP - diastolic blood pressure.
ACTH is the pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone.
AT - autogenic training.
VIC is Kerdo Vegetative Index.
GNI - higher nervous activity.
ANS - autonomic nervous system.
HRV - heart rate variability.
IN – stress index of regulatory systems.
IPS is an integral indicator of fears.
NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming.
NS - nervous system.
PTSD is post-traumatic stress disorder.
SMR - sensorimotor reaction.
HR - heart rate.
CNS - central nervous system.

Chapter 1
Stress as a biological and psychological category

1.1. The problem of stress in biology and medicine

1.1.1. Classic stress concept

In recent decades, stress has been a topical subject of research in various branches of science: biology, medicine, psychology, and sociology. The complexity and variety of forms of stress determines the variety of approaches to the study of this condition, however, for a better understanding of this phenomenon, it makes sense to refer to the original concept of stress proposed by Hans Selye. We can say that the concept he proposed was revolutionary for science in the mid-twentieth century. At that time, among biologists and doctors, the opinion prevailed that the reaction of a living organism to environmental factors was of a purely specific nature, and the task of scientists was to detect and fix precisely the differences in reactions to various influences of the external world. G. Selye went the other way and began to look for general patterns of biological reactions, as a result of which he discovered a single, non-specific component of biochemical changes in the human and animal organism in response to a variety of influences. He wrote:

“The businessman under constant pressure from customers and employees, the airport dispatcher who knows that a moment's distraction means hundreds of deaths, the athlete who is madly hungry for victory, the husband who is helplessly watching as his wife slowly and painfully dies of cancer - all they are under stress. Their problems are quite different, but medical research has shown that the body reacts stereotypically, with the same biochemical changes, the purpose of which is to cope with the increased demands on the human machine” @@@@@2; with. 105#####.
Before the appearance of the works of this author, it was believed that the body's reaction to cold and heat, movement and prolonged immobilization are diametrically opposed, however, G. Selye managed to prove that in all these cases the adrenal cortex secretes the same "anti-stress" hormones that help the body adapt to any stressor.
He called the phenomenon of non-specific reaction of the organism in response to various damaging influences the adaptation syndrome, or stress.
This nonspecific syndrome consists of a number of functional and morphological changes that unfold as a single process. G. Selye identified three stages of this process:
+ anxiety stage;
+ stage of resistance (adaptation);
+ exhaustion stage.
At the first stage, the organism encounters some disturbing environmental factor and tries to adapt to it.
The second stage is adaptation to new conditions.
But if the stressor continues to act for a long time, hormonal resources are depleted (the third stage) and adaptation systems are disrupted, as a result of which the process takes on a pathological character and can end in illness or death of the individual.
According to his theory, at all stages of this process, the leading role belongs to the adrenal cortex, which intensively synthesizes steroid hormones - glucocorticoids, which, in fact, perform an adaptive function. It should be noted that H. Selye did not deny the important role of the higher parts of the central nervous system in the formation of adaptive reactions of the body, but he himself did not deal with this issue, and, accordingly, the nervous system in his concept is given a modest place that is clearly unsuitable for its role.
In the framework of G. Selye's theory, stress includes the body's reactions to any sufficiently strong environmental influences if they trigger a number of general processes involving the adrenal cortex. At the same time, the founder of the doctrine of non-specific adaptive syndrome himself distinguished two of its forms: stress is useful - eustress and malicious distress@@@@@2#####. However, stress is more often understood as the reaction of the organism to the negative effects of the external environment, which is reflected in the definitions given to this phenomenon by various researchers.
So, according to V. V. Suvorova, stress is “a functional state of the body resulting from external negative impact on his mental functions, nervous processes or activity of peripheral organs” @@@@@16#####.
Close in meaning is the definition of P. D. Gorizontov, who considered stress as “a general adaptive reaction of the body that develops in response to a threat. homeostasis disorders"@@@@@6#####.
Nevertheless, according to Hans Selye himself, stress can also be beneficial, in which case it "tones" the body's work and helps to mobilize the defenses (including the immune system). In order for stress to take on the character of eustress, certain conditions must be present (Fig. 1).
At the same time, in the absence of these conditions, or with a significant negative impact on the body, the primary stress turns into its damaging form - distress. This can be facilitated by a number of factors, both objective and subjective (Fig. 2).


Rice. 1. Factors contributing to the transition of stress into eustress.


Rice. 2. Factors contributing to the transition of primary stress into distress.
Hans Selye wrote: “Contrary to popular belief, we should not, and indeed cannot, avoid stress. But we can use it and enjoy it if we get to know its mechanism better and develop an appropriate philosophy of life” @@@@@2; with. 109#####.
Specialists in the field of labor psychology point out that “the problem of controlling and preventing stress in work is not so much about necessarily “fighting” stress, but about managing stress competently and responsibly and reducing the likelihood of stress turning into distress” @@@@@ thirteen; with. 243#####.
As an example, we can take the exam stress that students and schoolchildren face during their studies. It should be noted that although within the framework of the traditional educational process, the process of preparing and passing exams in universities is accompanied by certain negative emotions, this state of affairs is not the only possible one.
With a properly organized pedagogical process, studying can bring joy, and exams can serve as a means of self-affirmation and an increase in personal self-esteem @@@@@21#####.
In the meantime, we are forced to admit that the subjective anxiety experiences and accompanying autonomic reactions during the preparation and passing of exams correspond to the classical description of distress.
What is stress and what is the definition of this concept? Surprisingly, there is no single answer to this seemingly simple question.
G. Selye himself defined stress as “a universal reaction of the body to stimuli of various nature” @@@@@2#####, however, such a definition is too general and fits such concepts as “reflex” or “ irritability". Other researchers gave more voluminous definitions of the concept of "stress", including in it all the interacting factors that affect the final picture of stress: the stressful stimulus itself, the reaction to it, the cognitive assessment of the threat, coping mechanisms, etc. @@@@@25-26# ####, however, such a definition is more likely to refer to the concept of "psychological stress", which we will talk about later.
There is also an opinion that the level of stress depends on the total difference between the pressure of the environment and the adaptability of the organism, respectively, stress is a combination of a stressor and stress reactivity @@@@@7#####.
From our point of view, stressthere is a non-specific reaction of the body to any sufficiently strong or long-term influences of the external or internal environment, which triggers neurohormonal mechanisms of adaptation to these influences. Another question is how successful and adequate is the method of adaptation that is offered by the genetic programs of the organism, but we will discuss this in the third chapter of the textbook.

1.1.2. Physiological manifestations of stress

Hypothalamus activation

The hypothalamus performs a number of important functions in the human body that are directly related to stress @@@@@1, 3, 7, 12#####:
+ is the highest center of the autonomic nervous system;
+ responsible for the coordination of the nervous and humoral systems of the body;
+ controls the secretion of hormones of the anterior pituitary gland, in particular adrenocorticotropic hormone, which stimulates the adrenal glands;
+ forms the emotional reactions of a person;
+ regulates the intensity of nutrition, sleep and energy metabolism.
Thus, during the primary emotional excitation that occurs when a person encounters a stressor, it is the hypothalamus that largely determines the nature of the first neurohumoral reactions.
On the one hand, it increases the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, and on the other hand, it causes the secretion of anti-stress hormones of the adrenal cortex (Fig. 3).

Increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system

Nervous regulation of metabolism in the human body is the result of a dynamic balance of two subsystems autonomic nervous system: its sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. Task sympathetic department - to help the organism survive at a critical moment, to give it as many resources as it needs to fight (if it is possible to win) or flee (if the enemy is stronger). When the sympathetic department is activated, the heart beats stronger, the pupils dilate, and adrenalin(for fear) or norepinephrine(with anger), the muscles tense up and work more intensively, but over time, the energy reserves in the body run out and you need to think about replenishing them. When the reserves of nutrients and energy in the body are depleted, excitation occurs parasympathetic department, whose task is to restore and preserve resources, and its activation occurs during sleep, food and rest @@@@@12#####.
Accordingly, in the initial stages of stress, the activity of the sympathetic department is the first to increase, and as a result, the heart beats faster, breathing quickens, muscles are tense, the skin turns pale and cold sweat may appear on it. If stress continues long enough (as well as with limited reserves of adaptive energy or a "weak" type of human higher nervous activity), the parasympathetic department is activated, which is accompanied by weakness, a drop in blood pressure, a decrease in muscle tone and gastrointestinal disorders @@@@@21# ####.


Rice. 3. Scheme of neurohumoral processes occurring in the human body during stress. The dark arrows show the processes underlying the concept of G. Selye.

Inclusion of hormonal mechanisms

It should be noted that Hans Selye received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of this particular aspect of stress reactions - the activation of the adrenal cortex, which helps the human and animal body to overcome various difficulties with the help of special anti-stress hormones. This reaction is also triggered by the hypothalamus, but differs significantly from the previous one. Under stress, the adrenal cortex enhances the release of two groups of hormones: glucocorticoids and mineralcorticoids. The most important hormone of the first group is cortisol, which enhances all metabolic processes, increases the concentration of glucose in the blood (which is formed from amino acids in the liver), suppresses inflammation and reduces sensitivity to pain. In addition to glucocorticoids, stress increases the amount mineralcorticoids, which are able to increase blood pressure due to the retention of sodium and water in the body @@@@@7#####. As a result of all these processes, the degree of adaptation of the organism to the increased requirements of the external environment increases, however, it should be remembered that these reactions were well suited to overcoming the physical factors of the environment, contributing to the “Fight or Flight” reactions, but they do little to help a modern person with social stress.
Further development of events depends on how quickly the body manages to cope with stress, which successively goes through stages anxiety, adaptation and exhaustion.
In the first stage, the body tries to adapt to stress or overcome it. What we described earlier is, in fact, the essence of this stage.
If the stress factor continues to affect the body, then adaptation- the stage of balance of the stressor and protective mechanisms, at which the body manages to more or less compensate for the damage from the negative impact. This stage can be experienced by an athlete in the middle of a long distance, by the head of a company during the implementation of a responsible project, by a student in the first half of the examination session.
However, staying in a state of stress cannot last indefinitely, since the reserves of adaptive energy, according to Selye's teaching, are limited. Therefore, if the stress factor continues to affect the body, physiological stress is replaced by pathological, in other words, a person becomes ill. Such psychosomatic diseases, as arterial hypertension, nonspecific colitis, gastric ulcer and a number of other diseases, are frequent complications of prolonged psychological stress.

The role of the cardiovascular system in the formation of stress reactions

According to the results of numerous clinical observations and experimental studies, the cardiovascular system primarily responds to stress, and also becomes one of the first targets of stress @@@@@5, 9, 10#####. According to most researchers, the leading pathogenic factor in relation to the cardiovascular system during stress is a violation of the permeability of the membranes of cardiac cells leading to disorders of their metabolism and hypoxia@@@@@22#####. At the same time, researchers emphasize the two-way relationship between stress and ischemia heart muscle: on the one hand, ischemia often occurs as a result of a stress reaction that causes spasm and thrombosis of the coronary vessels, and on the other hand, ischemia due to any cause causes pain, fear of death, and as a result, pronounced emotional stress @@@ @@ten#####.

The importance of the nervous system in coping with stress

Noting the undoubted merits of H. Selye, it should be noted that in his theory, clearly insufficient importance is given to the role of the nervous system - the main regulatory system of our body, actively participating in all processes of adaptation to adverse environmental factors. Studying the mechanisms of adaptation of the organism to disturbing factors, it is impossible not to touch upon the classic works of W. Kennon, I. P. Pavlov, L. A. Orbeli, E. Gellhorn and other scientists who noted the most important role of the nervous system in the formation of adaptive reactions of the body under stress .

As academician K. V. Sudakov noted, “the center of gravity of research on the problem of stress is shifting from the sphere of neuroendocrine relationships more and more clearly to the so-called mental sphere, the basis of which is undoubtedly the emotional experiences of a person” @@@@@17; with. 5#####.
The beginning of the physiological direction of research on the problem of stress was laid by the work of W. Cannon, who created the theory of homeostasis. The leading place in maintaining homeostasis and in the interaction of the body with the environment belongs, according to Cannon, to the autonomic nervous system. At the same time, he assigned a special role to the sympathetic-adrenal system, which mobilizes the body for the implementation of hereditary programs of "fight and flight."
A great contribution to the study of the mechanisms of stress was made by physiologists of the Russian school I. P. Pavlov, L. A. Orbeli, P. V. Simonov. Physiologist L. A. Orbeli discovered the phenomenon of the “trophic” action of sympathetic nerves, one of the first to discover the ability of the nervous system to directly influence the metabolism in tissues, bypassing endocrine mechanisms. As a result of studying the patterns of the course of nervous processes in critical conditions, I. P. Pavlov created the theory of experimental neurosis, according to which, under certain external influences that require maximum functional stress of higher nervous activity (HNA), the weak link of the nervous processes is disrupted and the functioning of the strong link is distorted. In his experiments under conditions of experimental neurosis, the interaction between the processes of excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex was disturbed. In the course of experimental neurosis, which in its essence was a typical stress, there were disruptions in the functioning of the GNA in the direction of inhibition or excitation, which was later confirmed in the studies of domestic and foreign authors. Recognizing the outstanding achievements of I.P. Pavlov in the study of the physiology of the central nervous system, it should be remembered that his studies were carried out on experimental animals and their results do not provide an exhaustive picture of the mechanisms of stress in humans due to the existence of a second signaling system in the latter and the characteristics of life in a social environment. environment. Nevertheless, even while working with animals, I. P. Pavlov noted the essential role of individual factors, in particular, the congenital type of HNA, in shaping the picture of an emerging experimental neurosis. The fact that stressful situations can lead to significant physiological disturbances was shown in experiments on monkeys, where a conflict situation with demonstrative deprivation of a sexual partner led to persistent hypertension and impaired cardiac activity.
As P. V. Simonov noted, “negative emotions arise in situations of pragmatic uncertainty, lack of information necessary for organizing actions” @@@@@14; with. 34#####. The important role of the uncertainty factor in the emergence and development of mental stress reactions is indicated by both domestic @@@@4##### and foreign researchers @@@@23#####.
Other works have shown the importance of other conditions that contribute to the development of stress:
+ immobilization @@@@@18#####;

/ What is stress?

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In our time, "stress" - perhaps the most popular word. Family quarrel - stress, the child brought a deuce from school - stress, the dollar jumped up - stress, the thread is not threaded into the needle - stress again, left the car in the wrong place and the disturbing thought of a tow truck does not go out of my head - it goes without saying stress, and only when the husband returns home from work later than usual and at the same time smells slightly of women's perfume from him - then the stress grows to such an extent that the lightning starts to sparkle! But calling our various psychological reactions to these different events in one word will not advance us on the path to understanding what is really happening to us and how to get rid of it.

Initially, the term stress came from medicine - after Hans Selye discovered the typical reaction of the body to a variety of damaging environmental factors in experiments on rats. At the same time, the most important sign of a stress reaction was its negative effect on the body and the hormonal response from the adrenal glands, which produced anti-stress hormones glucocorticoids. These substances helped the rats cope with the troubles that Hans Selye invented for them. He froze them in ice water, shocked them, exposed them to mechanical and chemical factors - in general, he created a hellish life for them. And as a result, the poor rats developed stress, which manifested itself in various bodily disorders such as stomach ulcers and disruption of the endocrine system.

But people are not rats! And their stress is different too. Our difference lies in the fact that we invent for ourselves most of our troubles or repeatedly exaggerate the problems that arise in our minds. Therefore, our stresses are not quite the same as in the animals that Selye studied. Therefore, in 1975, Richard Lazarus introduced the concept of "psychological stress" as a person's reaction to the characteristics of the interaction between the individual and the outside world. Later, this definition was clarified in the sense that psychological stress began to be considered not only as a reaction, but as a process in which the requirements of the environment are considered by the individual, based on its resources and the likelihood of resolving the emerging problem situation, which determines individual differences in response to a stressful situation.

(for example, a three-day kayaking trip of the second category will be a lot of stress for an office worker and an easy walk for a water sportsman; or a public speech will be the strongest stress for an inexperienced person and an easy workout for a seasoned politician.).

Psychological stress, in contrast to the biological stress described in the classical works of G. Selye, has a number of features - in particular, it can be triggered not only by real, but also by probabilistic events that have not yet occurred, but the onset of which the subject is afraid. That is, stress can be something that is not happening at the moment and will not happen in the future - if we allow such an option theoretically (for example, the stress of flying on an airplane or anxiety about the disruption of an important deal for a businessman).

A control question that allows you to differentiate the types of stress:

“Does the stressor cause obvious damage to the body?” .

If "Yes" - this is biological stress, if "No" - psychological.

Summing up what has been said, let's try to define the concept of stress as applied to a person:

“Stress is a long-term systemic (psychological and hormonal) reaction of the body to life situations that a person considers threatening to his well-being, and does not see the possibility for their quick resolution” (Yu.V.Shch.).

“As an independent physiological, mental and social phenomenon at the same time, stress in its essence is another type of emotional state. This condition is characterized by increased physiological and psychological activity. At the same time, one of the main characteristics of stress is its extreme instability. Under favorable conditions, this state can transform into an optimal state, and under unfavorable conditions, into a state of neuro-emotional tension, which is characterized by a decrease in the efficiency and effectiveness of the functioning of systems and organs, and depletion of energy resources.

It should be noted here that from the point of view of biological expediency (using the “Fight or Flight” strategy), stress increases the efficiency of the functioning of organ systems - for example, when a person runs away from an aggressive dog or participates in a sports competition. Decreased performance occurs only when natural behavioral programs come into conflict with social norms or conditions of intellectual activity (which manifests itself, for example, in the stress of air traffic controllers or stockbrokers).

1.2.2. Features of psychological stress

Psychological stress, in contrast to the biological stress described in the classical works of G. Selye, has a number of specific features, among which several important ones can be distinguished. In particular, this type of stress can be triggered not only by actual, but also by probabilistic events that have not yet occurred, but the occurrence of which the subject is afraid of @@@@@21, 23#####. Unlike animals, a person reacts not only to actual physical danger, but also to a threat or a reminder of it. As a result, it happens that in a poorly performing student, the mere thought of a likely unsatisfactory grade sometimes causes stronger autonomic reactions than getting it on the exam. This determines the specifics of human psycho-emotional stress, to which the patterns of its course, described in detail in experiments on laboratory animals, are not always applicable.

Another feature of psychological stress is the essential importance of a person's assessment of the degree of his participation in actively influencing a problem situation in order to neutralize it @@@@@4#####. It is shown that an active life position, or at least the awareness of the possibility of influencing a stress factor, leads to the activation of a predominantly sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system, while the passive role of the subject in the situation causes the predominance of parasympathetic reactions @@@@@16##### .

The main differences between biological and psychological stress are reflected in Table. one.

The control question that allows you to differentiate the types of stress sounds like this: “Does the stressor cause obvious damage to the body?” If the answer is "Yes" - this is biological stress, if "No" - psychological.

Table 1. Differences between biological and psychological stress.

Table 1. (End).

The mechanism of development of psychological stress can be demonstrated by the example of a student preparing to defend a graduation project. The severity of signs of stress will depend on a number of factors: his expectations, motivation, attitudes, past experience, etc. The expected forecast for the development of events is modified in accordance with the information and attitudes already available, after which the final assessment of the situation takes place. If the conscious (or subconscious) assesses the situation as dangerous, then stress develops. Parallel to this process, an emotional evaluation of the event takes place. The initial launch of an emotional reaction develops on a subconscious level, and then another emotional reaction is added to it, made on the basis of rational analysis.

In this example (waiting for graduation), the developing psychological stress will be modified in the direction of increasing or decreasing intensity, depending on the following internal factors (Table 2).

Table 2. Subjective factors influencing the level of stress.

This process can be expressed as the following scheme (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Mechanisms of formation of psychological stress.

1.2.3. Differentiation of stress and other conditions

Differentiation of stress and other emotional states is quite complex and in most cases very conditional. The states closest to stress are negative emotions, fatigue, overload and emotional tension. With sufficient intensity and duration, such emotional phenomena as fear, anxiety, frustration, psychological discomfort and tension can be considered as a psychological reflection of stress, as they are accompanied by all manifestations of a stress reaction: from disorganization of behavior to an adaptation syndrome @@@@@16## ###.

The question most often arises about the differentiation of stress from the process fatigue. This task is facilitated by the fact that these two states have a different physiological basis: stress is associated with humoral and autonomic changes, and fatigue is determined by the higher levels of the nervous system, primarily by the cerebral cortex. However, there are “transition points” between them: fatigue develops at the onset of depletion of activation caused by sympathetic regulation, which triggers the activity of the parasympathetic department, which contributes to the restoration of spent resources. The predominant activity of the parasympathetic system during fatigue is expressed in a decrease in speech activity, a desire for peace and ease of occurrence of sleep inhibition @@@@@16#####. According to V. V. Suvorova, only extremely rarely severe fatigue can trigger the development of sympathetic reactions, which is expressed in overexcitation and sleep disturbance. In real work, fatigue can manifest itself:

+ or in reducing the intensity of the worker's labor while maintaining the magnitude of the initial stress of his physiological functions (decrease in labor productivity);

+ or in an increase in the degree of intensity of physiological functions with unchanged indicators of the quantity and quality of labor (an increase in the "price of the result of labor");

+ or (which happens most often) in a certain decrease in labor indicators with a simultaneous increase in the stress of physiological functions.

In the latter situation, fatigue by the end of work can be quite deep, and a long rest is required to restore the normal functional state of the body.

If the rest is not enough to fully restore working capacity by the beginning of the next working period, then during this period fatigue develops more quickly and its depth by the end of work will be more significant than in the previous period. This shows that fatigue has the ability to accumulate, gradually passing into a qualitatively new state - overwork. The latter is usually defined as chronic fatigue not eliminated by normal rest periods (daily and weekly). The syndrome of mental-emotional overwork is regarded by some authors as a special nosological state of the body, located between normal and pathological reactions, which, under adverse conditions, can turn into a disease @@@@@11#####. Hereditary and constitutional factors play a special role in the development of nervous strain and chronic fatigue, because without taking into account genotypic features it is difficult to explain multidirectional psychophysiological changes in extreme situations in different individuals.

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