General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) was first identified and discussed by Selye. General adaptation syndrome explains a general development of responses to stressful events in the form of physiological, psychological and behavioural responses believed to follow a fairly consistent pattern.
It identifies three stages of response to a stressor, viz., alarm, resistance and exhaustion. The first stage is known as “alarm”, where a person may feel some degree of panic and begin to wonder how to cope. An individual may ask himself: Can I deal with this, or should I run away?
It results in physiological changes in the body as a warning and preparation against stress. At this stage, muscles may become tense, blood pressure rises, pupils dilate and there is an increased secretion of adrenaline from endocrine glands.
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The second stage is that of “resistance”. If the stressor is too extreme, the person may simply be unable to cope with it. However, in most cases, the individual gathers his or her physical and/or emotional strength and begins to resist the negative effects of the stressor.
At this stage, the body’s energies tend to resist the stress so as to maintain physiological and psychological equilibrium. If the resistance is adequate and successful, then the stress disappears and the resistance phase ends the GAS.
However, if the magnitude of stress is very high and the exposure to a stressor is prolonged without resolution, then the body’s capacity for adaptation gets depleted leading to the third phase of the GAS, namely, exhaustion.
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Here, the person literally gives up and can no longer fight the stressor. An individual may experience illnesses such as continuous headaches, ulcers and high blood pressure. This stage poses the greatest threat to an individual’s well-being.
Three Faces of Stress
Selye points out that stress is not a completely bad event and its sources need not be bad.
He also identified three faces of stress as follows:
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(a) Eustress is the positive and pleasurable form of stress that accompanies positive events or appears when an individual faces an exciting challenge.
(b) Distress is the negative and the unpleasant stress that accompanies negative events. It comes from pressure situations, unpleasant encounters and personal and professional demands.
(c) Stress or neutral stress is one which initially evokes negative feelings but if handled properly, it can lead to positive experiences.