28.

Explain the nature of stress giving examples. Discuss avoidance-oriented strategy of coping.

Stress drive from Latin words 'strictus' meaning tight or narrow and 'stringere', the verb meaning to tighten. These root words reflect the internal feelings of tightness and constriction of the muscles and breathing.

Stress is often explained in terms of characteristics of the environment that are disruptive to the individual.

There are three major types of stress, viz. physical and environmental, psychological and social.

1. Physical and Environmental Stress:

Physical stresses are demands that change the state of our body. For example, disabilities, malnutrition, injury, etc.

Environmental stresses are aspects of our surroundings that are often unavoidable such as air-pollution, noise, crowding, heat, etc. They can also be catastrophic events or disasters such as fires, earthquakes or floods.

2. Psychological Stress Internal Sources of Stress:

This is stress that we generate ourselves in our minds. These are personal and unique to the person experiencing them and are internal sources of stress. Some of these are:

(a) Frustation: Results from the blocking of needs and motives by something or someone that hinders us from achieving a desired goal. There could be a number of causes of frustration such as social discrimination, inter-personal hurt, low grades in school, etc.

(b) Conflict: It may occur between two or more incompatible needs or motives. e.g., whether to study psychology or sociology.

(c) Pressure:

Internal Pressures: It refers to expectations. Stress from beliefs based upon expectation from inside us to ourselves such as, 'I must do everything perfectly'.

Social Pressures: It may be brought about from people who make excessive demands on us. This can cause even greater pressure when we have to work with them. Also, there are people with whom we face inter-personal difficulties, e.g., ego issues.

3. Social Stress:

It is induced from external factors and results from interaction with other people. Social events like death or illness in the family, strained relationships, rapid social change, poverty, discrimination and lack of social support are examples of social stress. These social stresses vary widely from person to person. e.g., living in a colony where extremely heterogeneous socio-economic groups live together.