Selye's Concept of General Adaptation Syndrome Hans Selye (1907-1982) started the modern era of research into something called stress. In 1950, Selye addressed the American Psychological Association convention. He described a theory of stress-induced responses that
become the standard model of stress, the one people usually refer to (or criticize) in academic journal articles about stress. How did Selye discover the stress response? Selye's discovery of the stress response was an accident. He was doing research on the effect of hormone injections in rats. Initially he thought he detected a harmful effect from the hormones, because many of the rats became sick after receiving the injections. But when Selye used a control group of rats, injected
only with a neutral solution containing no hormones, he observed that they became sick, too. As it turned out, the rats responded more profoundly to the trauma of being injected than they did to the hormones. The experience of being handled and injected led to high levels of sympathetic nervous system arousal and eventually to health problems such as ulcers. (Note that stress was not found to directly cause ulcers by Selye.) Selye coined the term "stressor" to label a stimulus that had
this effect. What is a stressor for rats? For lab assistants? The immediate response to stress is the release of adrenaline into the blood plasma (the liquid part of the bloodstream). "Mild stressors such as opening a cage door or handling a rat produces an eightfold increase in plasma epinephrine [adrenaline] concentrations" (Axelrod and Reisine, 1984). The sentence is ambiguous; does the rat or the human experience the eightfold increase in adrenaline? In this case, it is the rat which is having its adrenaline (plasma epinephrine) measured. However, many lab assistants probably experience a burst of adrenaline, too, when handling a rat for the first time. What were the three stages of Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome? Selye proposed a three-stage pattern of response to stress that he called the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) . He proposed that when the organism first encountered stress, in the form of novelty or threat, it responded with an alarm reaction. This is followed by a recovery or resistance stage during which the organism repairs itself and stores energy. If the stress-causing events continue, exhaustion sets in. This third stage is what became known popularly as burn-out. Classic symptoms of burn-out include loss of drive, emotional flatness, and (in humans) dulling of responsiveness to the needs of others. Hans Selye’s Study of Stress Response In 1934, Hans Selye at McGill University discovered a new type of hormone. He gave rats daily injections of ovarian extract and found that the rats had enlarged adrenals and shrunken spleens, thymus, lymph nodes, and intestinal ulcers. “Multiple organs in the body generate this hormone, and thus he announced that it is a nonspecific response of body to noxious agents. (Evan-Martin, 2007) In 1936, Selye defined these series of symptoms in the experiments with the rats as the General Adaptation Syndrome, which consists of three stages: the alarm stage, the resistance stage, and the exhaustion stage (Evan-Martin, 2007). The alarm stage is similar to the fight-to-flight response, and the body mobilizes resources to react to the incoming noxious agent. The resistance forces will be built up when the noxious challenge is detected as continuing. The exhaustion stage will cause death if the body is unable to overcome the threat. For example, your mom told you that you are going to take the SAT next month. The first reaction is shock, starting complaints and feelings of stress, which represent the beginning of the first stage. In the resistance stage, you will try your best to do practice tests, reviewing vocabulary, studying any type of study aids that are available. Finally, you will feel like you are doomed to fail this test and feel desperate, feel constantly anxious, have difficulty falling asleep and waking up in the morning. The exhaustion of this stage will have deleterious effects on your health by depleting your body resources which are crucial for the maintenance of normal functions. Your immune system will be exhausted and function will be impaired. Also, the decomposition which is a functional deterioration of body may happen as the exhaustion stage extends. Selye believed that one becomes sick at that point because stored hormones secrete during the stress response are depleted (Sapolsky, 1998). The fight-or-flight response (also called the stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived threat or danger. This enables the body to take action quickly, and is intended to keep us out of (physical) harm’s way. Unfortunately for our health, this response also occurs when we are not in any immediate physical danger, but are still experiencing stress. For example, this can happen when someone is running late for an appointment or class, and is feeling stressed about trying to get there. The physical changes that occur during this response can cause wear and tear within the body if the perception of stress persists. Here are a few examples of such bodily changes:
For additional information about how these physiological changes occur, click here to read more. The fight-or-flight response is also recognized as the first stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome. General Adaptation Syndrome Stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome Homeostasis is a state of physiological calmness or balance, and occurs when our bodily functions are running smoothly in conjunction with low stress levels. When exposed to stressors, this causes an imbalance to occur as the body responds to the perceived threat, and then tries to return to normal functioning. The general adaptation syndrome (GAS), developed by Hans Selye, describes the pattern of responses that the body goes through after being prompted by a stressor. There are three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
These changes will occur in the body regardless of whether the perceived stressor is considered eustress (positive or pleasant) or distress (negative or unpleasant). Ultimately, this means that we need to take active steps in managing all of our stressors, as it can build up and potentially cause harm to our health otherwise. What is exhaustion in general adaptation syndrome?3. Exhaustion stage. This stage is the result of prolonged or chronic stress. Struggling with stress for long periods can drain your physical, emotional, and mental resources to the point where your body no longer has strength to fight stress. You may give up or feel your situation is hopeless.
What stage is the exhaustion stage?Stage 3 - Exhaustion
The symptoms include: chronic sadness or depression, chronic stomach or bowel problems, chronic mental fatigue, chronic physical fatigue, chronic headaches or migraines, the desire to "drop out" of society… the desire to get away from family, friends, and even recurrent suicidal ideation.
Which of the following is an example of exhaustion stage of the general adaptation syndrome?Prolonged or chronic stress leads to the last stage of general adaptation syndrome—exhaustion. Enduring stressors without relief drains your physical, emotional, and mental resources to the point where your body is no longer able to cope with stress. Signs that you are in the exhaustion stage include: Fatigue.
Which best describes the exhaustion stage of stress *?Answer and Explanation: The correct answer is a. wear and tear.
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