Stress is a wide term that engulfs worry, anxiety, tension, strain and any other upsets, whether mental or physical, that disturbs whole economy of a person. Harrison, L.M., defines stress as follows:
“Any factor that threatens the health of the body or has an adverse effect on its functioning such as injury, disease or worry” and also that “The existence of one form of stress tends to diminish resistance to other forms” and concludes that “Constant stress brings about changes on the balance of hormones in the body.”
There must be, and often is, a cause or event that is responsible for causing onset of stress which is merely a symptom whose origin lies elsewhere. Unless the precipitating cause is discerned, no patient could ever be cured. It is not that all persons react uniformally in a given situation or the degree of impact would also be identical. The cause may be the same, the symptoms also may be identical, but individual rections often vary, depending on reactive capability and resistance capacity of each individual. This is how personalities of various persons can be categorised, as could be made out from the following personality traits.
– Some individuals react slowly, while others burst out.
– “Stickers” are more prone to reactions than the ‘get-goers’.
– Mediocres do react but their reaction is shortlived and does not have any damaging effect on their behaviour.
– Hypersensitive persons take everythg to heart, as they are emotively sensitive persons. Such persons only brood, but rarely pass on their reactions to others.
– The extremists are either self-confined or else are extroverts who prefer to ventilate their feelings. Their reactions may be damaging to their own selves or the persons who frequently come into their contact.
– Instant retaliators are damaging their own selves but, when they become violent, they are difficult to control.
– Those, who fancy in passing on the buck to others, do not suffer any damage as a consequence of stress.
– Those, who have some confidant, friend, wife, or any other relative, can ease the stressful conditions by divulging or sharing their anxieties and problems with others.
There could be many other classes of persons who could retain, relieve or ventilate their plight emanating out of stressful events, either by absorbing the pressure themselves or sharing with others. It all depends on each person’s own approach and degree of reaction to a specific event. Even husband-wife, son and daughter, lover and beloved, cannot express their feelings for reactions to an event at the same time, intensity and duration. There would have been no problem in the world, had there been unanimity of word, deed and thought.