Essay on Biological Factors involved in Stress - 1604 Words

Psychological and physical well-being and the overall quality of life are under a constant threat of stress and thus, psychological and medical sciences have long been concerned with studying stress response. Cox (1979) claimed that because of the poor understanding and defining it, the concept of stress tends to be rather elusive. The term, â€Å"stress†, commonly describes any physchological or physical alteration that deranges the organism’s homeostasis (or balance). This essay reviews some of the biological factors involved in stress and it has been organized in the following way. The paper begins by briefly introducing the concept of stress. It will then go on to discus and describe the automatic response (fight or flight reaction),†¦show more content†¦The trouble begins when multiple life incidents hit us all at once and this is because during periods of dramatic changes, individuals are more vulnerable to stress (Jones Bright, 2001). Therefore, stress has got the ability to activate pretty every system within the body, however, through a rather rudimentary mechanism which lies within the cellular level (Shreedhar et al., 2010). Humans experience similar dramatic physiological stress responses as other species. That is to say, the physique response to a stressor prepares the body for rapid physical action (fight or flight). More rarely, as Rudinger (1988) argue, sitting paralysed by fear may constitute another response to stress. The fight or flee stress response involve extremely rapid, virtually immediate, changes within the muscular systems and organs (Pinel, 2006). When the sense organs (of hearing or sight) receive the â€Å"alarm signal† they instantly pass it to the brain. Then the brain sends messages to the muscles and organs and therefore, muscles contract, often very abruptly. If the state of alertness is prolonged, muscle activity and tension remain high in order to prepare the body of reacting quickly to any subsequent stimuli. In a fight or flight situation, heart rate changes. Furthermore, there are a series of chain reactions. The first thing that happens is that the heart starts to beat faster in order to pump a copious supply of blood to the essentialShow MoreRelatedMajor Depression And Its Effects On Social Involvement1565 Words   |  7 Pagesthe outcome and the solution for depression. Even though the main cause of depression is biology, social factors help derive stress that lead to depressive moods because of situations that people face which then supports the other etiologies. Through this essay I will discuss the so cial stress that causes depression through social involvement, relationships with close individuals, and stress from work. 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