Stress

The discovery of the syndrome known now as 'Stress' was due to the work of Hans Selye, a Medical Doctor working originally at the University of Prague in the 1930s.

He noted that many patients who reported with a variety of hard-to-categorise illnesses had recently been exposed to challenging life-situations: job loss, death of family members, financial problems, childcare difficulties – which required a great deal of adaptation on the part of the individual. If these life-pressures were not resolved then chronic problems appeared, such as enlargement of the Adrenal cortex and shrinkage of the Thymus, Spleen and Lymphatic glands as well as pre-ulcerative conditions of the stomach and upper intestine. Selye saw that the symptoms of non-specific illnesses appeared because the individual had failed to adapt to environmental pressures and resolve them.

 He called this failure to adapt the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) in which the path from dis-ease to serious illness went through three stages. In the Alarm stage Bodymind indicates that the life-problem is not being resolved, pressures are getting worse, and the individual is now in trouble. Initially, the Alarm Reaction is a kind of ‘wake-up call’ in which we are alerted to the growing seriousness of the situation and encouraged to do something about it. Bodymind triggers hormonal changes that put the body on ‘red alert’ in order to muster energy to deal with the threat and also to use symptoms to let us know that action is required. Emotionally we may experience fear, meaning we need to restore personal safety, or anger, meaning we need to protest about our right to health. However, Headmind does not believe we can deal with the threat so it keeps us trapped in worry and 'do-nothingism', ignoring the real cause of the symptoms, and then developing an 'illness mind-set' which focuses on managing the symptoms rather than removing the need for them.

The second stage is the Resistance stage. Bodymind realises that we are not going to do anything about the problem, are ignoring the early-warning symptoms, and resisting the need to change. ‘Early-warning’ symptoms intensify, partly because the ‘red alert’ mechanism is stepping up, partly because Bodymind is now using symptoms to indicate that the situation cannot be allowed to continue. Such symptoms may include restlessness, tension, sleep problems, appetite/digestive problems, occasional fatigue and loss of sexual drive. At this stage the symptoms are still quickly reversible once we take action. But if we try to resist the early-stage symptoms and ‘keep going’ – working harder, doing without sleep, giving-in to others’ demands, ignoring our need for exercise, intimacy and leisure, and speeding up instead of slowing down – then symptoms become chronic. These symptoms are exactly the same as for Anxiety – which is really the same problem under another name.

In the Stalemate stage Bodymind is still trying to keep the body on ‘red alert’. The Adrenal glands, in particular, work ever harder and some body functions now approach the limit of their ability to keep going under emergency conditions and begin to falter. For example, the Adrenal glands may start to ignore signals from Bodymind to work harder and may decrease their supply of Cortisol to the blood. At this point the body cannot go on continuing on ‘red alert’ and Bodymind, realising this, signals ever more frantically for the pressure to be resolved. But stalemate develops because Bodymind is waiting for us to intervene and take action, while Headmind keeps us in the trap of worry, despair and inaction. More detailed information on this subject can be found in John Eaton's book. It is important to understand that Selye did not say that ‘Stress’ caused illness. What he meant was that if the individual fails to adapt to Life events then an eventual breakdown in body functions could occur. This is in line with the teachings of Reverse therapy. In our view the state of dis-ease occurs when Headmind fails to adapt to a problem. Bodymind then has no choice but to send symptoms to warn the person that changes need to be actioned straight away. Thus Stress is not something that 'happens' to us, as when we say ‘she has a stressful job’ or ‘his children are stressing him out’. Stress is what we do to ourselves when Headmind isn’t working correctly.

You can take our Stress Test now.