Key Points at a Glance

Stress is a physiological and psychological response to any demand (stressor) that strains an individual's adaptive capacity; eustress (positive stress) enhances performance while distress (negative stress) impairs health and functioning.

Hans Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) describes three stages of the stress response: Alarm (fight-or-flight, adrenaline surge) -> Resistance (body adapts and tries to cope) -> Exhaustion (resources depleted, illness results).

Occupational stress arises from work-related demands - role conflict, role ambiguity, work overload, poor working conditions, lack of control, and interpersonal conflicts at the workplace.

Burnout (Maslach, 1981) is a state of chronic workplace stress characterised by three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation (cynicism, detachment), and reduced sense of personal accomplishment. It is distinct from acute stress.

Type A personality individuals are competitive, time-urgent, hostile, and achievement-driven - they are significantly more prone to occupational stress and cardiovascular disease. Type B individuals are relaxed, patient, and less competitive.

The Big Five personality traits (OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) influence stress vulnerability; high Neuroticism is strongly linked to stress susceptibility and burnout while high Conscientiousness is protective.

Lazarus and Folkman's Transactional Model (1984) proposes that stress is not an objective event but results from the person's cognitive appraisal: primary appraisal (is it threatening?) and secondary appraisal (can I cope with it?).

Problem-focused coping strategies target the source of stress directly (time management, skill development, assertiveness); emotion-focused coping regulates the emotional response (relaxation, social support, positive reappraisal). Both are adaptive in different contexts.

Gender and stress: Women face additional stressors from the double burden (paid work + unpaid domestic/care work), gender-based discrimination, harassment, and role overload; men face social norms suppressing emotional expression, increasing risk of externalised coping (substance use).

Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is the standard tool for measuring burnout across three subscales; similarly, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) by Sheldon Cohen (1983) and Occupational Stress Index (OSI) by Srivastava and Singh (1981) are widely used in India.

Organizational interventions to manage stress include: employee assistance programmes (EAPs), flexible work arrangements, mentoring, clear role definitions, and promoting psychological safety; these address stress at the systemic rather than only the individual level.

Hardiness (Kobasa, 1979) is a stress-buffering personality pattern comprising Commitment (engaging fully), Control (believing one can influence outcomes), and Challenge (viewing change as growth opportunity); hardy individuals show lower burnout even under heavy occupational demands.