Stress Between Psyche and Soma: Relaxation Techniques

"Stress": Stress between Psyche and Soma: relaxation techniques

Dr. Alessandra Capozza
Psychologist, private practitioner in Savona
Dr. Silvia Corucci
Psychologist, private practitioner in Genoa

Definition

When we say "I feel stressed", we usually mean to express a situation of psychophysical discomfort. In fact, the term stress, from English "pressure, solicitation", has entered common language and is commonly associated with sensations of fatigue, anxiety and muscle tension due to overload of stimuli.

A bit of history

In the early 1930s, Selye, engaged in a series of research aimed at identifying a new sex hormone, injected ovarian extracts into some guinea pigs and found that the organism reacted with an enlargement of the cortex of the adrenal glands and increased their activity (greater secretion of adrenaline, noradrenaline and corticosteroids); with a shrinking of the thymus, spleen, lymph nodes and lymphoid tissues of the body; with gastric and duodenal ulcers.
Soon, Selye realized that the physiological reactions evidenced did not depend on the administration of the ovarian extract, but occurred independently of the type of stimulation. These were, in fact, nonspecific responses, also found:
1. injecting ovarian extracts
2. injecting any other type of substance
3. subjecting guinea pigs to very high or very low temperatures
4. subjecting guinea pigs to forced physical activity, trauma, injuries, x-rays.
Any type of stimulation, after giving rise to a nonspecific and automatic response, also caused a specific physiological response: subjecting the guinea pig to very high temperatures produced physiological reactions clearly different from when it was subjected to very low temperatures etc.
Due to the nonspecificity of the reaction, Selye coined the name General Adaptation Syndrome, then Biological Stress Syndrome, precisely because with it the organism adapted and organized defenses against any external agent.
To understand the meaning of stress we can refer to Cannon's studies and his theorization on the fight or flight response. All the physical and psychic energies of a person, who is faced with an enemy or danger, are mobilized to attack or flee. The increase in secretion of adrenaline, noradrenaline and corticosteroids allows to improve the performance of the individual who can face any event optimally.
In a situation experienced as threatening, the body reacts quickly, just as it would have done thousands of years ago, mobilizing all energies. However, an open fight or flight response today is not always possible and energies remain unexpressed, accumulating.
In fact, we have learned to inhibit some actions and emotions, to adapt to the demands of the psychosocial environment.
While on the one hand the inhibition system may serve adaptively to prevent ineffective behavior, on the other hand, if prolonged over time, it results in the appearance of psychosomatic diseases, emotional disorders, muscle tension and negative thoughts.

Change, adaptation and stress

During life we often face situations that require a continuous effort of adaptation: some of them are objectively difficult to manage, others less complex or painful. Even desirable and positive experiences are potential stressors, because they represent changes from the normal rhythm of life and as such require adaptation. We can therefore reconsider the definition of stress now meaning it as a state of psychophysical tension of the organism in the effort to adapt to a new situation.
Stress itself, in fact, is not a negative reaction. Within certain limits, this state of tension provides us with the energy necessary to meet the demands adequately and effectively. However, when the alert dimension lasts over time, it causes an excessive psychophysical activation, which forces the organism to unnatural efforts, leading it to wear and exhaustion. More specifically, the stress response occurs in three phases:
a) alarm reaction: the organism, faced with a new situation, physiologically activates to prepare to face the stimulus
b) resistance phase: the organism mobilizes its energies to face and counteract the "stressful" situation. If despite everything the individual does not manage to regain balance, the transition from the resistance phase to the exhaustion phase occurs
c) exhaustion phase: characterized by a lowering of general defenses, this is the phase in which one becomes more vulnerable to diseases.

Distress and eustress

Alongside a positive tension, or eu-stress (from the Greek eu = good), there is a negative one or distress (from the Greek dis = suffix indicating something negative and destructive).
The condition of eustress occurs when the pressures acting on us fall within a limit experienced as tolerable. In it the optimal degree of psychophysiological activation allows the mobilization of the individual's resources, improving attention, concentration, perception, memory and learning skills.
Distress, on the other hand, develops when, for a longer or shorter period, we are subjected to situations that exceed our ability to cope, to conditions of excessive or, on the contrary, of poor stimulation. Involving mind and body, it predisposes the subject to feelings and often maladaptive behaviors on the personal and social level. Distress does not depend only on the accumulation of events, but also on how we evaluate them and on the emotional weight they have for us. In fact, they always have to do with an individual, who permeates them with personal meanings and who fights to control and overcome them. This psychological mediation is fundamental in the experience of stress: this is why what is stressful for one person is not for others. In this sense, characteristics such as desirability, controllability, predictability or novelty of a stimulus become particularly salient. The optimal degree of stimulation therefore varies from person to person. The task of each of us is to discover where our personal zone of well-being is and learn the most effective strategies to release tensions and relax.

From the first signs of stress to psychosomatic diseases

In addition to the major events of life, everyday problems also act as stressors. This means that the causes of stress can accumulate day after day and give rise to a series of alarms and somatizations. It is important to pay attention to the different indicators of stress. When the tension reaches the critical threshold, the stress response manifests itself with physiological, emotional and behavioral reactions. 

Moreover symptoms such as fatigue, neck and shoulder pain, headache, are not considered diseases and therefore are neglected. Alongside them appear emotional signals such as anxiety, restlessness and aggressiveness, often people close themselves in themselves as if the vital energy were exhausted. We are not always able to recognize these symptoms, too busy respecting heavy and urgent commitments, to the detriment of our inner rhythm.

It is only in the more advanced stage of stress that the alarms, which have long troubled the person, become symptoms of a disease, when the continuous state of tension and the intense action of corticosteroids leads to a lowering of immune defenses. Then some individuals may develop increased vulnerability to coronary disorders, others to diseases of the respiratory system rather than gastrointestinal and so on.What to do? 

According to a vision centered on the totality of the person, not only in the psychic identity, but also in the somatic one, we trace the personal history of each of us. In the individual, who lives a condition of stress, self-knowledge and self-perception are strongly reduced and distorted: the inability to express one's emotions, the tensions accumulated in the muscular structure and the difficulty to let the energy flow, increasingly reduce the sensitivity and vitality of the body and mind.

Based on what we have said so far, since we react in a personalized way to stressful situations, each of us can: on the one hand, improve relationships with our environment, identifying our stressors and acting directly on them to avoid, reduce or adapt them to ourselves (for example, develop more realistic limits and expectations, be assertive, have goals, an appropriate priority scale, learn to manage one's time); on the other hand, relearn to listen to oneself, one's body, personal rhythms and pay attention to warning signs. 

If the state of psychophysical discomfort does not require the intervention of a real psychotherapy, relaxation techniques can be learned, which aim to loosen muscular and psychic tensions through a series of specific exercises. The first step is towards awareness: entering in contact with one's own body and perceiving its state of tension and contracture. If, for example, the body reading underlines the tendency to hold the breath in the upper part of the body, then the search for a deep, calm and complete breathing follows. Then proceed with muscle relaxation and visualization exercises, rediscovering sensations of fluidity, energy and well-being. Useful techniques in this sense are: breath control, Jacobson progressive relaxation, biofeedback, autogenic training, shiatsu, anti-gymnastics (or Postural Re-education Gymnastics), massage, meditation, yoga. Regularly using relaxation techniques offers not only the possibility of recovering the consequences produced by stress, but also constitutes an effective prevention strategy.

If the person feels the need, he/she can proceed towards deeper self-knowledge and undertake a real psychotherapeutic path.

Bibliography : M. Farnè "Lo stress" (Il mulino Editore1999) ; S. Ceppellini "Ansia e stress. Riconoscerli, curarli, guarirli" (De Vecchi 1999); R. Rossi "Gestire lo stress" (De Vecchi Editore 1999)

M. Argyle "Il corpo e il suo linguaggio" (Zanichelli 1991)

D. Boadella - J. Liss "La psicoterapia del corpo" (Astrolabio 1986)

A. Schutzenberger – M.J. Sauret "Il corpo e il gruppo" (Astrolabio 1978)