02/06/2013
Theory of the Formation of Chronic Stress Response Patterns
by Kalpesh R Patel, LMT
When engaged in work that induces mental or emotional strain, a point of fatigue being reached is a critical juncture. The immature instinct, upon reaching fatigue (in physical activities also,) is to express a sudden distaste for the activity at hand. For example, a small child will suddenly pronounce a game boring to justify their desire to give up. In mentally or emotionally fatiguing situations, a young person will express sudden frustration or self-doubt. By contrast, the mature instinct is to make an adjustment in attitude or strategy such that the work can continue.
The Newly Maturing Individual (NMI) is caught between these two impulses. Or rather, is caught without clear recourse to either one. In that, they know that the immature impulse of abandoning a task is not socially acceptable, but they do not yet possess the knowledge and skill necessary to make appropriate adjustments which can reduce the strain.
It is at this point, I believe, that chronic Stress Response Patterns are first formed.
It appears that NMIs with a heavy mental or emotional burden reflexively resort to utilizing the Stress Response when reaching the point of fatigue. This provides the additional energy they need to complete difficult tasks. Subsequently, the NMIs will subconsciously register this strategy of dependence on the Stress Response as a successful one. Without social intervention to contravene this perception, the NMIs will continue to utilize the Stress Response in future tasks.
Initially this utilization may be limited to particularly difficult tasks, but gradually the frequency of utilization will increase, due to the positive reinforcement of repeated success.
Eventually the Stress Response becomes so associated with success, that it becomes part of the mode that affected NMIs enter when working.
There are two behavioral factors which I believe contribute significantly to this situation becoming chronic. First is the halt of development of mature skills, which would facilitate a reduction in strain during task performance. Being that success via the Stress Response makes such adjustments appear redundant. The second factor is the lack of regulation of the nervous system from Stress Response to calmness. Since operating in the Stress Response mode is experienced as more and more useful, the occasion to shift out of it becomes rare. This, combined with the fact that the actions required to shift back to calm (sighing, crying, laughing, etc.) are often socially awkward, leads to a halt in the development of the skill of shifting out of stress response even after tasks are complete.
The lack of skills needed to alter one's condition makes it seem most efficient to remain constantly in that condition. And so the NMI reaches a mature age and lives a life entrenched in a constant state of anxiety.
There is another factor that contributes to chronicity which I have observed in my work as a manual therapist, the adhesion of visceral structures within the thoracic and abdominal cavities.
One component of the Stress Response is the elevation and compression of the viscera, which is most easily perceived in the phenomenon of shallow breathing. Deep breathing is not possible while maintaining such an elevation and compression of the viscera (which are heavy and resistant to compression.) A prolonged period of such displacement, in combination with any inflammatory process in the visceral tissues, will result in those tissues adhering to each other in that displaced orientation. Stretch receptors embedded in the adhesions inhibit the viscera from returning to their normal positions and normal degrees of mobility/motility.
This forms a physical limitation in an individual's ability to be adaptable, which cannot be resolved without specific medical intervention. The individual is forced to maintain a condition which is physically taxing and has very strong associations with the operation of the Stress Response. And so, becomes a factor in the maintenance of chronic Stress Response Patterns.
