Adaptive energy. Mechanisms of personality adaptation to changes in life. Further development of stress theory

01.08.2022

Developing the concept of stress, G. Selye V 1938. offered concept of short and medium term adaptation, based on the concept of adaptive energy.

The concept of adaptation energy allows us to describe individual adaptation differences as differences in the distribution of adaptation energy according to the structural and functional scheme of the adaptation system. The concept of adaptive energy has become "axiomatic" form:

1. Adaptive energy is available in limited quantities, given from birth.

2. There is an upper limit on the amount of adaptive energy that can be used by an individual at any point in (discrete) time. This amount can be concentrated in one direction or distributed among different directions in response to multiple calls. environment.

3. There is a threshold of exposure to an external factor that must be crossed to trigger an adaptive response.

4. Adaptive energy can be active when two different levels of competence: primary level, in which the generation of a response occurs in response to a high level of the factor, with high costs of adaptive energy and secondary level, in which the response is generated at a low level of impact, with low expenditure of adaptive energy.

Goldstone offers concept of constant production of adaptive energy, which can be accumulated and stored in limited quantities.

Goldstone argues that constantly presenting weak negative stimuli are constantly encountered and overcome by ongoing adaptation. Initializing effect of stimuli consists of awakening the adaptation system and bringing it into a state of readiness for a quick and effective response. There is a maximum possible rate of consumption of adaptive energy, and at this maximum the body cannot cope with any additional stimulus. One stimulus may influence an individual's ability to respond adaptively to other stimuli; the outcome depends on the specific situation:

1. A patient who cannot cope with an illness is able to overcome it after a moderate additional stimulus.

2. In the process of adaptation to this new stimulus, he may acquire the ability to respond intensely to all stimuli.

3. As a result of exposure to a strong stimulus, the patient may be unable to adapt to the additional strong stimulus.

4. If he successfully adapts to the disease, then this adaptation can be destroyed by exposure to a second strong stimulus.

5. For some diseases (diseases of adaptation), exposure to a fresh, strong stimulus can overcome the disease. This impact is always associated with risk, but it can normalize the functioning of the adaptation system.

Goldstone's axiom. Adaptive energy can be produced, although its production declines in old age, and it can be stored in the form of adaptive capital, although the capacity for this capital is limited. If an individual spends his adaptive energy faster than it produces, it uses up its adaptation capital and dies when it is completely exhausted.

Modern models of adaptation and adaptive energy are based on the idea of limiting factors. Adaptation is presented as an evolutionarily optimal system for distributing adaptive energy to neutralize harmful factors.

Everything is poison
and nothing is without poison;
Just one dose makes the poison invisible.
/ Paracelsus

In modern presentation it sounds like this: “Everything is poison, everything is medicine; both are determined only by the dose.”

In 1936, Selye introduced the concept of stress “as a nonspecific reaction of the body to demands placed on it.” He initially viewed stress as an exclusively destructive effect on the body. But after several years, after conducting many experiments, he changed his mind and came to the same conclusion that Paracelsus made five hundred years ago.

It turned out that stress can be not only destructive, but also beneficial, it was all a matter of dose. And if excessive stress destroyed the body, then moderate stress could, on the contrary, heal the body.

And Selye introduced additional concepts, dividing stress into bad and good.

He called positive stress eustress.
and negative stress is called distress.

Paracelsus spoke about substances that affect the body,
and Selye discovered the same pattern for any type of influence: physical, temperature, mental.

The conclusion of many experiments was simple:

small doses of tension contribute to the development of the body,
and excessive ones oppress him.

In general, the saying “What does not kill us makes us stronger” did not work in this case, or rather, it worked with certain limitations. It is necessary that this force, which “does not kill,” be of a suitable size, and only in this case could it “make us stronger.” You just had to set this same size.

And, continuing his research in this direction, Selye proposed the concept of “ adaptive energy", introducing as far as the rules for the operation of this energy. The principle of “adaptive energy” has proven to be very useful and convenient for describing the effects of stress on the body.

The main difference in the understanding of adaptation energy between Selye and his later critics was that Selye argued: this energy has a certain finite volume, given from birth. More recent research has shown that adaptive energy can be increased, that is, trained and the ability to withstand stress developed.

So how do you do this, how do you increase this ability to withstand stress? People have always been looking for a solution to this issue. All myths in the history of mankind tell us about heroes endowed with extraordinary capabilities, which they demonstrate in achieving their goals. And modern heroes of TV series and films demonstrate these possibilities to us. We can say that all the heroics of humanity are stories about the extraordinary superpowers of heroes to overcome stress factors. They are heroes because they have large quantity adaptive energy that allows them to overcome obstacles.

If you know why, then you can survive any how.
/ Viktor Frankl

These are the words of a great psychologist, respected by all schools of psychology without exception. He used this postulate in his logotherapy, a direction that he began to create while in a German concentration camp. Which, apparently, contributed to a large extent to his survival in these inhuman conditions or, to put it another way, with such a number and pressure of stress factors.

This is how Frankl later describes his memories:

So, I remember how one morning I walked out of the camp, no longer able to endure hunger, cold and pain in my foot, swollen with dropsy, frostbitten and festering. My situation seemed hopeless to me.
Then I imagined myself standing at a lectern in a large, beautiful, warm and bright lecture hall in front of an interested audience, giving a lecture on “Group Psychotherapeutic Experiences in a Concentration Camp” and talking about everything I had been through.
Believe me, at that moment I could not hope that the day would come when I would actually have the opportunity to give such a lecture.

Frankl's main conclusion was that Lack of meaning is the greatest stress for a person.

Viktor Frankl died in 1997 at the age of 92.

Apparently, he knew exactly what he was living for, and this knowledge gave him the strength not to break down in the concentration camp and to live such a rich and long life.

The presence of meaning increases the adaptive energy of the body. This can be observed even in animals. For example, people who raise livestock know this phenomenon: when a newborn lamb was placed on a sick sheep and she began to take care of it, she recovered.

I would like to offer you an interesting technique called “Magic Compass”. This technique, in addition to motivating us to action and helping us overcome obstacles, also shows us the right direction of our movement.

"Magic Compass"

You need to imagine your desired future, then enter it, stay in it and enjoy the positive emotions that this future you have imagined gives you. Of course, it is advisable to choose an achievable goal.

How to determine if your goal is achievable?
Let me just say that becoming, for example, one of the best in your profession, opening a business that brings good income, or getting successfully married are achievable goals. But becoming the princess of Monaco or the richest person on Earth, working as a welder at a construction site, will probably not be accepted by your subconscious as an achievable goal, and in this case, the equipment will not work as it should.

Next, having fully enjoyed your future, you need to form symbol of this future. It is desirable to receive the symbol in all three modalities: in visual image, in sensations and in sound. And it would also be good in words. For example, the symbol of love is a heart, and you will have your own symbol.

Then, from the state that this future has given you, begin to look at your current position through this symbol. Hold this symbol while thinking about your urgent or other matters, look at your acquaintances and friends, look at all your affairs through this symbol, and you will see in which direction you need to move. And you won’t just see it, you’ll want to do it.

Not only will you have direction, but you will also have the energy to achieve your goal.

At one of the trainings, the next day after performing this technique, a girl came up to me and said: “But the technique works. In the evening, a friend called me and started talking about nothing. We used to talk on the phone for two hours, but yesterday, looking at this conversation through the prism of my symbol, I realized that I was wasting my time and reduced the conversation to half an hour. Of course, I won’t refuse my friend, but two hours of empty talk is really unnecessary.”

So we figured out how to cope with stress:
you need to increase your adaptive energy,
and for this you need to find meaning of our own, if not existence, then at least of our actions - that is, what we will do something for,
that is why we will overcome our obstacles.

Almost any person lives in a certain country and city, where there are their own foundations, language, legislation, climate. If we're talking about about adaptation, it means something has changed. After all, the word "adaptation" is a synonym for the word "adjustment" and the need for it arises when a person’s habitual living conditions change.

Therefore, the question about types of adaptation is what exactly changes.

In human nature, there are the following types of adaptation:

physiological;
social;
psychological;
working (professional);
anatomical.

Physiological adaptation is the process of responding to change external conditions environment. These conditions can be understood as climate, technogenic factors and various human activities. It would be natural to assume that if physiology changes, this will entail other types of adaptation. The way it is. In addition to physiological adaptation - changes in the functioning of the body - anatomical adaptation will also take place.

Anatomical adaptation- this is the process of changing the structure of the body or the structure of its individual organs. That is, in case nuclear explosion, man will adapt to life on Earth. Only by what changes? This situation will lead to other types of adaptation: psychological and work. Obviously, a person will need to change professional skills in order to perform his job in new conditions. Naturally, this will entail some psychological changes. Stress and depression will be clear evidence.

Psychological adaptation is a process of rethinking fundamental principles and other mind games. It is believed that if we compare all types of adaptation, the most unpredictable will be the psychological one. This is explained simply - the human brain has been studied to a small extent. In this regard, it is sometimes impossible to make a forecast. But often the point is not in the prognosis, but in the possibility of survival. There are known cases when, as a result, psychological pressure the human body ceased to exist.

Work (professional) adaptation is the process of learning new skills. This appeared as a result of the organization of people. Work adaptation is now of great importance in the organization of work. The ability of the entire team to work depends on how a new employee adapts to a new work team and masters working skills. That is why in our time this type of adaptation is given great importance.

Social adaptation is the process of perception and adaptation in a new society. This is still the same new team, moving to another city or changing social status (getting a position, getting married, etc.). This type of adaptation is very important for the state, since all adopted laws entail the process of adaptation of society and in society. On this basis, many different psychotrainings, courses and lectures appeared.

As you can see, all types of adaptation are quite closely related to each other. It is impossible to undergo adaptation in something separately. Any change affects a complex of adaptations that can take place regardless of a person’s awareness.

Adaptation regulators are:

motives;
skills and abilities;
experience;
knowledge;
will;
capabilities.

Thanks to adaptation, opportunities are created to accelerate the optimal functioning of the body and personality in an unusual environment.

Researchers distinguish three phases of adaptation.

First phase- destruction of the old homeostasis program (the body’s ability to maintain relative constancy internal environment(blood, lymph, intercellular fluid) and the stability of basic physiological functions (blood circulation, respiration, metabolism, etc.) within the limits ensuring its normal functioning). The desire of the system to reproduce itself, restore lost balance, and overcome the resistance of the external environment.

The old program no longer functions, and new programs have not yet been created or are imperfect. At this stage, temporary adaptation mechanisms are activated to “survive” the difficult period of lack of an adequate regulatory program. The most important component of adaptation is behavioral adaptation. Behavioral reactions during this period have a protective function, ensuring minimization of the actions of adaptogenic factors.

Second phase of the adaptation process— formation new program deployment of regulatory mechanisms and construction new structure homeostatic regulation.

Third phase of adaptation— the phase of stable adaptation, characterized by stabilization of adaptation indicators, including performance parameters, which stop at a new, more optimal level.

IN modern world impact on humans natural factors largely neutralized by social factors. In new natural and industrial conditions, a person often experiences the influence of completely unusual and sometimes harsh factors, to which evolutionarily she does not have protective mechanisms.

The life of each person can be considered as a continuous adaptation, because our ability to adapt has certain limits. The same applies to a person’s ability to restore his physical and mental health. Adapting to adversity environmental conditions, the human body experiences a state of tension and fatigue. The duration of stress depends on the magnitude of the load, the degree of preparation of the body, its functional, structural and energy resources, but with prolonged exposure to extreme factors, the body’s ability to function at a given level is lost, and fatigue sets in.

Ability to adapt to new conditions different people not the same. Thus, many people, during long air flights and rapid crossings of several time zones, as well as during shift work, experience such unfavorable symptoms as sleep disturbances, decreased performance, etc. Other people adapt faster.

Among people, two extreme types of adaptation can be distinguished:

sprinter(characterized by high resistance to short-term extreme factors and inability to withstand long-term loads)

stayer(reverse type - characterized by instability to short-term extreme factors and the ability to withstand long-term loads).

Normal adaptation represents the adaptive process of the individual, which leads to its stable adaptation in typical problem situations without pathological changes in its structure and, at the same time, without changes in the norms of the social group in which the individual’s activity takes place.

Pathological adaptation (maladjustment) represents the activity of the individual in social situations, which is carried out with the help of pathological mechanisms and forms of behavior leading to the formation of pathological character complexes, which is part of neurotic and psychotic syndromes (diseases).

However, the most common “diseases” of adaptation occur during long-term stays of people in unfavorable conditions. Due to prolonged tension of regulatory mechanisms, as well as cellular mechanisms associated with increased energy costs, the most important reserves of the body are depleted and lost. Some structures or functions are switched off: memory, attention, and thinking suffer. Adaptation continues through illness. The central nervous system plays a decisive role. The preservation of life is ensured by an expensive forced “payment”. In the future, the death of the body may occur.

Physiologist Hans Selye published his first work on general adaptation syndrome in 1936, but for a long time avoided using the term “stress”, since it was used in many ways to refer to “neuropsychic” tension (the “fight or flight” syndrome). It was not until 1946 that Selye began to systematically use the term "stress" for general adaptive tension.

Physiology of stress

General adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Physiological stress was first described by Hans Selye as a general adaptation syndrome. He began to use the term “stress” later.

“Stress is a nonspecific response of the body to any demand presented to it […] In other words, in addition to the specific effect, all agents affecting us also cause a nonspecific need to carry out adaptive functions and thereby restore a normal state. These functions are independent of the specific effect. Nonspecific demands presented by the impact as such - this is the essence of stress

Later, Selye additionally introduced the concept of “positive stress” ( Eustress), and “negative stress” is designated as distress.

Adaptive energy

Developing the concept of stress, G. Selye in 1938 proposed the concept of short-term and medium-term adaptation (adaptation of adult individuals at times noticeably shorter than life time), based on the concept of adaptive energy.

The concept of adaptation energy allows us to describe individual adaptation differences as differences in the distribution of adaptation energy along the structural and functional scheme of the adaptation system (as well as in the amount of this energy). This scheme itself may be complex, but it is uniform within a given species (to be specific, Selye considers adults of the same sex). In a number of specific physiological experiments, Selye showed that the redistribution of this resource increases resistance to some factors and at the same time reduces resistance to others. The concept of adaptation energy has taken on an “axiomatic” form (the quotation marks mean that these axioms do not provide true axiomatics in the mathematical sense):

Adaptive energy is available in limited quantities, given from birth.
There is an upper limit on the amount of adaptive energy that can be used by an individual at any point in (discrete) time. This amount can be concentrated in one direction or distributed among different directions in response to multiple environmental challenges.
There is a threshold of exposure to an external factor that must be crossed to trigger an adaptive response.
Adaptive energy can be active at two different levels of competence: the primary level, at which the response is generated in response to a high level of factor, with high costs of adaptive energy, and the secondary level, at which the response is generated at a low level of influence, with low costs of adaptive energy.

Further development of stress theory

It has been shown that stress (as a classic nonspecific reaction in the description of G. Selye) is just one of the reactions that make up common system nonspecific adaptive reactions of the body, since the body, as a more sensitive system than its constituent subsystems, reacts to stimuli of different strength and quality, causing fluctuations in homeostasis within, first of all, normal parameters, and stress is a reaction to strong stimuli.

Described group stress effect, manifested in groups and populations under difficult living conditions: in a typical situation, with an increase in the adaptive load, the level of correlations increases, and as a result of successful adaptation, it decreases. The greatest information about the degree of adaptation of a population to extreme or simply changed conditions is provided by correlations between physiological parameters. Based on the effect created correlation adaptometry method. The method is systematically used in monitoring problems.

The use of multiple regression has proven the ability to predict stress levels long before it occurs in order to identify individuals (or groups of individuals) who are particularly susceptible to stress. This method allows not only to identify in advance the level of stress resistance of a person, but also to highly accurately predict indicators of the level of mental and somatic stress of people under stress

Types of stress

Eustress

The concept has two meanings - “stress caused by positive emotions” and “mild stress that mobilizes the body.”

Distress

A negative type of stress that the body cannot cope with. It undermines human health and can lead to serious illnesses. The immune system suffers from stress. People under stress are more likely to become victims of infection, since the production of immune cells drops markedly during periods of physical or mental stress.

Emotional stress

Emotional stress refers to the emotional processes that accompany stress and lead to adverse changes in the body. During stress, the emotional reaction develops earlier than others, activating the autonomic nervous system and its endocrine support. With prolonged or repeated stress, emotional arousal can stagnate, and the functioning of the body can go wrong.

Psychological stress

Psychological stress, as a type of stress, is understood differently by different authors, but many authors define it as stress caused by social factors.

Using stress for interrogation or psychological manipulation

Common Misconceptions

There has been a tendency among non-specialists to equate stress (and especially psychological stress) simply with nervous tension (partly to blame for this is the very term “tension” in English). Stress is not just mental anxiety or nervous tension. First of all, stress is a universal physiological reaction to fairly strong impacts, which has the described symptoms and phases (from activation of the physiological apparatus to exhaustion).

Literature

Selye G. Essays on adaptation syndrome. - M.: Medgiz, 1960. - 255 p.
Selye G. Prevention of cardiac necrosis by chemical means. - M: Medgiz, 1961. - 207 p.
Selye G. At the level of the whole organism. - M: Nauka, 1972. - 122 p.
Selye G. Stress without distress. - M: Progress, 1979. - 123 p.
Shcherbatykh Yu. V. Psychology of stress - M.: Eksmo, 2008. - 304 p.
Shcherbatykh Yu. V. Psychology of stress and correction methods. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2007. - 256 p.
Allen Elkin Stress for dummies = Stress Management For Dummies. - M.: “Williams”, 2006. - P. 320. - ISBN 0-7645-5144-2 -257
Selye, H.. Nature. vol. 138, July 4 (1936), p. 32.

Notes

E. Lescouflair, Walter Bradford Cannon: Experimental Physiologist, Harvard College, 2003.
Cannon, W.B., The wisdom of the body. New York: W. W. Norton, 1932.
J. C. Quick and C. D. Spielberger, Walter Bradford Cannon: Pioneer of stress research, International Journal of Stress Management, Volume 1, Number 2, April, 1994, 141-143.
Jerry Kennard, A Brief History of the Term Stress, June 10, 2008
Selye, H. A Syndrome Produced by Diverse Nocuous Agents. Nature. vol. 138, July 4 (1936), p. 32.
Hans Selye, The Stress of Life
Selye H., Experimental evidence supporting the conception of “adaptation energy”, Am. J. Physiol. 123 (1938), 758-765.
Schkade J.K., Schultz S., Occupational adaptation in perspectives. Ch. 7 in: Perspectives in Human Occupation: Participation in Life, By P. Kramer, J. Hinojosa, Ch. Brasic Royeen (eds), Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 2003, 181-221.
Goldstone B., The general practitioner and the general adaptation syndrome, S. Afr. Med. J. 26 (1952), 88-92, 106-109. (The general practitioner is a general practitioner, in Russia it corresponds to a local therapist.)
Carrel A., L’Homme, set Inconnu, Paris: Plon, 1935. - P. 261
Gorban A.N., Pokidysheva L.I., Smirnova E.V., Tyukina T.A., Law of the minimum paradoxes. Bull. Math. Biol. 73(9) (2011), 2013-2044.
Sedov K. R., Gorban A. N., Petushkova E. V., Manchuk V. T., Shalamova E. N. Correlation adaptometry as a method of medical examination of the population // Bulletin of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. - 1988. - No. 10. - P.69-75.
Pokidysheva L. I., Belousova R. A., Smirnova E. V. Method of correlation adaptometry in assessing the secretory function of the stomach in children in the North // Vestnik Russian Academy Medical Sciences, 1996. - No. 5. - P.42-45.
Shcherbatykh Yu. V., Esaulenko I. E. Prediction and correction of the level of emotional stress among higher school students // System analysis and management in biomedical systems. 2002, T.1, No. 3.- P.319-322.
Tarabrina N.V., Agarkov V.A., Bykhovets Yu.V., Kalmykova E.S., Makarchuk A.V., Padun M.A., Udachina E.G., Khimchyan Z.G., Shatalova N. O.E., Shchepina A.I. Practical guide to the psychology of post-traumatic stress Part 1. Theory and methods / under the general editorship of Tarabrina N.V. - M.: Publishing house "Cogito-Center", 2007. - P. 12-13. - 208 p. - (Psychological tools). - 2000 copies.

- ISBN 978-5-89353-208-1

Links
E. D. Sokolova, F. B. Berezin, T. V. Barlas “Emotional stress” (Sokolova E. D., Berezin F. B., Barlas T. V. “Emotional stress: psychological mechanisms, clinical manifestations, psychotherapy "MateriaMedica. 1996. N 1(9). P. 5-25 (abbreviated)