The Evolution of the Stress Concept.PDF

Everybody knows what stress is and nobody knows what it is. The word stress, like success, failure, or happiness, means different things to different people and, except for a few specialized scientists, no one has really tried to define it although it has become part of our daily vocabulary. Is it effort, fatigue, pain, fear, the need for concentration, the humiliation of censure, loss of blood, or even an unexpected success that requires complete reformulation of one's life? The answer is yes and no. That is what makes the definition of stress so difficult. Every one of these conditions can produce stress, and yet none of them, can be singled out as being "it" since the word applies equally to all others as well.