Authors: Nader Butto
This article presents a new theory of stress reaction and adaptation with reference to the four phases of life (excitation, expansion, contraction, and relaxation), four phases of acute stress (threat, organization, fight and flight, and recovery or shock), four phases of chronic stress (alarm, resistance, adaptation, and exhaustion), and four grades of fear (anxiety, fear, panic, and horror). Each phase of acute stress is associated with a corresponding grade of fear. The grades of fear are determined by the balance between the strength of the stimulus and the subjective capacity to cope with it. The subjective capacity depends on different factors but mostly on the experience and energy availability that determine a person’s psychological resilience. Then, the phases of chronic stress correlate with the four phases of life. When a traumatic conflict is unresolved, the fear remains blocked in the energetic system, corresponding to one of the phases of life. This blockage may explain why we have different diseases in the same organ. Further, the concept of vitality is introduced to explain the resilience that allows the individual to cope with stress efficiently to maintain homeostasis. This new model opens a gate to establish a new therapeutic strategy aimed at increasing an individual’s vital energy and resolving energy blockages by elaborating psychological trauma, completing the learning process to achieve intellectual growth, and achieving spiritual growth toward health and well-being
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