Generalized Unsafety Theory of Stress: Unsafe Environments and Conditions, and the Default Stress Response

Abstract

Prolonged physiological stress responses form an important risk factor for disease. According to neurobiological and evolution-theoretical insights the stress response is a default response that is always “on” but inhibited by the prefrontal cortex when safety is perceived. Based on these insights the Generalized Unsafety Theory of Stress (GUTS) states that prolonged stress responses are due to generalized and largely unconsciously perceived unsafety rather than stressors. This novel perspective necessitates a reconstruction of current stress theory, which we address in this paper. We discuss a variety of very common situations without stressors but with prolonged stress responses, that are not, or not likely to be caused by stressors, including loneliness, low social status, adult life after prenatal or early life adversity, lack of a natural environment, and less fit bodily states such as obesity or fatigue. We argue that in these situations the default stress response may be chronically disinhibited due to unconsciously perceived generalized unsafety. Also, in chronic stress situations such as work stress, the prolonged stress response may be mainly caused by perceived unsafety in stressor-free contexts. Thus, GUTS identifies and explains far more stress-related physiological activity that is responsible for disease and mortality than current stress theories.

Emotion regulation therapy for cancer caregivers—an open trial of a mechanism-targeted approach to addressing caregiver distress

“…In an open and randomized controlled trial of adults diagnosed with generalized anxiety, with or without co-occurring depression, patients evidenced gains on measures of PNT (e.g., worry, rumination) and reductions in trait anxiety, depressive symptoms, and quality of life. (16,33). Similarly, a recent open trial demonstrated efficacy for a slightly shortened ERT format among a diverse sample of young adults diagnosed with an anxiety or mood disorder, with strong effect sizes for changes pre-to-post treatment in worry, rumination, generalized anxiety, anhedonic depression, clinician-rated severity of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), social disability, and QOL (35).…”

“…Distress is commonly defined as prolonged internal suffering that can range from selffocused processing of negative emotions and stressors, to highly intensely aversive and prolonged processing of emotional states (16). Distress can be brought on by attention to cues of threat and reward related to some actual or perceived stressful situation and is, subsequently, worsened and prolonged when individuals engage in perseverative negative thinking (PNT) (17), such as worry, depressive rumination, and self-criticism.…”

The “Managed” or Damaged Heart? Emotional Labor, Gender, and Posttraumatic Stressors Predict Workplace Event-Related Acute Changes in Cortisol, Oxytocin, and Heart Rate Variability

“…Our findings are important as stressful work environments can become associated with sustained threat perceptions, leading to the default stress response of generalized unsafety (Brosschot et al, 2016(Brosschot et al, , 2018, resulting in stress-related disorders such as PTSD. Our study makes an important contribution to the occupational stress and trauma literatures by drawing attention to the multi-faceted nature of occupational factors and physiological responses that may put communicators at increased risk for stress injuries: EL, GS, and PTS are related to changes in cortisol, oxytocin and HRV.…”

“…Nevertheless, researchers have not directly examined the biological basis for differentiating between overall output (AUC G ) and change over time (AUC I ) subsequent to stressful events (Khoury et al, 2015). Patterns in anticipatory stress may contribute to the experience of chronic stress in important ways (Engert et al, 2013;Brosschot et al, 2018). For instance, persistent maladaptive psychological processes have been associated with AUC G cortisol as opposed to AUC I during social stress, perhaps suggesting the utility of the AUC G measure under chronically stressful conditions (Olivera-Figueroa et al, 2015).…”

A neurobehavioral account for decentering as the salve for the distressed mind

“…Distress is commonly characterized by prolonged internal suffering that can range from self-focused processing of negative emotions and stressors, to highly intensely aversive and prolonged emotional states [1,2]. Distress typifies a set of psychiatric conditions including major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which are highly prevalent, often comorbid with one another [3], and frequently treatment refractory [4,5].…”