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The vocable stress was first acclimated by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930s to identify physiological responses in laboratory animals |
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| He later broadened and popularized the concept to include the perceptions and responses of humans trying to adapt to the challenges of everyday life |
| Stress, in Selye's terminology, refers to the feeling of the organism, and stressor to the perceived threat. |
A expansive biopsychosocial conceptualization of stress and adaptation offered the promise of helping everyone achieve health and happiness by successfully responding to changing global challenges and the problems of modern civilisation. He coined the style "eustress" for positive stress, by contrast to distress. He argued that all people have a natural urge and requisite to daily grind for their own benefit, a message that found favor with industrialists and governments. He also coined the phrase "stressor" to refer to the causative event or stimulus, as opposed to the resulting state of stress.
