STRESS AND COPING
Man, being a social animal, is constantly in an ongoing interaction with his environment. Life of an individual and/ or group of individuals can’t be considered in isolation and one needs to consider the role of others, life events and the immediate and distant environment. These life events and environmental factors exert demands on the individuals which evoke responses in them. Also, the situation is dynamic and ever changing. The change is seen both quantitatively (change in severity or intensity) and qualitatively (varied situations). Thus, the responses need to modify accordingly. The current Unit focuses on these aspects that are the life events and situations, the interaction of the individual with them and the responses generated. In other words, the issues related with psycho-social stress and coping would be dealt with in this Unit. 
3.1 DEFINING STRESS
Stress is something that all of us experience all along our lives. Psycho-social stress, a perceived challenge to well-being, is an indispensable and influential part of life. The nature of the stress keeps changing. We would begin by understanding the concept of stress. 
3.1.2  What is Stress?
Stress is a commonly used term. It has been used in different contexts with different meanings. It has been studied by different disciplines including psychology, psychiatry, nursing, medicine, sociology, ergonomics, anthropology, pharmacology, physiology and neurobiology. Stress can be defined as a real or interpreted threat to the physiological or psychological integrity of an individual that results in physiological and behavioural responses. It is said that people strive to obtain and protect resources, stress ensues when there is a threatened or actual loss of resources.