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The generalized unsafety theory of stress (GUTS) states that the stress response is a default response and chronic stressors are caused by generalized unsafety, independent of stressors of their cognitive representation. There three prevalent conditions which are vulnerable to becoming compromised in terms of generalized unsafety and this has considerable health risks:Compromised bodiesThis refers to conditions with reduced bodily capacity (e.g. obesity; older age).Compromised social networksThis refers to conditions where one is not part of a cohesive social network (e.g. loneliness). Compromised contextsThis refers to daily contexts which are neutral by themselves which then are seen as unsafe after association with stressors via context conditioning.Chronic psychological stress responses are the crucial causal factor leading to disease. However, the precise causes of these responses are unclear. The reactivity hypothesis states that multiple intense responses during stressors are important. However, this theory (and other similar ones) neglects the duration of exposure that often outlasts the stressful events themselves. Perseverative cognition refers to cognitive representation of stressors and this may be important in the perseverance of the stress response. Perseverative cognition causes prolonged physiological responses. Chronic responses, over time, lead to allostatic load (i.e. biological dysregulation). It is possible that not the perseverative cognition but the generalized perception of unsafety is the crucial explanatory mechanism in the adverse effects of chronic stress. The stress response is a default response of an organism and the organism automatically falls back on this response when no other information is available. Generalized perception of unsafety (GU) may cause the default response to remain activated because the brain fails to register situations of the modern society as safe. The generalized unsafety...
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