Shanker Self-Reg® recognizes that excess stress is almost never due to a single stressor. Read more about The Self-Reg Framework here. There is always more than one stressor involved, usually multiple stressors, causing a multiplying effect of stress.
What’s more, stressors can ping off or interact with each other. Stress from one domain can worsen stress in another domain. For example, if we are already stressed emotionally, excessive noise will be more stressful. If we are exhausted, we will more likely to be frustrated by a cognitively challenging task, or stressed out by an annoying person.
This graphic illustrates how the multiplying effect of stressors causes stress cycles, where we are in a constant state of high arousal that is very draining and very hard to break out of because our stress system is stuck in overdrive.
