Topic 1 The Life-Change Model of Stress

Any life change, even positive changes, can have a detrimental impact on health. The life-change model assumes that all changes in a person’s life – large or small, desirable or undesirable – can act as stressors, and that the accumulation of several small changes can be as powerful as one major change. Stressful life events do play some part in producing physical and psychological illness for many people.

Personal characteristics can also modify the impact of the life changes on our health. Many people have illnesses that do not seem to be preceded by identifiable stressors, and others undergo stress but do not seem to get sick. Thus, micro-aggression is likely to act either as a stressor that can be recognised and addressed, or as a silent stressor, with major health effects, nevertheless.