Stres dapat bersumber dari berbagai hal, seringkali disebut stressors. Girdano (2005) membagi stressors manusia ke dalam beberapa bagian:

1. Bioecological Stress (sumber stres bioekologikal)
2. Psychosocial Stress (sumber stres psikososial)
3. Job Stress (sumber stres pekerjaan)
4. Tipe kepribadian dan cara berpikir

Berikut penjelasan lebih detil dari masing-masing sumber stres tersebut di atas.

I. Bioecological Stress

1.Waktu dan ritme tubuh (Time and Body Rhtyms)

• Time-related stress: deadline, natural world time (solar time, lunar time etc), hormonal time, metabolic time.
• Jet lag

2.Kebiasaan makan dan minum (Eating and Drinking Habits)

• Sympathomimetic agents
• Hypoglicemics
• Sodium intake
• Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
• Overnutrition

3.Polusi suara

Suara dapat menimbulkan stres dengan 3 cara:

• Menstimulasi sympathetic nervous system
• Membuat gangguan yang tidak menyenangkan.
• Menginterupsi kegiatan-kegiatan

4.Iklim dan ketinggian
Prolonged climatic or altitude stress may result in diminished function leading toward death.

II.Stres psikososial
5 Masalah stres psikososial:

1. Perubahan – Change
2. Frustrasi
3. Overload
4. Boredom and loneliness
5. Dinamika hubungan antar ke empat masalah di atas.

1.Perubahan - change

Bagaimana membuat proses perubahan hidup lebih mudah?

• Control
• Challenge
• Commitment

Flannery (1993):

• Take personal control in their lives
• Are task oriented dan focused
• Consume few dietary stimulants
• Exercise aerobically
• Practice relaxation
• Seek social support
• Have a sense of humor
• Claim religious value

2. Frustrasi

• Overcrowding
• Diskriminasi
• Faktor-faktor sosial ekonomi
• Birokrasi

3. Overload

• Urban Overload
• Occupational Overload
• Academic Overload
• Domestic Overload

4. Boredom and loneliness

Deprivational Stress:
the psychological stress response caused by states of boredom and/or loneliness
(Girdano et al.,2005).

III. Job Stress

Sumber-sumber stres dari dunia kerja adalah:

1.Organizational Stressors

• Lack of financial rewards
• Lack of career guidance
• Overspecialization
• Work overload
• Decision making

2. Individual Stressors

• Occupational frustration
• Job ambiguity and role conflict
• Stifled communication
• Discrimination
• Bureaucracy
• Inactivity and boredom

3. Stresor lingkungan kerja (environmental stressors)

• Change and adaptation
  a. Technology change
  b. Relocation
  c. Promotion
  d. Reorganization and downsizing
• Violence in workplace
• Retirement

4. Biological factors in workplace

• Time change
• Noise
• Lighting
• Computers and eyestrain
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
• Temperature
• Physical Posture

5. Compassion Fatique
Compassion fatigue: stress of helping individuals after traumatic events, or serious life events.

IV. Stres, proses kognitif dan tipe kepribadian anda.

Pilihan alur kognitif anda, yang membuat anda stres dan tidak stres:
Interpretation of the Event:

1. Catastrophic Meaning
   “I’m not smart enough
   to be in college”.
2. Emotional Reaction: Anger,
   Depression, fear
3. Hypothalamus:
   Excessive stress response as
   an uncontrolled and debilitating
   force
4. Excessive stress-related
   symptoms

Or

1. Emotional Reaction
2. Neutral
3. No Stress Response

or

1. Constructive Meaning
   “I Need to study harder next
   time”
2. Emotional Reaction
   Disappointed, but now more
   Determined
3. Hypothalamus:
   Controlled stress response
   Acting as a positive, motivating
   force
4. Mobilization of bodily reserves
   to assist you