What Is the Stress-Vulnerability Model?
The Stress Vulnerability Model is a tool that tells us how and why mental health disorders develop.
Read on to learn more about the vulnerability stress model, some of the criticisms it has received, the impact stress can have on us, and ways to strengthen protective factors to combat stress.
History of the stress vulnerability model
The Stress-Vulnerability Model was developed in 1977 by Zubin and Spring to explain the development of schizophrenia.
After first being introduced to the world of mental health, the model expanded to include a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses.1
A critique of the stress vulnerability model
While the stress vulnerability model has helped us better understand psychiatric illness, it has not been without its critics.
The term “vulnerability” is limiting
2022 article published in Frontiers in Sociology1
found the model’s focus on vulnerability to be disempowering. Considering the nearly 50 years that have passed since the model was introduced, the paper finds that the model’s emphasis on vulnerability distracts from the real threat.
What are the elements of the stress vulnerability model?
According to the stress vulnerability model, biological vulnerability and stressors are responsible for the development of psychiatric disorders.2 Protective factors can then help reduce biological vulnerability and stress.
Biological vulnerability
Biological vulnerability refers to genetic predisposition. For example, bipolar disorder is known to have a genetic link and often runs in families.4
Biological vulnerability also accounts for experiences that may have occurred in the womb or as a child.1
Stress
Although stress can contribute to the development of a mental health disorder, it is not the only factor at play. For example, someone may already have a genetic predisposition to a mental health disorder, but they have not yet developed it.
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