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Chronic Stress Accommodation

Meaning

Chronic Stress Accommodation refers to the sustained, profound adaptive physiological and hormonal shifts that occur when an individual is subjected to prolonged, unresolving psychological or physical stressors over an extended period. This state involves a persistent, often maladaptive, modification of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, typically progressing from an initial hyper-responsive phase to a phase of blunted reactivity or dysregulation. It represents the body’s long-term attempt to maintain allostasis, or stability through change, under persistently challenging conditions, frequently resulting in a significantly elevated allostatic load.