General adaptation syndrome:
alarm: first the body enters a state of shock when we are first confronted with the stressor, the body reacts as if it were injured (as akira said) and then will rebound into a state of countershock. during countershock the sympathetic nervous system is activated (as akira said again) and resistance to the stressor increases as hormones will be released such as adrenalin to help confront the stressor. this resistance continues to rise into the resistance stage.
during the shock stage our resistance to the stressor is at it's weakest (if you exclude the exhaustion stage)
stress tends to have two main areas of effect: physiological and psychological
physiological: aches and pains, dizziness, fatigue etc...
psychological: depend on the personal interpretation of the stressor and ability to cope with the resulting stress reactions. 3 main categories:
behavioural: how a person looks, acts or talks, they may become more aggressive than usual
emotional: how a person feels which may impact their personality; anxiety, depression etc...
cognitive: a person's mental abilities such as problem solving; they may become indecisive, have trouble with remembering things or problem solving etc