Either physical or psychological changes that occur in the environment of a person lead to stress. On such occasions, a person feels that his/her very survival is under threat, and as a result, enters into a deep state of anxiety and persistent worry. Undergoing Stress Inoculation frees one from such situations.If Dr. Edward Jenner, the ever-remembered British immunologist who developed the vaccine against small pox from a cow's teat afflicted with cowpox, were alive today, what would his reaction be to the phrase "Stress inoculation"? A high five in exuberance? Should be. For, the same medical principle as discovered by him is being applied, of course, not physiologically in the form of a serum, but psychologically in the form of a mental exercise to the victims.

In his article titled "Developing Stress Hardiness by Induced Stress Inoculation," Dr. Arthur D Haggerty, PhD, FAIS, a health psychologist and an adjunct faculty member of The Center for Health Studies at Palm Beach Community College, says, "Two parallel approaches have been created: Systematic desensitization for present life stress and stress inoculation to prepare for anticipated stress which is certain to occur. These terms deliberately resemble medical concepts of vaccination or inoculation to develop resistance prior to exposure to a pathogen (an agent causing disease )."