In regard to psychologically oriented stress research in Germany in particular, it may be argued that mobbing can be seen as a certain extensive and dangerous kind of social stress (Knorz & Zapf, 1996, see also Zapf, Knorz & Kulla, 1996). The different use of terminology in different countries is a theoretical problem. Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian research has focused more intensively on the biological character of the stress phenomenon (see Karasek & Theorell, 1990) due to the fact that this research was mainly carried out in the field of stress medicine in the USA and Sweden. Stress research in Germany was often carried out by focusing on, in part, different stress items. Still another direction in the use of the term "stress" can be observed in Australia, where the term is influenced by its clinical usage as a medical diagnosis (e. g. Toohey, 1991). These circumstances cause some confusion when comparing the results from stress research within the different research areas. Thus, discussions can arise concerning the difference between stress and mobbing (Leymann, 1993c). In Scandinavian research, as in this homepage, mobbing is seen as an extreme social phenomenon, triggered by extreme social stressors, causing a range of negative effects, such as biological and psychic stress reactions. Thus, my use of the terminology implies that stress is the term always used for the reaction to a stimulus, referred to as a stressor. The reaction is seen as always being of biological nature with psychic effects which may be responsible for changes in behavior (how situations are appraised, how they are dealt with, etc.; see also Lazarus, 1966). In the context of this theory, the logical conclusion is that, for example, very poor psychosocial conditions at workplaces may result in biological stress reactions, measurable by the adrenaline production in the body. This in turn can stimulate feelings of frustration. Through psychological processes (especially if employees do not know how to analyze social stressors at workplaces), frustrated persons can, instead, blame each other, thus becoming each other´s social stressors, and triggering the mobbing of a single person. Mobbing is thus an extreme social stressor, bringing about stress reactions, which in their turn can become social stressors for other people.

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