23. EMOTIONS, STRESS AND ILLNESS

Question 1

1. What do patients sometimes relate their illness with?

Answer 1

• stress in their lives
• they believe that they have been under a certain amount of pressure in their lives
  (either at home or at work)
• they believe this has affected them mentally and
  physically

Question 2

2. What is Stress?

Answer 2

• stress is a reflection of an incompatibility between the individual and their environment

Question 3

3. When we look at stress as a Stimulus, what is the stimulus-based approach concerned with?

Answer 3

• identifying aspects of the environment which have an adverse effect on the individual
• ADVERSE= harmful

Question 4

4. How does the Stress as a Stimulus (Stimulus-Based) response equate stress to?

Answer 4

• it equates stress to inanimate objects
• it concerns itself with identifying stressful situations
• and determining how and why they have harmful effects on psychological and physiological processes

Question 5

5. What are the issues with the Stress as a Stimulus (Stimulus- based approach)?

Answer 5

• particular situations are not inherently stressful
• this is because there are variations in the effects that the
  environmental stressors have on people
• this means that there are large differences in the
  individuals responses to the environment
• this approach does not account for the variations
  amongst individual responses

Question 6

6. What are some conditions that are caused by Stress?

Answer 6

• PTSD
• Schizophrenia
• Divorce
• Anxiety

Question 7

7. What does the Stress as a Response Method refer to?

Answer 7

• it refers to stress being seen as a response to an adverse or stressful situation
• this method has a three stage process
• this is called the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Question 8

8. What are the three stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome?

Answer 8

1. Initial Alarm Reaction Stage
2. Resistance Stage
   
   • this represents the functional recovery to a lever
   • this lever is superior to the pre stressor level
3. Exhaustion
   
   • there will be a depletion if the stressor continues
   • a breakdown will follow
   • the recovery process is activated in the previous two
     stages

Question 9

9. What is the issue with the Stress as a Response (Stressor) Method?

Answer 9

• it is too inflexible
• it is mechanistic
• it views the stress response as non specific
• it views it as automatic to all stressors

Question 10

10. What does the view of stress as both a stimulus and a response maintain?

(this Stress as a Perceived Thread theory was proposed by Lazarus in 1976)

Answer 10

• it maintains that stress occurs when there are demands
  on an individual
• and the individual cannot cope or adapt to it

Question 11

11. With the Stress as a Perceived Thread Method, what is stress NOT associated with?

Answer 11

• the stress is not associated with a specific stimulus or a specific response
• stress arises when an individual perceives and evaluates a situation as threatening

Question 12

12. What is the evaluation of a situation as threatening based on?

Answer 12

• the evaluation is based on an assessment of the demands of a situation
• as well as the individual’s capacity or coping mechanisms when dealing with these demands

Question 13

13. What factor results in variations amongst the individuals responses to stressors?

Answer 13

• the evaluation of the situation by the individual

Question 14

14. Why is the adrenal gland important?

Answer 14

• the adrenal gland plays a central role
• it regulates the responses of an animal to the threats or demands imposed on it

Question 15

15. What is the Initial response to stress brought about by in animals?

Answer 15

• it is brought about by an increased activity of the sympathetic system
• this acts in conjunction with the secretions of catecholamine
• this is done in the adrenal medulla

Question 16

16. What is this Initial Response to a stress referred to as?

Answer 16

• the emergency reactions
• the alarm reactions

NB: a minor stressor means that there is no further reaction

Question 17

17. What is the result of the initial stressor continues to persist or becomes more intense?

Answer 17

• the response system that involves the adrenal cortex will become increasingly involved with the hypothalamus
• this will release a series of hormones

Question 18

18. What does the Initial Alarm and Shock State result in?

Answer 18

• endocrine responses
• physiological responses

Question 19

19. What are coping strategies activated by?

Answer 19

• an individuals attempt to find a way of dealing with a harmful or unpleasant situation

Question 20

20. What causes alarm reactions and anxiety to subside?

Answer 20

• successful coping strategies

Question 21

21. What happens if the coping strategies fail?

Answer 21

• the stressor will continue to affect the individual’s behaviour
• the following will occur:
  - a range of psychological reactions
  - depression
  - withdrawal

Question 22

22. What are some factors that mediate responses to stress?

Answer 22

• prior experience
• information
• individual differences
• perceived control
• social support

Question 23

23. What are some Psychosocial factors that can lead to stress?

Answer 23

• social class
• occupational factors
• life style