Chapter 12: Stress Flashcards
Stress as Stimulus
Things that happen to us (life events & daily hassles)
Stress as Response
Includes fight or flight, cognitive & emotional responses (corticosteroids)
Stress as Transaction
How people evaluate, interpret and cope with stressful events
Stress as Transaction: First appraisal
Deciding if it’s stressful or not; is this a problem?
Stress as Transaction: Second appraisal
If it is a problem, can we handle it?
Problem-Focused Coping
Acting directly and changing the situation
Emotion-Focused Coping
When we can’t change the situation, we change our perception
Holmes’ Social Readjustment Rating Scale
Measures life transitions which suggests the scale measures how we adapt to changing circumstances (which prevents most from coping effectively)
# of events is associated with more physical and mental disorders
Daily Hassles VS Life Events
Daily hassles are a good predictor for illness but life events are too because life events create more daily hassles
Why does Diaphragmatic Breathing calm us?
Exhaling activates the parasympathetic system via the vagus nerve
Hans Selye
“The Stress of Life”
Compared stress responses in animals to physically ill patients and found a consistent pattern of stress related responses
Animal responses were big adrenal glands and stomach ulcers
Argued that were equipped with a sensitive physiology that responds to stress by kicking us into high gear
Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome
Exposure to prolonged stress leads to body strain
Selye: Alarm Reaction
Limbic system (emotional brain) releases hormones & autonomic system activates.
Released chemicals are cortisol and adrenaline
Selye: Resistance
Accepting the threat and coping.
The basal ganglia calms us to reason (thinking brain)
Selye: Exhaustion
Prolonged stress and chronic stress leads to the depletion of coping strategies
Resistance dwindles, immune system weakens, organ damage
Long-Lasting Stress Reactions
Emotional trauma, PTSD, resilience in children
Tend and Befriend
Women are more likely to use this as a natural response to stress, probably from taking care of children
Oxytocin is released when feeling bonds which allows us to feel comfortable
Traumatic Events with the Highest % of People who Develop PTSD
Bombings: 34%
Plane crash into hotel: 29%
Mass shootings: 28%
Traumatic Events with the Highest % of People who Develop Acute Stress Disorder
Mass shooting: 33%
Violent assault: 19%
Vehicle accidents
Assault & severe burns
Benefits of Stress
Helps us moderate ourselves and our self awareness in dating conversation
May help fight acute illnesses
Benefits of Social Support (4)
Emotional confirmation, financial assistance, aid in problem solving and stress
Behavioural Control
Taking action to reduce the impact of stress (problem-focused)
Cognitive Control
Changing the way we think about the problem (emotion-focused)
Decisional Control
Making a choice between alternative choices of action
Informational Control
Learning about the event, proactive thinking
Emotional Control
Managing emotions by suppressing or expressing them
Debates in Coping: Catharsis
Expressing negative emotions as a way to get rid of them.
It can only be helpful if it brings change or better coping strategies
Stress
When we feel physically threatened, unsafe or unable to meet our perceived demands of life
How do we measure stress? (3)
Major life events & daily hassles
Interview based methods, which give more in depth understanding of stress than questionnaires
Evolution of the term “stress”
Before 1940s: Stress was defined as the stress on building structures & material
1944: “If the body were like machine then it’s subject to wear and tear”
Faults of the SRRS (3)
Even though Holmes measures life events reports which are associated with physical and mental disorders it is not a good predictor of illness
It does not consider people’s perception of events, coping behaviours, resources and difficulty to recall events accurately.
It also does not consider discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race and religion
It also doesn’t consider some events are consequences rather than causes of people’s psychological issues
Good VS Bad Stress
Selye recognized short stress can be used in sports and help us fight sickness
Rival Hypotheses: Does isolation increase our chance of dying, or does poor health result in less socialization?
Researchers found that people with different levels of social support all had comparable illness history. Poor health can’t explain why less social support = increased chance of dying
People can’t measure their own health so medical examinations before the study showed less support = higher mortality rates
Crisis Debriefing
Debriefing in groups about a traumatic event is not effective for trauma and may increase the risk of PTSD.
Gets in the way of people’s natural coping strategies
Hardiness
Resilience & Commitment
Changes are challenges, not threats
Believe they have control over events
Executives showed high stress but low illness due to orientation to active involvement
Optimism
Productive, persistent, good at handling frustration
Correlated to positive health outcomes
Spirituality
Lower mortality, improved immune system, lower blood pressure. Why?
- Practices foster self control and prohibit risky behaviours
- Engagement boosts social support and marital satisfaction
- Sense of purpose, control & positivity
Correlation between religiosity and physical health
Church attendance is associated with better health
However people who are sick are less likely to attend (correlation v causation)
The degree to which someone thinks they have control over a situation..
predicts how stressful the situation is perceived to be
Rumination
Dwelling on how bad we feel and the causes and consequences of our problem
Associated with low cardiovascular recovery
Higher among women which causes more small periods of depression
Phagocytes
White blood cells that engulf pathogens
Lymphocytes
B cells make antibodies that stick to pathogens
T cells attack infected cells
Psychoneuroimmunology
The study of the relation between the mind, the brain and our immune system
The things that happen in our minds influence the physical responses of the brain and the immune system (like the placebo effect)
Stress & Colds
Long term stressors are the biggest predictor for colds
Long term stress activates inflammatory responses in the body
Stress makes us participate in unhealthy behaviours
AIDS
Life-threatening yet treatable condition where HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) attacks and damages the immune system
Causes autoimmune diseases like arthritis & multiple sclerosis (immune system attacks myelin sheath)
Rival Hypothesis: Mind causes illness VS Stress affects behaviour
Instead of the mind causing illness it’s possible that stress causes us to engage in unhealthy behaviours which causes illness
Drugs and non-nutritious food depress the immune system
Coronary Heart Disease (3)
Blocked arteries are the top causes of death in the U.S. Leads to angina or heart attacks.
- Stress causes high blood pressure (direct) leading to CHD
- Stress causes us to participate in unhealthy behaviours (indirect) leading to CHD
- Easily stressed people are more stressed by hassles leading to CHD
Biopsychosocial Perspective on Illness
Argument that most medical conditions are caused by biological influence (genetics), perceived stress, & social support
Franz Alexander & Stomach Ulcers
Certain illnesses used to be labeled as psychosomatic: caused by emotional reactions
Argued that stomach ulcers were linked to feelings of dependency due to childhood cravings
Ulcers are caused by unfamiliar bacteria however stress reduces the efficiency of the immune system which increases our vulnerability
Type A Personality
Competitive, driven, hostile and ambitious
Homeopathic Medicine
Remedies with a small dose of an illness inducing substance to active the body’s defence
Rival Claims for the Effectiveness of CAM & Homeopathic Medicine
- They produce a placebo effect of hope
- Assume natural products improve their health because of nothing to counter their belief
- Symptoms may come and go naturally
- CAM + conventional = more attribution to CAM
- May be misdiagnosed in the first place
