Chapter 12: Stress and Health Flashcards
What is a stress response and what does it involve?
it involves the physiological (‘bodily’) and psychological (‘mental’) changes that people experience when they are confronted by a stressor
Mild stress can be…
stimulating, exhilarating, motivating, challenging, and sometimes even desirable.
When is mild stress sometimes desirable?
when the elevated level of arousal in mild stress enhances the performance in both simple and complex tasks.
An acute stress response involves…
a sudden very high level of arousal
A chronic stress response produces
high level of arousal that persists over a long period of time.
Chronic stress can result in
physiological or psychological responses.
some may be short term while others may by long-lasting.
The fight-fight response is…
an involuntary reaction that results in a state of physiological readiness to deal with a sudden and immediate threat by either confronting it (fight) or running away to safety (flight)
The fight-flight response involves which two nervous systems?
- The sympathetic nervous system
- The endocrine (hormone) system
The fight-flight response includes which physiological changes?
- increased heart rate
- dilation of pupils
- supression of functions such as digestion and sexual drive
The HPA axis consists of which three parts of the body
- ‘H’ypothalamus
- ‘P’ituitary gland
- ‘A’drenal glands
The sequence of events in the HPA axis consist of…
The Hypothalamus being activated when the threat is perceived, this stimulates the Pituitary gland which secretes the ACTH hormone, this hormone then travels through the bloodstream and stimulates the Adrenal glands.
What is the role of the adrenal glands in the HPA axis?
To secrete stress hormones that include adrenalin and noradrenalin, these hormones then boost the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system
The adrenal glands also release…
cortisol that increases metabolism to make fuel available to the muscles
True or False:
a prolonged exposure to a threat such a stress which results in a prolonged exposure to the fight-flight response could be harmful to physical health
True
What is Eustress?
Eustress is a positive psychological response to a stressor, as indicated by the presence of positive psychological states such as feeling excited, enthusiastic, active and alert.
What is Distress?
Distress is a negative psychological response to a stressor, as indicated by the presence of negative psychological states such as anger, anxiety, nervousness, irritability or tension.
Examples of Eustress include
- excitement of a first date
- meeting a celebrity
- an 18th birthday party
Examples of distress
- the break up of a relationship
- lining up prior to entering an exam
- fighting with someone you have a close relationship with
True or false:
whether a situation results in Eustress or distress varies from each individual and depends upon the person’s cognitive interpretation they make on the situation.
True
The Lazarus and Folkman transactional model of stress and coping proposes that…
stress involves an encounter (transaction) between an individual and their external environment, and that a stress response depends upon the individual’s interpretation (appraisal) of the stressor and their ability to cope with it
True or False:
Lazarus and Folkman believe that stress is not a result of the individual alone or the environment alone.
True
Example of Lazarus and Folkman’s appraisal and demands of a stressful situation
One person being stuck in a traffic jam but remaining calm and realising there’s nothing that can be done while another person get angry and allows the traffic jam to ruin their day.
What are the two different types of appraisal of a situation?
- primary appraisal
- secondary appraisal
in primary appraisal we…
evaluate the significance of the situation. it is a decision whether or not the situation is irrelevant, benign-positive or stressful
If in primary appraisal, one decides the situation is stressful, one engages in additional appraisals that consist of
- Harm/Loss
- Threat
- Challenge
The “harm/loss” additional appraisal involves
the assessment of how much damage has already been done.
The “Threat” additional appraisal involves
an assessment of harm/loss that may not have yet occurred but could occur in the future
The “Challenge” additional appraisal involves
an assessment of the potential for personal gain or growth from the situation
a secondary appraisal involves
evaluation of our coping options and resources and our options for dealing with the stressful situation
Coping options and resources can either be
internal or external
Sometimes we might also engage in reappraisal, this involves
determination of the extent to which additional resources are needed to cope with the situation
In reappraisal, the first step includes
reappraising the situation while taking account of the coping resources that are available
The second step of reappraisal includes
reappraising the coping resource while taking account of the reappraised threat.
What is coping?
Coping is the process of constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific internal and/or external stressors that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of a person
Problem-focused coping involves
efforts to manage or change the cause or source of the problem
problem focused coping may include
- reappraising the stressor by examining it from new perspectives
- redefining the stressor in a way that is more manageable
- focusing only changing only what is changeable
Emotion-focused coping involves
strategies to attend to our emotional responses to the stressor
emotion focused coping strategies include
-denial, distancing, avoiding, minimising, wishful thinking, acceptance, venting emotions.
emotion-focused coping strategies tend to be employed when
we believe that we have little or no control over a situation and therefore can’t do anything to change the circumstances.
Allostasis refers to
the body’s ability to maintain a stable physiological environment by adjusting and changing to meet internal and external demands
Homeostasis is
the body’s ability to maintain a stable physiological environment by keeping certain bodily conditions constant (body temp, blood oxygen level)
How are allostasis and homeostasis different from one another?
allostasis helps the body achieve stability by changing while homeostasis helps the body achieve stability by staying the same
a limitation of homeostasis is
that it excludes the role of cognitive processes and therefore is of limited usefulness in explaining the human stress response and other states with a psychological component.
The allostatic systems include
The HPA axis, autonomic nervous system, and the immune and cardiovascular systems.
allostasis enables us to
respond to our physical states and to cope with noise, crowding, isolation, hunger, extremes of temp, danger and infection
Allostasis is often defined as involving
the maintenance of stability through change.
The primary difference between homeostatic and allostatic systems?
Large variations in processes regulated by allostatic systems do not lead directly to death, whereas large variations in processes regulated by homeostatic systems would.
What is allostatic load
it is the cumulative exposure to increased secretion of the stress hormones which can lead to ‘wear and tear’ on the brain and body
The concept of the allostatic load helps to explain
how prolonged (chronic) stress can influence the onset of physical disorders and mental disorders
This model emphasizes
- the crucial role of the brain in perceiving stressors
- that all types of factors within the individual and and in their external environment are potential stressors
the allostatic model adopts the perspective of
the biopsychosocial framework in terms of explaining stress responses.
Social readjustment refers to
the amount of change, or ‘adjustment’, in lifestyle a person is forced to make following a specific event in their life.
To become acculturated is to
adopt the values, customs and language preferences of the new dominant culture
Strategies for coping with stress include
biofeedback, meditation and relaxation, physical exercise, and social support
What is biofeedback
Biofeedback is a technique that enables an individual to receive info (feedback) about the state of a bodily process (bio) and, with appropriate training, learn to control a physiological related response using thought processes.
Meditation is
an intentional attempt to bring out a deeply relaxed state in order to reduce one or more effects of stress related symptoms
Relaxation is
any activity that brings about a state of reduced psychological and/or physiological tension
What is physical exercise in regards to strategies for coping with stress
it is physical activity that is usually planned and performed to improve or maintain one’s physical condition.
Social support in regards to coping with stress is
help or assistance from other people when needed.
Mental illness is a
psychological dysfunction that usually involves impairment in the ability to cope with everyday life, distress, and T,F,B that are atypical of the person and may also be inappropriate with their culture
people are diagnosed with a specific mental illness such as (plus examples)
- anxiety disorder eg a phobia
- psychotic disorder eg schizophrenia
- mood disorder eg major depression
True/False
Mental Illness involves variable amounts of impairment, suffering, and distress to the person involved
True
What does psychological dysfunction refer to?
it refers to a breakdown in cognitive. emotional and/or behavioral ‘functioning’
-this thereby interferes with the person’s ability to adjust to the challenges of everyday life making them unable to carry out daily activities in an effective way .
What is the biopsychosocial framework?
it is an approach to describing and explaining how biological, psychological and social factors combine to influence a person’s physical and mental health.
biological factors in the biopsychosocial framework involve
physiologically determined influences, often not under our control
Example of biological factors in the biopsychosocial framework
genes, brain chemistry, nervous system activity
Labels of each of the axes in the DSM-IV-TR
Axis 1: clinical disorders
Axis 2: mental retardation and personality disorders
Axis 3: general medical conditions
Axis 4: psychological and environmental problems
Axis 5: global assessment of functioning (GAF)
