Chapter 42: Stress and Coping Flashcards
Stressor
Any event or stimulus that causes an individual to experience stress.
Stress
A condition in which the person experiences changes in the normal balanced state
Stress can result from
Both positive and negative experiences
Stressed person responds
In totality (mind, body, and spirit)
Coping Mechanisms (Coping Strategies or Coping Responses)
Responses when a person faces stressors
Internal Stressors
Originate within a person (infection or feelings of depression)
External Stressors
Originate outside the individual
Developmental Stressors
Occur at predictable times throughout an individual’s life
Situational Stressors
Are unpredictable and may occur at any time during life
Degree of the Effects of Stress Depends
To some extent on an individual’s developmental stage
Consequences of Stress
PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, INTELLECTUAL, SOCIAL, and SPIRITUAL
Models of Stress
Used to assist clients in strengthening healthy coping responses and in adjusting unhealthy, unproductive responses
Stimulus-Based Stress Models
Stress is defined as a stimulus, a life event, or a set of circumstances that arouses physiological and/or psychological reactions that may increase the individual’s vulnerability to illness
General Adaptation Syndrome (Stress Syndrome)
A chain or pattern of physiological events (Selye’s stress response)
Stressor
Any factor that produces stress and disturbs the body’s equilibrium
Local Adaptation Syndrome (LAS)
The body reacts locally. One organ or part of the body reacts alone. (i.e. Inflammation)
Alarm Reaction
Initial reaction of the body which alerts the body’s defenses
Alarm Reaction: Shock Phase
The stressor may be perceived consciously or unconsciously by the person
Clinical Manifestations of Local Adaptation Syndrome
HEAT (hyperemia), REDNESS (erythema), SWELLING (edema), PAIN, and LOSS of FUNCTION
Stages of General Adaptation Syndrome
Alarm reaction, Resistance stage, Exhaustion stage
Clinical Manifestations of Alarm Stage of General Adaptation Syndrome
CARDIOVASCULAR, RESPIRATORY, PERCEPTUAL, INTEGUMENTARY, GASTROINTESTINAL, URINARY, METABOLIC/OTHER
Fight or Flight Lasts
From 1 minute to 24 hours
Alarm Reaction: Countershock Phase
The changes produced in the body during the shock phase are reversed. It slows down.
Stage of Resistance
The body attempts to cope with the stressor and to limit the stressor to the smallest area of the body that can deal with it.
Stage of Exhaustion
The adaptation that the body made during the second stage cannot be maintained. If the adaptation has not overcome the stressor, the stress effects may spread to the entire body. The body either rests and returns to normal, or death may result.
Transactional Stress Theory
A set of cognitive, affective, and adaptive (coping) responses that arise out of person-environment transactions.
Indicators of Stress: Physiological Indicators
Signs and symptoms of stress result from activation of the sympathetic and neuroendocrine systems of the body.
Indicators of Stress: Psychological Indicators
Include anxiety, fear, anger, depression, and unconscious ego defense mechanisms
Anxiety
A state of mental uneasiness, apprehension, dread, or foreboding or a feeling of helplessness related to an impending or anticipated and unidentified threat to self or significant relationships. Experienced at the conscious, subconscious, or unconscious level.
Anxiety Levels
MILD anxiety, MODERATE anxiety, SEVERE anxiety, and PANIC
Fear
An emotion or feeling of apprehension aroused by impending or seeming danger, pain, or another perceived threat
