Chapter 5: Coping with and reducing stress

Question 1

Lifestyle changes/factors that have the potential to reduce stress

Answer 1

Exercise ( leads to physiological effects, changes in focus, improves mood, fitness) Balanced meals, reduced caffeine, and regular sleep

Question 2

What is coping

Answer 2

is the process by which people try to manage the perceived discrepancy between the demands and resources they appraise in a stressful situation.

Question 3

What is personal control?

Answer 3

Belief that one has control over a situation

Question 4

What is learned helplessness

Answer 4

a pervasive lack of control

Question 5

What is emotion focused coping?

Answer 5

it is aimed at controlling the emotional response to the stressful situation. People can regulate their emotional responses through behavioural and cognitive responses.

Question 6

What is problem focused coping?

Answer 6

its aimed at reducing the demands of a stressful situation or expanding the resources to deal with it.

Question 7

What is relationship focused coping?

Answer 7

Occur between people rather than on one’s own. Emotion or-problem focused coping intended to manage or maintain social relationships during stress, such as trying to bolster each others emotional needs.

Question 8

Time management as a coping mechanism

Answer 8

Setting goals

• SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time sensitive)
• Making to do lists (structuring your life to help reduce stress)
• Making daily schedules

Question 9

How can people manage stress?

Answer 9

Through relaxation training, the overall goal decrease sympathetic arousal and Increase parasympathetic activity. Specific techniques: Progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness meditation, and Biofeedback

Question 10

What is progressive muscle relaxation?

Answer 10

Focusing attention on specific muscle groups while alternately tightening and relaxing these muscles. Ultimate goal is to relax on cue without tensing first

Question 11

What is systematic desensitization (behavioural intervention)?

Answer 11

used in conjunction with relaxation, a useful method for reducing fear and anxiety. based on the view that fears are learned by classical conditioning. Desensitization is classical conditioning procedure that reverses learning by pairing the feared object or situation with either pleasant or neutral events. Make a hierarchy of fear.

Question 12

What is Biofeedback?

Answer 12

A technique in which electromechanical device monitors the status of a person’s physiological processes, such as heart rate or muscle tension and immediately reports that information back to the individual.

Question 13

What is modelling?

Answer 13

People learn not just by doing but also by observing. They see what others do and the consequences

Question 14

What is cognitive behavioural therapy?

Answer 14

Aims to alter thinking, mood and behavior and Proven effective for many disorders with a stress component:
Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia. Teaches clients to identify, evaluate and respond to dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs. Client is the agent of change

Question 15

What are the three CBT interventions?

Answer 15

Emotional (relaxation), cognitive (changing appraisals and identifying/correcting distortions) And behavioural (problem solving and exposure)

Question 16

What is cognitive restructuring?

Answer 16

is a process by which stress-provoking thoughts or beliefs are replaced with more constructive or realistic ones that reduce the person’s appraisal of threat ofharm.

Question 17

What are the 3 things that cognitive restructuring helps you see?

Answer 17

1) You are not responsible for all the problems you encounter
2) negative events are not necessarily catastrophes
3) maladaptive beliefs are not logically valid
(uses hypothesis testing strategy)

Question 18

is cognitive therapy effective?

Answer 18

Effective for treating mild-moderate depression and most anxiety disorders.

Question 19

What is problem solving training?

Answer 19

Clients learn a strategy for identifying, discovering or inventing effective or adaptive ways to address problems in everyday life. Can reduce anxiety and negative emotions.

Question 20

What is stress innoculation training?

Answer 20

is an approach that uses a variety of methods that are designed to teach people skills for alleviating stress.

Question 21

What are 3 phases in stress inoculation training?

Answer 21

1) learns about the nature of stress and how people react to it 2) acquires behavioural and cognitive skills such as relaxation and seeking social support 3) practises coping skills with actual or imagined stressors.

Question 22

What are some additional ways to manage stress?

Answer 22

Medication, Massage, meditation and hypnosis

Question 23

What is MBSR and mindfulness meditation?

Answer 23

Focus on breathing or object (e.g., candle) or activity (e.g., walking) or word (e.g., om)
Be aware of each moment
If get distracted, return to focus of attention. Have a moment to moment attitude and a non judgemental mind frame. You can train yourself to be mindful.

Question 24

What is the purpose of meditation?

Answer 24

Increase the persons ability in the face of a stressor to make a relaxation response which include reduced physiological activity as an alternative to stress response. Its broader purpose is to develop mindfulness.

Question 25

What is disclosure?

Answer 25

Writing about stressor/traumatic event

Mechanism: Gain information, support, organize thoughts, find meaning

Question 26

How can a persons sense of control be enhanced?

Answer 26

Preparing for the stressor like training those with little control to effectively cope or setting reasonable standards and giving people responsibilities and Time management

Question 27

What are the types of thinking traps?

Answer 27

Fortune telling (I know ill fail)
Black and white thinking (anything less than perfect is a failure)
Over generalization (I make mistakes on everything)
Magnification/catastrophizing
Mind reading
Should and musts

Question 28

how does stress result from cognitive appraisals?

Answer 28

Lack of information, misinformation, or irrational belief