Chp 15.3 Coping with Stress Flashcards
Multimodal treatments often include ______ measures, together with ______ measures
Sociological; psychological
Coping
- Processes used to manage demands, stress and conflict
- Intentionally managing appraised discrepancy between demands and resources
Vulnerability factors to susceptibility to stress
- Poor coping skills
- Lack of social support
- Pessimism/ anxiety
Protective factors to ability to cope with stress
- Hardiness
- Social support
- Coping self-efficacy
- Finding meaning
Social support (protective factors)
- Affects immune system
- Perception of support -> particularly important
- More support you think you have, less stress, and cope better
Hardiness (protective factors)
- Commitment, control and challenge (Kobasa)
Coping self-efficacy (protective factors)
- Belief in one’s ability to cope successfully
Finding meaning (protective factors)
- Deriving meaning out of stressful negative experiences
- Lessons/silver linings
Different types of coping (3)
- Problem-focused coping
- Emotion-focused coping
- Seeking social support
Problem-focused coping (type of coping)
Goal- address root problems of stressor
- Confront demands of a stressful situation
- Change situation so no longer stressful
- Eg. Studying for a test
Perceived control
The perception of the amount we are in control
- Significant affects on our ability to cope
Compensatory Control
Psychological strategies to perceive order in low control situation
(Eg. Yell at the tv for the sports team you root for)
Emotion-focused coping (type of coping)
Goal- manage emotional response resulting from stressful situation
- Strategies to reduce negative effect of emotions on self and others
- Adaptive methods: identify and change irrational negative thinking, healthy activities (effective)
- Not adaptive: denial, repression, avoid feelings (by engaging in unhealthy behaviours)
Seeking Social Support (type of coping)
- Seeking assistance
- Seeking emotional support
Which coping style is best?
Problem-focused coping and seeking social support
- Good adjustments to stressors
Emotion-focused coping involving avoiding or displacing emotions
- More depression, poorer adjustment to stressors (if not adaptive)
What affects the successfulness of coping?
- Fit to situation
- Ability to carry it out
- Best to master variety of techniques and know how and when to use them most effectively
Techniques for reducing stress
- Relaxation techniques
- Exercise
- And more
- Can be seen as successful emotion-focused coping strategies
Relaxation techniques
- Cannot both be relaxed and show stress response
- Ie, parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of automatic nervous system cannot be activated at the same time
- Relaxation tech and Meditation: trains one to calm emotional and physiological response to stress
Why is meditation effective?
- ## Brings into present; away from negative thoughts of past/futureBenefits:
- Reduced stress response
- Reduced blood pressure
- Increased control over parasympathetic nervous system functioning -> vagus nerve (easier to calm down)
- Increased attention
Exercise benefits
- Release of endorphins -> reduce pain and increase positive feelings
- Associated with physical health and longevity
- Releases excess stress hormones in body: improves our immunocompetence
Cognitive benefits: - Increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDN)
- Maintenance and growth of new synapses
- Increased in cognitive processing speed and memory
Why do people tend to discontinue/ avoid exercise?
- Low self-efficacy ‘I can’t do this’
- -inflated views of current fitness ‘I’m already in great shape’
- Inactive leisure pursuits ‘interferes with tv schedule’
- Type A personality ‘I’m too busy’
- Lack of support (from friends and family)
health-enhancing behaviours
behaviours, such as exercise and good dietary habits, that support and increase health and longevity
health-compromising behaviours
behaviours, such as poor dietary habits and unprotected sexual activity, that impair health and reduce longevity
