Deck 9 Flashcards
Define stress and the limitations of this definition.
A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances
The main limitation is that it is so subjective (so many different types and degrees of stress) that it is difficult to define and diagnose. Many individuals probably don’t regard stress as an actual illness because the term is so widely used to describe normal everyday things as well (i.e. if you are late for work, you might say you are stressed) so when it is something serious (anxiety, depression, PTSD) people may be stigmatised and laughed at, or feel ashamed and weak themselves.
Describe the association of unhealthy lifestyle with Adversity.
This causes stress responses and initiates coping mechanisms. See maladaptive coping mechanisms.
There are two dominant hypotheses addressing the link between social support and health.
The main difference between these two hypotheses is that the direct effects hypothesis predicts that social support is beneficial all the time, while the buffering hypothesis predicts that social support is mostly beneficial during stressful times. Evidence has been found for both hypotheses.
Explain the buffering hypothesis.
In the buffering hypothesis, social support protects (or “buffers”) people from the bad effects of stressful life events (e.g., death of a spouse, job loss).
Evidence for stress buffering is found when the correlation between stressful events and poor health is weaker for people with high social support than for people with low social support. The weak correlation between stress and health for people with high social support is often interpreted to mean that social support has protected people from stress. Stress buffering is more likely to be observed for perceived support than for social integration or received support.
There are two dominant hypotheses addressing the link between social support and health: the buffering hypothesis and the direct effects hypothesis. The main difference between these two hypotheses is that the direct effects hypothesis predicts that social support is beneficial all the time, while the buffering hypothesis predicts that social support is mostly beneficial during stressful times. Evidence has been found for both hypotheses.
Explain the direct effects hypothesis.
In the direct effects (also called main effects) hypothesis, people with high social support are in better health than people with low social support, regardless of stress. In addition to showing buffering effects, perceived support also shows consistent direct effects for mental health outcomes. Both perceived support and social integration show main effects for physical health outcomes. However, received (enacted) support rarely shows main effects.
What are the affection reactions to loss & bereavement?
Depression, despair, dejection, distress
Anxiety, fears, dreads
Guilt, self-blame, self-accusation
Anger, hostility, irritability
Anhedonia (loss of pleasure)
Loneliness
Yearning, longing, pining
Shock
What are the cognitive responses to loss & bereavement?
Preoccupation with thoughts of deceased
Sense of presence of deceased
Suppression, denial
Low self-esteem
Self-reproach
Helplessness, hoplessness
Suicidal ideation
Sense of unreality
Memory, concentration difficulty
What are the behavioural responses to loss & berevement?
Agitation, tenseness, restlessness
Fatigue
Overactivity
Searching
Weeping, sobbing, crying
Social withdrawal
What are the physiological-somatic responses to loss & bereveament?
Loss of appetite
Sleep disturbances
Energy loss, exhaustion
Somatic complaints
Physical complaints similar to deceased
Immunosuppression
How is grief different across the world?
Stroebe et al (2007) concluded that there is a small but significant increase in the incidence of morbidity and mortality in the weeks and months following a loss.
Suicide risk, following the death of a spouse, is increased in the first few weeks of bereavement. Wives are more likely than husbands to take their own life.
Stroebe (1987) concluded that crying as part of grief is a universal response.
Grief may be universal but there is evience suggesting it is culturally channelled. For example, in Iran/Egypt the grieving process lasts for many years, whereas the Balinese exhibit minimal grief for a small amount of time. Averill (1968) drew an analogy with sexual feelings, which are also a human universal but channelled by culture into elaborate sets of social rules. Paul Rosenblatt’s (2001) view is that cultural differences have been significantly underplayed, since almost all research is reported in the English language from a Western Perspective.
What is the purpose of grief?
Purpose? John Bowlby (1969) drew parallels with the distress behaviour of grief and the distress of a child who feels abandoned by a principal care-giver (usually the biological mother). He concluded that the function of the child’s distress is to alert mother and reunite her with her child, thus affording protection from predators. It may be that the yearning and searching behaviour which often follows a bereavement, is a feature which conferred evolutionary advantage on individuals and kinship groups whose searching behaviour kept family units together, thus naturally selecting this behaviour.
Provide a stage model of grief.
- Numbing – from a few hours to a week
- Yearning and searching – months or years • Disorganization and despair.
- Greater or lesser degree of organisation.
What areas of the brain are implicited in the grief reaction?
Define complicated grief.
Complicated grief is typically defined as a cluster of symptoms such as anxious and depressive thoughts, painful memories, dreams of and preoccupation with the deceased etc. However, in spite of a century of research and theorising about complicated grief, there is no conclusive evidence that the condition exists as a pathological reality. There is however, evidence for a range of intrinsic and extrinsic factors which give rise to complications in normal or common grief – e.g. pre-existing mental health issues, guilt…)a
