DP 6-9 STRESS Flashcards
Stressor
The event/thing that causes the stress
- Internally or externally sourced
- May be a person, object, situation, even or a combination of these
Stress
An unpleasant state of physiological and psychological arousal produced by internal and external forces and perceived by the individual to be challenging
Eustress
- Eustress is a positive psychological response to a stressor (as indicated by the presence of positive psychological states such as feeling enthusiastic and motivated, excited, active and alert)
- Typically short-term
- Can provide the energy and motivation needed to achieve a goal or peak performance.
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_
- Can be short-term or for some stressors long term if going unmanaged
- Prolonged distress can have serious and debilitating consequences for our physical and mental health.
What causes stress?
Daily pressures, life events, major stress, acculturative stress, catastrophes
Daily pressures
- Sourced in relatively minor troubles or concerns that arise in day-to-day living
Little problems of everyday living that are irritants (events that annoy or bother us) - Eg: Waking up with a pimple, can’t find keys, running late etc
- Some have only a slight effect, others have a strong effect.
- They are not necessarily significant at the time but can pile up to become a major source of stress
Life events
- Involves change that forces us to adapt to new circumstances
- Eg: The loss of a significant relationship, beginning a new career or changing schools.
- Have immediate consequences and require longer term adjustments.
- Life events that are stressors include choices we make as individuals, not just things that happen to us.
- The events may therefore be positive or negative
Major stress
- Event that is extraordinarily stressful or disturbing for almost everyone who experiences it.
- Could be a single, one-off event, (victim of a violent crime) or ongoing (terminal illness)
- The event is highly likely to be a terrible experience that is very frightening or distressing.
- The event does not necessarily have to be directly experienced (witness)
Acculturative stress
- Stress people experience in trying to adapt to a new culture when living in it for a considerable period of time
- Moving to a new country
- Demands of adjusting to new culture can be extremely stress producing
- There is a need to become acculturated; adopting the values, customs and language of the new dominant culture
Catastrophes
Is an unpredicted event that causes widespread damage or suffering affecting an entire community all at once
- Out of their control
- Eg: natural disaster, war
Stress reaction
- The human body does not recognize the distinction between eustress and distress and therefore undergoes virtually the same physiological changes.
- The response experienced varies from individual to individual depending on psychological factors such as an individual’s personality, prior experience with the stressor, and their perception and interpretation of the stressor; if they judge the stressor as positive or negative.
Physiological vs psychological
Physiological: Headache, cold flu, stomach ulcers
Psychological:
Behavioral - changes to eating habits, changes to sleep habita
Emotional - irritability, aggression
Cognitive: Decreased concentration, memory impairment
Flight flight freeze
- Involuntary, physical response to a sudden and immediate threat (or stressor)
- Fight — confronting and fighting off the threat
- Flight — escaping by running away to safety
- Freeze — keeping absolutely still and silent, avoiding detection.
Reactions to FFF respone
To prepare the body for either alternative, all energy is directed from non-essential body systems to those systems that will help us either ‘outrun’ or ‘outfight’ the threat. This includes:
- Increased heart rate and blood pressure
- Increased breathing rate (to increase oxygen supply)
- Increased glucose (sugar) secretion by the liver (for energy)
- Dilation of the pupils (so the eyes can take in as much light as possible)
Adrenaline
- Gets body ready for fight-flight-freeze response
- Leads to arousal of the sympathetic ns and reduced activity of the parasympathetic ns
- Creates physical changes in the body
Cortisol
- Energises the body by increasing energy supplies such as blood sugar and enhancing metabolism.
- Vital for maintaining the health and wellbeing of the body when under stress
- The activation of cortisol increases the body’s ability to fight the stressor
- It decreases the body’s immunity making it more vulnerable to disease.
- Once the level of cortisol reaches a certain level, the hypothalamus is signalled to turn off the stress response. - This is part of the normally occurring feedback loop that ‘turns on and off’ a healthy, appropriate physiological response to stress.
General adaptation syndrome
- Explains the experience of stress from a physiological perspective
- Selye believed when an individual is threatened they move through 3 different bodily phases
Alarm reaction (stage 1)
- Occurs when the person first becomes aware of the stressor
- General defensive reaction to the stressor and results in a state of tension, alertness and readiness to react to stressor
- Typically short duration
Shock
- The ability to deal with the stressor falls below its normal level
- Physiologically, the body acts as if it was injured; blood pressure or body temp drop
- Body looks after internal organs, acting as though injured - Dont function very well
Countershock
- The sympathetic ns is activated and the body’s resistance to the stressor increases
- Response is fight-flight
- Body becomes highly aroused and alert as it prepares to deal the stressor
- Adrenaline is released
- Gives us the capacity and function to uplift and go into power drive so we are better able to deal with something than in our normal state
Resistance (stage 2)
- If the source of stressor is not dealt with immediately and the state of stress continues, energy is still required and the body will continue responding in order to cope
- The body’s resistance to the particular stressor rises above normal
- Cortisol is released and all unnecessary functions are shut down
- Individual will appear as though everything is normal
- Because cortisol weakens immune system activity, its continuous presence at a abnormally high rate interferes with the body’s ability to fight disease and protect itself against further damage
Exhaustion (Stage 3)
- Resources are depleted
- Effects of the stressor can no longer be dealt with
- Resistance to disease is very weak and becomes more vulnerable to mental and physical disorders
- Prolonged release of cortisol has negative effects of the body
- Characterised by extreme fatigue, high levels of anxiety producing exhaustion
- Below our normal ability to deal with anything our resources are physically depleted, we are run down and often experiences colds, flue, headache symptoms
Strength vs weakness of GAS
Strength:
- Based on strong empirical evidence
- Focus on the biological factors related to stress
Limitations:
- Evidence not based on human experience
- Does not consider psychological factors related to stress
Psychological factors causing how we perceive stress
- Prior experience with stressors and stress responses
- Attitudes
- Personality characteristics
- Coping skills
- Personality
Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model of Stress and Coping
- Describes and explains individual differences in responses to stress
- Proposes that stress involves a transaction between an individual and their external environment
- Stress response depends upon an individual’s evaluation (appraisal) of the stressor and their ability to cope with it
Primary appraisal
Identification - access the situation
Evaluation of the significance of the event and whether anything is at stake
Decide is event is irrelevant, begin - positive or stressful.
If we decide that the event is stressful, we decide whether it is:
Harm/loss: an assessment of how much damage has already occurred
Threat: an assessment of harm/loss that may not have occurred yet but occur in the future
Challenge: an assessment of the potential for personal gain or growth from the situation
