HEALTH- Stress Flashcards
Give 3 different ways stress has been defined as
- The effect of the environment on the individual for example, major life events
- Stress as a bodily response focusing on how people respond to stressful events
- The interaction between the person and the environment and here individuals can choose how to respond to the stressor using a combination of behavioural, cognitive and emotional strategies.
Describe the first stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
ALARM STAGE:
- This stage involves the ‘flight or fight’ response
- Once the amygdala in the brain is alerted, a signal is sent to the hypothalamus.
- The hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system causing the adrenal medulla to release the hormones such as epinephrine
- The hypothalamus also signals the pituitary gland to release ACTH, which in turn stimulates the production of the hormone cortisol from the adrenal cortex.
- This could be running away from whatever has triggered the ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ respnse.
Describe the second stage of GAS
RESISTANCE STAGE:
- After the initial reaction to the perceived stressor, the body will try to adapt to the ongoing demands being placed upon it. This happens around 48 hours after the onset of stress.
- The body will for example try to return the blood pressure back to normal.
- By now, the individual may not be showing outward signs of stress and could find it hard to respond to new stressors in the environment.
Describe the third stage of GAS
EXHAUSTION STAGE:
- This is exprienced if the stressor continues over a long period of time.
- The immune system wil weaken due to the body not having enough resources to deal with the stress.
- Continued stress at this stage makes the individual more likely to experience illness and physiological damage
Evaluate the GAS theory
- A useful theory that helps us understand why people are more likely to suffer physical illnesses when they are under chronic stress. Taylor et al showing that women show a ‘tend and befriend’ response
- This theory is a nomothetic approach as it assumes everyone will react to stress in the same way. e.g some people view it as a challenge than a threat and research shows that those people are less likely to experience the negative side effects of stress
What is acute stress
- This is stress that is often short term and in one way it can help someone survive and enhance their immune system/ response
Describe how chronic stress can affect ones digestive system
- This can change your hormone levels and increase the acidity levels in the stomach
- This increase in stomach acid may eventually lead to stomach ulcers.
Describe how chronic stress can affect the circulatory system
- stress can raise someones blood pressure
- Hypertension is one the highest risk factors in Coronary Heart Disease
- This can lead to high cholesterol levels. The stress response affects the release of fatty acids which can consequently lead to clumping together of cholesterol particles.
Evaluate the effects of stress on health
+ A strength is that this knowledge can help raise awareness of the damaging effects of stress. This could llead people to take action.
-A weakness is that researchers have been unable to find one single factor which may be linked to stress and poor health. For example, physiological stress response can cause cardiovascular disease anf this limits its usefulness of such research as we are unsure which factor could be altered to prevent such disorders.
Causes of stress
What did Holmes and Rahe conclude on the link between life events and stress
The concluded that the more life events experienced in the last 12 months, the more likely a person is to become stressed and even suffer from ill health.
These experiences could be marriage, divorce, changing jobs or even christmas.
Causes of stress
Evaluate Holmes and Rahe theory of life events
- Kanner et al suggests that only using life events as a predictor is reductionist compared to the hassles scale which measured how many daily hassles and uplifts people ecountered in the previous month.
- life events only take into account situational explanations of stress and this is a weakness as it ignores individual and cultural differences.
- Research shows our response to stress can be deterministic, i.e we react to the number of stressful life events in our life.
- This can be beneficial as we can be aware and create coping strategies in order to manage it, making it applicable
- Another strength is that research from Rahe 1970 studied 2500 American sailors. The results showed a positive correlation between life events scores and illness scores
Causes of stress
List 2 factors as an example of how work can lead to stress
- The job is repetitive with a low level of control over their work ( workers have no freedom to make their own decisions about their work)
- High workload (the amount of work a person has to do in a specific amount of time
Causes of stress
State 2 research evidence about the link between stress and work
Marmot et al.
They studied 10,000 civil servents and found that there was a correlation between workload and CHD in lower grade civil servants (Lower levels of control)
Johansson et al.
They looked at swedish sawmill workers and compared finishers (who prepared timber) to cleaners who cleaned the mill. Cleaners could work at their own pace and less responsibility. They found that finishers had higher levels of stress hormones than cleaners did
Causes of stress
What was the aim in Chandola et al.
To determine the biological and behavioural factors linking work stress and CHD
Causes of stress
Describe the procedure and results in Chandola et al
- Sample completed the Job Strain Questionnaire. Job strain was indicated if demands of the job are rated as high and control over their job was low
- Participants were also assessed on incidents of CHD during both phases. Behavioural risk factors were measured in phase 3
RESULTS: - Amongst younger participants, there was a significant association between work stress and incidents of CHD. However little for older participants
- Greater reports of work stress were associated with poor health behaviour
Causes of stress
Describe a Type A personality
- Competitive
- work-driven
- ambitious
- time-conscious
- aggressive
Causes of stress
What did Friedman and Rosenman find out about Type A personalities
They noticed that certain behaviour patterns were associated cholesterol levels and blood clotting time and these were all associated with CHD
Causes of stress
Evaluate the Type A personality theory
- One strength is the available research support from Friedman and Rosenman (1974) where they studied healthy men and gave them a personality questionnaire that seprateed them into Type A and Type B personalities. Almost twice as many Type A people developed CHD.
- However these studies were correlational so no cause and effect
- It is reductionist. human behaviours are complex and many people may not fit neatly into Type A or B and could be a mix of both instead.
- Difficult to determine which aspects of Type A personality actually increases the risk of CHD in an individual. Some researchers blame hostility rather than Type A
Biological Measures of stress
Describe Recording devices for heart rate
- Electrocardiography:
> It measures the number of beats per min
> Researchers have founf that heart rate increases in acutely stressed individuals and decreases in chronically stressed individuals. ( Schubert et al.) - Heart rate Variability (HRV)
> This refers to the variation in time between heartbeats
> Measured in milliseconds
> Variation rises when we are relaxed but when stressed variation goes down.
Biological Measures of stress
Describe recording devices for brain function : fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging is a type of scanning machine that can detect and record brain activiy using powerful electromagnets.
- It works by recognising changes in blood oxygenation and flow in the brain that occur when there is neural activity.
- When an area of the brain is active, the blood flow to that area increases. Degrees of neural activity are represented in different coulours on the scan.
Biological Measures of stress
Describe the procedure in Wang et al.
- The participants in the experimental group rested 15 mins before having their fMRI scan.
- Each person had 4 scans of 8 mins each followed by a full anatomical scan at the end.
Scan 1: Baseline (control condition) no task
Scan 2: Low-stress condition: participants counted aloud back from 1000
Scan 3: High stress condition: participants told to perform serial subtraction of thirteen from a 4 digit number. They were prompted to go faster and if an error was made, they would restart the task
Scan 4: A final baseline
Biological Measures of stress
Describe sample tests: salivary cortisol
- Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands as part of our ‘fight or flight’ response.
- High levels of cortisol usually indicate that the individual is experiencing physiological stress.
Psychological Measures of stress
Describe Friedmans and Rosenmans Personality Test
- first a structured interview over a period of over 8 years.
- They created 25 questions
- These questions assessed how people respond to everyday pressures and how they would cope.
- They assessed feelings of impatience, hostility and competitiveness.
- Interviews were audio- taped and participants personality was rated by 2 researchers to ensure inter-rater reliability.
- Jenkins et al created a pen and paper version of the test called the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) where it had a subset of 21 items that best predicted Type A behavior.
Psychological Measures of stress
Evaluate the personality test
+ The JAS was a self report making it easier to score and over a wider sample. For instance it could be completed online or sent out to large numbers of people
-Social desirability could be a problem. Bennett and Carroll (1989) suggested that participants would not view themselves in such negative terms such as being irritable ot too angry
Psychological Measures of stress
Describe the Life events questionnaire as a mesure of stress
The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
- Contained 43 life events based on the type of events that they experienced.
- If a person had less than 150 life change units , then there was a 30 percent chance of suffering stress.
- If a person had 50-299 life change units there was 50% chance of suffering stress
- If a person had over 300 life change units, an 80% chance of developing stress-related illness.
Psychological Measures of stress
Evaluate the Life events questionnaire (SRRS)
- Because it was correlational and only looked at the relationship between health and life events, there is no cause and effect.
- Another weakness is that it does not take into account individual responses to life events. The scale assumes that everyone will respond to life events in the same way. This can imply the SRRS is low in internal reliability
- A strength is that research evidence such as Scully et al reviewed scale 30 years later and reported that it was still a reliable measure of stress and is widely used. This increases temporal validity.
Psychological therapies
Describe Biofeedback
- This is based on the principles of operant conditioning
- This treatment uses tech to enable an individual to see the physiological reactions that are occurying when under stress. This involves:
> The person is first taught relaxation techniques and is then connected to machines that measure muscle tension (EMG), brain activity (EEG) and sweating (SCR).
> When increased activity is identified by any of the machines, feedback is given. This could be a sound if muscle tension increases.
> The individual will then use the muscle exercies they learned to decrease their heart rate
Psychological therapies
Evaluate Biofeedback
- Applicable as they can learn these techniques and transfer them into real world situations
- No side effects and is a more ethical alternative to drug therapy
- Because they are taking control of their stress and making conscise decisions attend the therapy, they are exercising free will.
- However the treatment can also be deterministic. For example heart rate will be the feedback (reinforcement) they receive from the machine. The feedback they get determines the persons physiological response.
Psychological therapies
Describe the methodolgy in Budzynski and Stoyva
- There were 3 groups:
> Experimental group- Participants were told that the pitch of the instrument would vary with the level of muscle tension in their forehead. they needed to relax as much as possible
> The first control- Participants were asked to relax as much as possible, especially the forehead muscle
> The second control - Participants were told to relax deeply, especially the muscle in the forehead and were also told that the low monotonous tone would help them relax. - Electrodes were used to measure the muscle activity
- because the forehead muscle is the most difficult one to relax, they wanted to see if they could control it, then the feedback procedure can be applies to less-difficult muscles.
- Before, all participants were initially recorded on 2 occasions without any feedback.
- The DV was reduction in action potential in the muscles, which were measured by electrodes in microvolts
Psychological therapies
Describe the 3 stages of the Stress inoculation training (SIT)
- The conceptualisation phase: The stage has 2 goals-
> Building a warm collaborative relationship between client and trainer
> Increasing the client’s understanding and awareness of the nature of their own stress response.
- The trainer will teach them the concept of anxiety and the impact of stress. This can be done through Socratic questioning.
- Socratic questioning is where focused yet open-ended questions discover deep held beliefs about their stress - Skill acquisition phase: This stage involves the client aquiring new coping skills and consolidate the skills they already possess. They can be taught self-awareness and self-monitoring skills.
- Through self-monitoring they become aware of their own anxious self-talk.
- They can also be taught self- statements to counter negative self-talk. - Rhearsal and application: They work on refining, applying and transferring their skills. The client might be asked to for example imagine a scenerio where they would normally feel anxious
Psychological therapies
Evaluate SIT
- Unlike drug therapy, it focuses on the stress rather than the symptoms for example the emotions surrounding these experiences. This makes it applicable and the skills used can be incorporated into their life
- SIT does not have any side effects that medication for stress relief might have.
- SIT can be considered expensive for some clients. For instance, SIT involves working intensively with clients over a number of sessions
- the use of socratic questionning allows the therapist to understand the individuals perspective of their stress making it individualistic. But can also gain an understanding of their situation
Bridge et al- key case study
What was the aim
- to investigate whether stress could be reduced in patients who had been diagnosed with early breast cancer.
- Wanted to see whether patients who received either 2 relaxation treatments would show a more positive effect on their mood states than a control group.
Bridge et al- key case study
Describe the sample
- Opportunity sampling
- 139 women
- either treated by a mastectomy or breast conservation lumpectomy for early- stage breast cancer.
- All women were attending a 6 week outpatients ourse of radio therapy
- At Middlesex Hospital in the UK
- Under the age of 70 with avg age being 53.
Bridge et al- key case study
What were the 3 conditions the participants were allocated to
-The control condition
The relaxation treatment group
The relaxation plus imagery group
Bridge et al- key case study
What were the 2 measures used
- Leads General Scale for the Self-Assessment of Depression and Anxiety: used to assess mood with cancer
- The Profile of Mood states questionnaire: a 65 item that measures aspects such as fatigue anger, confusion and depression
Bridge et al- key case study
Describe the procedure
- All the women completed at least one session of radiotherapy
- Both the relaxation and the treatment plus imagery group were taught relaxation techniques which involved learning how to relax indiviudal muscles throughout the bosy and diaphragmatic breathing, slowing down the breathing rate.
- They were both given audio tapes which repeated the instructions for all the relaxation techniques
- The relxation plus imagery group were also taught to imagine a ‘peaceful scene’ of their own choice, to help increase relaxation.
- sessions lasted for about 30 mins
- The control group were simply encouraged to talk about themselves and their interests
Bridge et al- key case study
Give 3 results
- No significant differences were found between the 3 groups in terms of mood on the initial questionnaire scores.
- There was no significant difference in the mood disturbance of the ‘Relaxation’ group when the data from both age groups were combined.
- In the control group, total mood disturbance got worse
Bridge et al- key case study
What did they conclude
- Relaxation combined with imagery is effective at reducing mood disturbances
Bridge et al- key case study
Evaluate the study
- It followed standardised procedures. e.g the researchers ensured the same relaxation techniques were learned to all women
- Another strength is that they used a RCT. This lowers researcher bias and participant variables
- A weakness is that the DV involved self reports, which could lead to socially desirable responses.
- Another weakness is that the study had a relatively small sample.
- All participants gave valid consent and had been fully debriefed. Confidentuality was kept and no drugs were administered.
- The techniques learned were found to be applicable to everyday specifically towards older women
