Midterm 2 (stress/coping unit) Flashcards
What is Stress?
The tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a situation called a stressor strains our ability to cope effectively.
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Stress is not the same as trauma and occurs when we lack resources to cope.
What are the three perspectives on stress? and breifly describe them?
- Stressors as Stimuli - this is the idea that stress is just out there and it is an external aspect
- Stress as a Transaction - this is the idea that stress is a subjective experience (there is a dynamic between the individuals and the surrounding environments)
- Stress as a Response - the assessments of people’s psychological and physical reactions to stressful circumstances/events
What is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)?
A self-report measure where participants rate anticipated difficulty of 43 significant life events.
* this is used by individuals where they are supposed to rank their difficulties of one’s abilitlites in particular events
* it is believed that this scale is actually used to measure our abilities to cope effectively
* this is based on individuals self reports
* a down side to this method is is that is does not consider other crucial factors or events that may change people’s coping methods
Focuses on significant events.
What is the Hassles Scale?
A measure assessing minor annoyances or nuisances that strain our ability to cope.
* the goal of this method is to measure how stressful events ranging from small annoyance to major daily pressures affect our adjustments
* this can be used to determine on a larger scales individual’s overall general health and how poor it is
* this method focuses on apprasial aspects
Major life events and hassles are associated with poor general health.
What is General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)?
A stress response pattern consisting of three stages: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion. (these are non-specific response to stress)
* this process is biological based (the changes that will happen as a reaction to stress)
Proposed by Hans Selye.
What is the fight-or-flight response?
A physical and psychological reaction that mobilizes people and animals to either defend themselves or escape a frightening situation.
* fight - the ability to take on the treat and cope in the immediate situation
* flight - the ability to coward away from this confrontation
What is the role of the sympathetic nervous system in stress?
It triggers fight or flight functions by releasing adrenaline.
* this causes the response to stress
* this will cause an adrenaline pump, sweat production, and increased breathing
What is the HPA Axis?
A chain reaction of hormonal responses involving the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands that leads to cortisol release.
* this process tend to happen more slow than the sympathetic nervous system
* chronic activation of HPA axis will cause a negative long term effect (will cause physical and mental change)
What are the differences in stress responses between genders?
Men exhibit more ‘fight or flight’ responses, while women tend to ‘tend and befriend’.
What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
A mental health condition caused by a highly stressful or frightening event, characterized by symptoms like vivid memories and flashbacks.
* people with this disorder tend to avoid reminders of the trauma
* we can not say that PTSD develops from a specific event
What is hardiness in coping with stress?
A set of attitudes marked by a sense of control over events, commitment to life and work, and courage to confront stressful circumstances.
* hardiness causes people to view changes as a challenge rather than a threat which causes them to be commited to their life and work and can lead to the idea that they can control events
What is the biopsychosocial model?
A model that explains illnesses as the result of the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors.
* this outlines that physical illinesses depend on complex interplay of genes, lifestyle, immunity, social support, and interaction of everyday stressors
What is psychoneuroimmunology?
The study of the relationship between the immune system and the central nervous system.
* this is the idea of the seat of our emotions and reactions to the environment
What is the nocebo effect?
Negative outcomes that occur due to a person’s negative expectations or beliefs about a treatment or condition.
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What are the components of the immune system?
- Antibodies (identify the foreign invaders)
- Phagocytes (type of white blood cells)
- Lymphocytes (type of white blood cells)
- Killer T-cells (attach t proteins on virus)
- Lymph nodes
- Bone marrow
- Spleen
- Tonsils
- Thymus
- Skin and mucosa
What factors are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD)?
Stress, hormones, inflammation, and personality factors like ‘Type A’ personality associated with anger and hostility.
What is the impact of smoking on health?
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and is associated with toxin exposure and inflammation.
What is the Body Mass Index (BMI)?
(weight/height in inches²) x 703
Applies to populations and has limited use for individuals.
What are implementation intentions in behavior change?
A clear plan of what we will do in specific circumstances to facilitate behavior change.
* this is the idea that we have to rewrite the patterns that we fall into (this is done by making gradual changes to our lifestyles)
* however major changes in life circumstances can lead to behaviour changes which can alter our perspectives and lead to natural behaviour changes
Fill in the blank: Stress can be categorized as _______ and _______.
[Eustress], [Distress]
* Eustress - Good stress
* Distress - bad stress
True or False: Chronic levels of hormones have positive effects on the body.
False
What is trauma
- this is a type of stressor that is so severe that is can produce long term psychological or health consequences
What is a stressor
- this is the stimulus in the environment that strains our abilities to cope
What causes us to classify an event as stressful? What are the two categories of these factors?
this is because of appraisals - the evalution of an event and how things play a role into how we feel and interrupt our forms of stress
* primary appraisal - this is the examination of if something is actually stressful or if it is neutral (what we classify as harmful)
* secondary appraisal - this is the examination of our abilities to cope with an event
What is emotion focused coping
- this is trying to change or distract ourselves from the stress of an event
- this is the idea of trying to place a positive spin on our feelings or predicaments in order to cause behaviours to reduce painful emotions
What is problem focused coping
- this is a coping strategy by which we problem solve and tackle life’s challenges head on
What can be used to find indicators or poor physical and psychological health?
- major events and hassle scales are correlated to being able to discover this
- these are used to predict anxiety and depression
- major events are seen to be a larger attributor to the stress and other psychological conditions that push individuals over the edge
What are the 3 stages with the general adaptation syndrome? Breifly describe them.
1) Alarm - this is the excitement of the autonomic nervous system that causes adrenalin to be released (beginning of the flight or fight response)
* this is the idea that some stressor occurs and a physical or psychological response was created
2) Resistance - this is our abilities to adapt to different stressors
3) Exhaustion - this is the stage where our body if tired from fighting against a stressor and can cause anxiety, mental fatigue, or depression
Describe the process of tend befriend
- this is the process of the reaction that mobilizes people to nurture or to seek social support under stress
What are the different variations of stress responses? breifly describe them
*
Define immune system
- our bodies defence against invading bacteria, viruses, and other potentially illness causing organisms
What is the relationship between stress and cold
- when we are stressed, we tend no to sleep, neglect eating nutrients, increase drinking or smoking habits which all lead to a supressed immune system
Define health psychology
- a field of psychology that intergrates the behavioural sciences with the practice of medicine
- they promote and maintain health and try to prevent and treat illness
What are the four major points for promoting good health? breifly describe them
1) stop smoking - this is the idea that in order to stop smoking, different habits must be added into one’s routine in order to replace this habit
2) curb alcohol consumption - by sticking to 2 drinks per day for male and one drink per day for females will reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes
3) Achieve a healthy weight - being obese involve a heightened risk of heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure, and different chronic health illiness
4) exercise - the more exercise that one includes can promote the use of oxygen in the body which lowers blood pressure and can improve lung functions and promote the avoidence of certain chronic conditions
What is personal inertia
- this is the idea that once we move in one direction (develop habits) we continue to move in that direction
- this is capable of producing stress but can also be applied to good habitats
What is misestimating risk
- this is the idea that we tend to underestimate certin risks to our health and overestimate others
- this idea causes us to maintain the status quo
