Session 6 - Stress Flashcards

1
Q

Define stress

A

a condition or feeling that a person experiences when they perceive that demands exceed the social and personal resources that they are able to mobilise

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2
Q

What are the 2 components of stress?

A
  1. Physical
  2. Psychological
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3
Q

What does the Physical component of stress entail?

A

material and bodily challenges experienced by the person

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4
Q

What does the Psychological component of stress entail?

A

How the person perceives the circumstances in their life.

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5
Q

Name the categories of the sources of stress.

A
  1. Intrinsic - coping mechanisms and personality traits
  2. Extrinsic - environment
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6
Q

List the 6 myths of stress.

A
  1. Superiority
  2. Fatalism
  3. Crisis
  4. Nerves
  5. Control
  6. Relax
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7
Q

Explain the Superiority myth of stress.

A

It states that only inferior and maladjusted individuals experience problems with stress.

The myth is perpetuated by society as it reinforces the perception that medical doctors and other professionals are untouchable.

This myth promotes further stress.

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8
Q

Explain the Fatalism myth of stress.

A

It states that stress is always a result of the circumstances that one finds themselves in. Since one cannot change the situation, they are merely a victim of their circumstances.

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9
Q

Explain the Crisis myth of stress.

A

It states that stress is always the result of a serious traumatic event or important things going wrong.

It disregards the effect of insignificant events on the development of stress.

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10
Q

Explain the Nerves myth of stress.

A

It views stress as a phenomenon where people are suffering from their nerves and they can’t help it.

It lays the blame if stress on the nervous system and thus renders stress as a biological phenomenon when in reality it is psychological.

Your nervous system cannot cause stress but your thoughts and thinking patterns can.

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11
Q

Explain the Control myth of stress.

A

It is based on the assumption that a person is able to exercise control over the measure of stress that they can experience.

Each person becomes conditioned to the level of stress that they can endure; furthermore, stress builds up so gradually that the person does not realise that their level of stress is increasing and their stress tolerance threshold is lowering.

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12
Q

Explain the Relax myth of stress.

A

It states that whenever one experiences great stress , all they have to do is sit down and relax in order to resolve the stress.

As much as relaxing helps when it comes to managing stress, it is insufficient to effectively manage stress. It has to be used in conjunction with other techniques.

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13
Q

Name the 2 kinds of stress.

A
  1. Acute stress
  2. Chronic stress
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14
Q

Explain the physiological process of acute stress.

A
  1. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete ACTH.
  2. The adrenal glands secrete epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol into the bloodstream.
  3. The body is fully energized and mobilized.
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15
Q

What is the function of acute stress?

A

It is to mobilize the body’s resources.

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16
Q

What is acute stress?

A

It is the fight or flight response to an emergency situation

17
Q

What is another name for acute stress?

A

Alarm reaction

18
Q

What do the effects of chronic stress constitute?

A

‘general adaptation syndrome’

19
Q

Name the 3 stages of chronic stress/’general adaptation syndrome’

A
  1. Alarm reaction
  2. Stage of resistance
  3. Stage of exhaustion
20
Q

Explain the stage of resistance.

A
  1. Occurs when a strong stressor continues but is not severe enough to cause death.
  2. The body tries to adapt to the stressor but there are no outward signs of stress.
  3. Physiological arousal remains high as the body replenishes the adrenal hormones.
  4. The ability to resist new stressors may become impaired and this may make the person vulnerable to health problems.
21
Q

Explain the stage of exhaustion.

A
  1. During this stage the immune system is weakened.
  2. The body’s energy reserves have been used up and as a result there is low resistance.
  3. Disease and damage to organs may occur
  4. Death is a possibility
22
Q

Explain the relationship between stress and productivity.

A
  1. Stress is not necessarily negative. Without any demands on the human being they cannot function.
  2. Stress becomes negative and detrimental when these demands become unmanageable and/or the person’s stress management mechanisms are inadequate.
23
Q

What is the role of thinking in stress?

A
  1. There is evidence of the effectiveness of thought reconstructing in stress management.
  2. This method is based on the assumption that thinking, emotions and behaviour affect on another.
24
Q

Name the 8 dysfunctional thinking styles.

A
  1. Absolutistic thinking
  2. Catastrophizing
  3. Negative self-assessment
  4. Over-generalisation
  5. Low frustration tolerance
  6. Polarised thinking
  7. Filtering
  8. Blaming
25
Q

Explain Absolutistic thinking.

A

It is characterised by ‘must’ and ‘should’ thoughts. These thoughts create norms that we are not always able to adhere to. They form rules which we then live by and they then become the basis of our stress.

Stress arises because we impose such daunting demands on ourselves and we would like to have absolute control over ourselves, others and our environment.

26
Q

Explain Catastrophising.

A

It refers to the tendency to consciously and sun consciously view things or events as much more frightening or fear inspiring than should be the case in reality.

It is dysfunctional because it worsens our discomfort and unpleasant emotions which blocks effective action.

27
Q

Explain Negative self-assessment.

A

It refers to when someone judges themself in totality in negative terms because of a single life event.

It is an enormous source of stress because it leads to negative self-appraisal, negativism, feelings of guilt, low levels of self-confidence and low self-worth.

One lives under the assumption that people only have value based on their achievements.

28
Q

Explain Over-generalisation

A

Here a single event or characteristic is assigned the status of a general rule with words such as always, never, everyone, nothing and everything.

29
Q

Explain Low frustration tolerance.

A

Here the person thinks in superlatives, which lead to self-indoctrination and stress.

30
Q

Explain Polarised thinking.

A

Here events are assessed only in terms of 2 extremes with no possibilities in between.

31
Q

Explain Filtering

A

It entails looking at only one part of a situation to the exclusion of everything else.

32
Q

Explain Blaming

A

This refers to attributing bad things as someone’s fault