Session 6 - Stress Flashcards
Define stress
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
What are the 2 components of stress?
- Physical
- Psychological
What does the Physical component of stress entail?
material and bodily challenges experienced by the person
What does the Psychological component of stress entail?
How the person perceives the circumstances in their life.
Name the categories of the sources of stress.
- Intrinsic - coping mechanisms and personality traits
- Extrinsic - environment
List the 6 myths of stress.
- Superiority
- Fatalism
- Crisis
- Nerves
- Control
- Relax
Explain the Superiority myth of stress.
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.
Explain the Fatalism myth of stress.
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.
Explain the Crisis myth of stress.
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.
Explain the Nerves myth of stress.
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.
Explain the Control myth of stress.
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.
Explain the Relax myth of stress.
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.
Name the 2 kinds of stress.
- Acute stress
- Chronic stress
Explain the physiological process of acute stress.
- The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete ACTH.
- The adrenal glands secrete epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol into the bloodstream.
- The body is fully energized and mobilized.
What is the function of acute stress?
It is to mobilize the body’s resources.