Stress Flashcards
Stress Responses
Can be classified into:
1) Cognitive (e.g. thoughts)
2) Behavioural (e.g. crying)
3) Emotional (e.g. sad)
4) Physiological (e.g, raised BP)
Stressors
1) External traumatic (e.g. natural disaster, assault)
2) Internal conflict – perceived threat (relative stressor)
3) Life events
4) Everyday events/ life hassles
5) Environmental
6) Unpredictable events (no control over)
Relative stressor
-Perceived threats that undermines one’s perspective of who they are and who they want to be (self)
Caused by threats to:
1) Social status
2) Self-worth and social esteem
3) Acceptance within a group/community
Psychobiological factors
Factors that influence stress response:
1) Biomedical – e.g. hunger, tiredness, etc.
2) Psychological – e.g. personality, self-esteem, etc.
3) Social – e.g. social-economic group, education
4) Culture expectations within community – e.g. religious values, social values
Complex experiences within one’s life help to shape the person’s response to stress –> Every individual has a different response to stress
Factors that increase stress
1) No CONTROL
2) UNPREDICTABLE
3) Novel (mix of unpredictable + no control)
Patients in hospital + Stress
1) Unpredictable environment (limited experiences)
2) No control (knowledge gap, body/health is in the control of healthcare team)
These factors can lead to stress and patients feeling vulnerable
How to reduce stress for patients:
1) Information leaflets
2) Giving clear explanations to patients about procedures, etc.
3) Ensuring patient is included in decision-making process (active participant)
Definition of stress
-A physical and emotional response to any situation that may be perceived as threatening or exceeding a person’s ability to cope with it (Lazarus and Folkmaonn 1984)
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
- All organisms display an automatic, non-specific, universal, physiological response to stresses
- Involves 3 stages:
1) Alarm reaction – Fight/Flight response to defend body against stressor
2) Resistance – if stressor continues, body arousal remains high and tries to defend/adapt body to stressor
3) Exhaustion – body’s physiological resources are low and ability to resist collapses and death/disease may result
Limitations:
1) Assumes an automatic stress response to an external stressor
2) All stressors do not produce a uniform, physiological response
3) Does not take into account psychosocial factors and individual variability
Tend and befriend
- Females are more likely to display ‘tend and befriend’ response
- Involves:
1) Turning to group for safety – importance of close social network, bonding and nurturing behaviour
2) Biological mechanism – Oxytocin
Life events model
- Stress relates to the amount of adjustment or number of life events or changes an individual is faced with within a certain timeframe
- Measured using checklists of life events occurring within a certain timeframe (i.e. Social readjustment rating scale)
Limitations:
1) People react differently to similar events
2) Recall – faulty associations between stress and life event (unable to identify obvious cause of illness may cause individual to link it with stress)
3) Severity
4) Restricted range – omission and non-events are also stressful (e.g. missing a job promotion)
5) Moderating variables are not considered (e.g. financial status, social support)
6) Ignore relationships between stressors
7) Does not take into account the role of physiological processes (i.e. coping strategies) – people are not passive
Transactional model
- Stress is viewed as a series of transactions between the individual and the environment
- Involves:
1) Appraisal of stressor - Primary (external) appraisal – assessment of demand
- Secondary (internal) appraisal – assessment of resources available
2) Adopt coping strategies
3) Re-appraise in light of coping strategies
Strengths:
1) Takes into account psychological and emotional responses
2) Cognitive approach (not just physiological responses)
3) Dynamic – allows for evaluation and change to coping strategies
4) Allow for circumstances and situations to change
5) Acknowledge individual differences (i.e. resources to cope differ)
6) Suggest that individual have control over responses
Limitations:
1) Lack of empirical evidence due to difficulty testing (subjective nature of stress)
2) Does not take into account sudden stressors (e.g. acute accidents)
3) Stress response may not depend on the appraisal
4) Pre-existing factors may influence appraisal (e.g. depression)
5) Primary and secondary appraisals may interact and overlap
Coping
-Defined as the attempt to manage perceived demands of stressor
Coping strategies
Problem (action) focused
1) Cognitive (e.g. seek info, goal setting)
2) Behavioural (e.g. time management, attempt to gain control)
Aims to:
- Modify situation and potentially reduce/remove stressor
-Leads to increase in confidence and reduce anxiety
Emotion-focused
1) Cognitive (e.g. denial, suppression)
2) Behavioural (e.g. seek support, distancing)
- Used when situation cannot be modified or outside of one’s control (e.g. bereavement)
- Attempts to dampen emotional stress
Adaptive Coping Strategies
1) Reduce demand (e.g. problem-solving)
2) Increase resources (e.g. social support)
3) Dampen physiological response (e.g. meditation)
4) Psychological intervention (e.g. rehearsal)
