stress Flashcards
Stressor
Any event that triggers coping
adjustment.
Strain
The physical and emotional wear and
tear reaction of a person attempting to cope
with a stressor.
Stress
The process by which we perceive and
respond to events (stressors).
Three Research Focuses
- The environment: stress as a stimulus
(stressors) - Reaction to stress: stress as a response
(distress) - Stress as a process that includes stressors
and strains, but includes relationship between
person and the environment (coping).
The Physiology of Stress
when we sense danger…
Increase in
* Adrenaline
* Heart rate, breathing
blood pressure… etc.
* Cortisol
Decrease in
* Reduced blood flow
to the kidneys, skin
and gut that are not
immediately needed
The role of the endocrine system in stress
Hypothalamus orders the pituitary to secrete
adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which is
taken up by the adrenal glands.
Adrenal Glands:
* Mediates most of our
physiological responses to stress
* Releases cortisol, epinephrine,
and norepinephrin
the physiology of stress: the sympathetic nervous system
Adrenal Medulla: Epinephrine
& Norepinephrine
Increases….
* heart rate
* respiration
* perspiration
* blood to muscles
* metabolism
* mental activity
general adaptation syndrome
- alarm reaction: fight or flight
- resistance: arousal high as body tries to defend and adapt
- exhaustion: limited physical resources, resistance decreases stress
Biological Theories of
Psychophysiological Disorders
- Somatic-Weakness Theory
- Weakness in a specific body organ
- Example: congenitally weak respiratory system might
predispose the individual to asthma - Specific-Reaction Theory
- Individual response to stress is idiosyncratic
- Prolonged Exposure to Stress Hormones
- Activation of CNS and HPA axis
- Stress and the Immune System
- Stress impact the ANS, hormone levels, brain activity
transaction model
1) Encounter a potentially stressful event or
situation.
2) Cognitive appraisals:
* Primary appraisal – is this event positive, neutral
or negative; and if negative, how bad?
* Secondary appraisal – do I have resources or
skills to handle the event/demand?
* If no, then distress
Psychological Aspects of Stress
- Stress can affect cognitive performance.
- Vicious cycle of rumination and/or worrying
- Stress can affect our emotions.
- Fear and anxiety
Dysfunctional Cognitive Processes
Stress arises or is augmented by faulty or
irrational ways of thinking:
* Catastrophizing – “It is the end of the world if I get
turned down when I ask for a date.”
* Overgeneralizing – “I didn’t get a good grade on
this test. I can’t get anything right.”
* Selective abstraction – Only seeing specific details
of the situation (e.g., Seeing the negatives but
missing the positive details)
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
- Measure of skin’s resistance to
electricity - Polygraph
measuring stress- Performance Measures
Social facilitation (good stress):
* Any increment of individual activity resulting from
the presence of another individual
* Creates arousal, thus enhancing the dominant
response
What impacts do major life events have on our
health?
Holmes & Rahe
- Life change units
- Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
Acute vs. Chronic Stress
- Acute stress
- Sudden, typically short-lived, threatening event
(e.g., robbery, giving a speech) - Chronic stress
- Ongoing environmental demand (e.g., marital
conflict, work stress)
Daily Hassles and Uplifts
Hassles:
* Experiences and conditions of daily living that
have been appraised as salient and harmful or
threatening
Uplifts:
* Experiences & conditions of daily living that
have been appraised as salient & positive or
favourable
Job Stress
A) Work Overload – Work too long & too hard
B) Role Overload – Balance several different
jobs at once
C) Burnout – Physical and psychological
exhaustion
Environmental Stress
Natural disasters, accidents, terrorism, and war
Cardiovascular Disorders
- Heart Disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada,
accounting for 1 in 5 deaths - Essential Hypertension
- Hypertension without identified biological cause
- Sometimes called: Primary hypertension
- Known as the silent killer (may go undetected for years)
- Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)
- Narrowing of blood vessels supplying O2 and blood to heart
- Two diseases involving heart and blood-circulation system
appear to be adversely affected by stress
Therapies for Psychophysiological
Disorders
- Treating hypertension through decreasing CHD risk factors
- Decrease anxiety, depression, or anger
- Decrease psychophysiological disorders
- Also decrease smoking, obesity, alcohol consumption, salt intake
- Increase exercise
- Drugs can be used to decrease cholesterol levels
- Biofeedback
- Effectiveness of biofeedback has only modest empirical support
- Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Support and counseling aimed at decreasing stress
- Known effectiveness shown in meta-analyses
- However, concerns about barriers to access programs:
- lack of physician referral
- long travel time and distance to available reha
Trauma and Stressor-
Related Disorders
- Adjustment Disorder
- Acute Stress Disorder
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorde
Risk Factors of PTSD
- Exposure to trauma and severity of trauma
- Gender (more females)
- Perceived threat to life
- Family history of psychiatric disorders
- Presence of pre-existing psychiatric disorders
- Early separation from parents
- Previous exposure to traumas
- Dissociative symptoms (including amnesia and out-of-body
experiences) at the time of the trauma - Trying to push memories of the trauma out of one’s mind
(Ehlers et al., 1998). - Tendency to take personal responsibility for failures
- Coping with stress by focusing on emotions (“I wish I could
change how I feel”) - Attachment style (insecure attachment style
psychological Theories of PTSD
- PTSD arises from a classical conditioning of fear avoidances being
built up, and they are negatively reinforced by the reduction of fear
that comes from not being in the presence of the CS. - Anxiety sensitivity
cognitive theories of PTSD
characterize PTSD as a disorder of memory.
* The hallmark feature being the constant involuntary recollection of
the traumatic event (McNally, 2006).
* It has been shown across several studies that PTSD is associated
with impaired memory of emotionally neutral stimuli.
* There is a robust association between PTSD and memory
impairment and this tendency is stronger for verbal memory than
visual memory
