Stress and Coping Flashcards
What are the three general processes involved in stress?
- the stimulus/stressor
- the response (strain)
- the process (interaction between the two)
GIve a definition of stress.
a physical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may lead to disease causation
a negative emotional experience accompanied by biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that are directed toward altering the stressful event
What are the two general kinds of stress?
physical stress (cold, heat, infection, extended exercise)
psychological stress - an event that is PERCEIVED as negative (not directly physically threatening)
True or false; psychological stress is a top down process.
true
but once the stressor is seen as negative, it will cause the same physiological changes as a bottom-up physical stressor
What are the two main axes involve din the physiological resposne to stress?
1 the sympathetic-adrenal-medulla axis (SAM)
2. the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA)
In general, what wil the adrenal medulla release under stress in the SAM axis?
epiephrine and norepinephrine to increase BP and HR
Under stress, what will the hypothalamus realsase in the HPS axis?
corticotropin releasing hormone
What does that CRH do?
hits the anterior pituitary and causes release of adrenocorticotropic hormone
What does the ACTH do?
It goes tot he adrenal cortex and causes release of cortisol
How does cortisol work in stress?
It maintains the normal organic and metabolic functions of the sympathetic system. In generally it makes the system more effieicient under states of emergency
but it’s a bad idea for this to be working all the time!!
THe adrenal gland is involved in both axes. How?
the adrenal medulla secretes catecholamiens in the SAM
the adrenal cortex releases steroids in the HPA axis
What is the effect of cortisol on the immune system?
suppresses it in several ways
psychoneuroimmunology
What was Walter Cannon’s contribution to stress research?
came up with the idea of homeostasis
What is allostasis? How does it differ from homeostasis?
the compensation that an organism engages in to achieve homeostasis successfully
more focused on ACTIVE PROCESS to maintain homeostasis
Describe the fight or flight response
It’s the prototypical stress response
The fight-flight response incorporates powerful emotional (anxiety, fear, anger), neuroendocrine and autonomic changes to increase chance of survival.
What did Hans Selye contribute to the study of stress?
developed an idea of a General Adaptation Syndrome
especially significant because he includes the concept that CHRONIC stress is bad
What are the three stages of general adaptation syndrome?
alartm reaction (detects the external stimulus) Adaptation (engages in defensive countermeasure) Exhaustion (body begins to run out of defenses int he face of long-term exposure)
What is the limitation on Selye’s model?
Used animals, so didn’t take into account the psychological and social influences on stress
What did RIchard Lazarus ontribute?
Gave a cognitive model for coping…
What is coping?
the process of managing demands that are apprasied as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person
so it’s an internal effort to manage environmental demand
What are the steps of Lazarus’ coping mdoel?
- environment event (test)
- Primary apprasial (what is this test? easy or hard? easy - no stress response, hard - stress response begins)
- If stress begins, secondary appraisal occurs (what resources can I use to cope with this test?)
- Coping behaviors
- Coping outcome (biological, psychological and behavioral responses(
What is problem focused coping? Direct action?
In this example, studying for the exam
What is emotion regulation coping?
deep breathing in between studying, drink a cup of tea, etc
relaxation to maintain focus in the long run
Describe Type A behavior
time urgency impatience competitiveness hard on themselves hostility
may not cope well with stress
What is the type A hostility a particular risk for?
coronary heart disease
IF a person learns they don’t have control over a stressful situation, can their performance improve when given coping skills?
typically not
How has chronic activation of the HPA system been shown to affect cardiovascular health?
chronic HPA activity is associated with the developent of cardiovascular disease - the cortisol in compinantion of cholesterol leads to increased atherosclerosis
WHat is the relationship between depression and MI?
people who have depression are more likely to have an MI than those that don’t have depression
How can stress INDIRECTLY affect health?
by contributing to unhealthy behaviors like smoking, drinking, poor diet, and sedentary lifestyle
become problematic if they become long-term coping strategies because they don’t actually help with the stress! smoking doesn’t reduce stress levels! From physiology it actually increases stress because it increases cortisol release!
How does stress affect care seeking/
increases care seeking for minor symptoms, but may decrease care seeking for serious ones
