Stress and Coping - EXAM I Flashcards
beneficial stress
eustress
type of stress that causes problems emotionally and physically
distress
meditation prayer mindfulness exercise social support
stress relieving techniques
can occur in any individual who has had exposure to a trauma severe enough to be outside the range of normal human experience. It can also occur in people who have witnessed an unbearable event, not just someone who has personally been a victim. The most common element in all of these experiences is the individual’s extraordinary helplessness or powerlessness in the face of overwhelming circumstances.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
characterized by intrusive reexperiencing of the initial trauma/flashbacks.
-avoidance
-persistent negative alterations in cognition and mood
-alteration in arousal and activity
(symptoms must last longer than a month to be considered for a diagnosis. symptoms often begin within a few months after the initial trauma, but a delay of months or years is not uncommon.)
Post traumatic stress disorder
feeling of apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or dread resulting from a real or perceived threat whose actual source is unknown or unrecognized.
Anxiety
healthy life force that is necessary for survival. Provides energy needed to carry out the tasks involved in living and striving toward goals.
normal anxiety
precipitated by an imminent loss or change that threatens and expected response to stress. Crisis involves the experience of ____ anxiety.
acute anxiety
differs from normal anxiety in terms of duration, intensity, and disturbance in a person’s ability to out of proportion to the threat, persists after the threat is resolved, becomes generalized to benign situations or occurs in the complete absence of stressors.
pathological anxiety
reaction to a specific danger, and more often the body reacts with surges of autonomic arousal necessary for fight or flight, thoughts of immediate danger, and escape behaviors.
Fear
occurs in the normal experience of everyday living. A person’s ability to perceive reality is brought into hyper focus. Person sees, hears, and problem solves more effectively. Person may have slight discomfort, become restless, irritable, or exhibit mild tension relieving behaviors (i.e. biting nails, tapping foot, etc)
mild anxiety
as anxiety increases, the persons perceptual field narrows, and some details excluded from observation. The person sees, hears, and grasps less information. They may demonstrate selective inattention which is when only certain things in the environment are seen or heard. Learning and problem solving can still take place, but not a optimal level. Symptoms, heart pounding, increased HR and RR, diaphoretic, somatic symptoms (GI upset, HA, etc), voice tremors.
Moderate Anxiety
perceptual field is greatly reduced. The person may focus on one particular detail or many scattered details. learning and problem solving skills aren’t possible at this level, and the person may be dazed or confused. Symptoms: increased severity of somatic symptoms, trembling, heart pounding, hyperventilation, and feelings of impending doom.
Severe anxiety
most extreme from and results in markedly disturbed behavior. Person is not able to process events in the environment and may lose touch with reality. May exhibit confusion, screaming, shouting or withdrawal. Hallucinations of false sensory perceptions may occur. Physical behavior may be erratic, uncoordinated, and impulsive. Extreme psychomotor agitation may lead to exhaustion.
panic level of anxiety
considered a healthy defense mechanism in which selfless concern for the well being of others. Receive gratification either vicariously or from response to others.
altruism
considered a healthy defense mechanism in which unconscious process of substituting constructive and socially acceptable activity for strong impulses that are not acceptable in their original form.
sublimation
ma deal with emotional conflicts by emphasizing the amusing/ironic part of the stressor
humor
conscious denial of a disturbing situation or feelings
suppression
exclusion of unpleasant or unwanted experiences, emotions, or ideas from conscious awareness. Considered the cornerstone of the defense mechanism, and it is the first line of psychological defense against anxiety
repression
transfer of emotions associated with a particular person, object, or situation to another person, object, or situation that is not life threatening.
Displacement
overcompensation. unacceptable feeling or behaviors are kept out of awareness by developing the opposite behavior or emotion
reaction formation
when anxiety is repressed to an unconscious level but is revealed through physical symptoms that have no organic cause
somatization
compensates for an act or communication (giving a gift to undo an argument)
undoing
justifying illogical or unreasonable ideas, actions, or feelings by developing acceptable explanations that satisfy the teller as well and the listener. Form of self deception.
Rationalization
deals with stressors by indirectly and unassertively expressing aggression toward others. Expressed through procrastination, failure, inefficiency, and passivity.
Passive Aggression
addresses emotional conflicts or stressors by actions rather than by reflection or feelings.
acting out behaviors.
disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception.
devaluation
attributing exaggerated positive qualities to others. Important aspect to the development of self.
Idealization
inability to integrate positive and negative qualities of oneself or others into a cohesive image. Commonly found in personality disorder
Splitting
unconsciously rejects emotionally unacceptable personal features and attributes them to other people, objects, or situations. hallmark of scapegoating and stigmatization
projection
escaping unpleasant realities by ignoring their existence. denies factual evidence
denial
