Stress (b?) Flashcards
Emotional intelligence (EI)
describes the ability of individuals to recognize their own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different feelings, label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.
- Crow’s feet wrinkles
- Pushed up cheeks
- Movement from muscle orbiting the eye
Happiness
- Drooping upper eyelids
- Losing focus in eyes
- Slight pulling down of lip corners
Saddness
- Eyebrows down and together
- Eyes glare
- Narrowing of the lips
Anger
- Eyebrows raised and pulled together
- Raised upper eyelids
- Tensed lower eyelids
- Lips slightly stretched horizontally back to ears
Fear
- Eyebrows raised
- Eyes widened
- Mouth open
- Lasts for one second
Surprise
- Nose wrinkling
- Upper lip raised
Disgust
Basic/Universal Emotions According to Paul Eckman
- 6 in total
- Anger
- Fear
- Disgust
- Happiness
- Sadness
- Surprise
Basic/Universal Emotions According to Robert Plutchik
- 8 emotions, 4 groups of polar-opposites
- Joy-Sadness
- Anger-Fear
- Trust-Distrust
- Surprise-Anticipation
Alarm Stage
- Adrenaline released into blood
- Heart rate and blood pressure increase
- Flow of blood to brain increases
- Breathing rate increases
- Sugar released into blood and blood clot ability increase
- Reduced blood flow to skin, increased sweating
- Reduced blood flow o digestive system, slowing digestion and increasing stomach acid production
- Pupils open wide
- Muscles tense, more energy produced by cells
- Lump forms in throat as muscles contract
General Adaptation Syndrome by Hans Selye (1936) as Time Progresses
- Arousal falls as one enters period of chronic stress and alarm phase
- Arousal returns to normal levels and exceeds them as one enters resistance phase and gets used to it
- They fall once again as one can’t stand it any longer, entering exhaustion phase
- Hypertension, MCI, Depression, Suicide
Eustress and its characteristics
- Positive stress
- Motivates, focuses energy
- Mostly short term
- Perceived as within our coping abilities
- Feels exciting and improves performance
Distress and its characteristics
- Negative stress
- Causes anxiety/concern
- Can be short or long term
- Perceived as outside our coping abilities
- Feels unpleasant and decreases performance
- Can result in mental/physical problems
Physical Stressors
- Thirst/Hunger
- Cold/Hot
- Lack of sleep
- Sickness/Illness
- Accidents/Catastrophes
Emotional Stressors
- Feeling of tension
- Irritability
- Restlessness
- Worries
- Inability to relax
- Depression
Behavioural Stressors
- Avoidance of tasks
- Sleep problems
- Difficulty in completing work assignments
- Changes in eating/drinking/smoking behaviours
Social Stressors
- New connections
- Public speaking
- Conflicts in relationships
Cognitive stressors
- Anxious thoughts
- Fearful anticipation
- Poor concentration
- Difficulty with memory
Perceived Stress Scale
- 1983
- Classic stress assessment instrument
- Questions ask about your feelings and thoughts within the last month
- 0-Never 1-Almost never 2-Sometimes 3-Fairly often 4-Very often
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Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory/Social Readjustment Rating Scale (1967)
- Select from list of 43 events that happened in the last year, add up respective scores
- xxxxxxxx
Types of Stress & Possible Approaches
- Type 1, you can’t do anything to change it, calm yourself, meditate, relax
- Type 2, you can do something to affect/change it, step back and think of a possible approach
- Type 3, we only see this situation as a problem, look at this situation from a different perspective
Lazarus and Folkman, Theory of Cognitive Appraisal (1984)
Lazarus stated that cognitive appraisal occurs when a person considers two major factors that majorly contribute in his response to stress.
- The threatening tendency of the stress to the individual,
- The assessment of resources required to minimize, tolerate or eradicate the stressor and the stress it produces.
Primary Appraisal
Occurs when you meet a stressor and consider how it can influence you
- not important, good, stressful
Secondary Appraisal
Occurs when you consider an event stressful, can be positive or negative
- Positive - you can do something about it, leading to less stress
- Negative - you can’t/won’t do anything leading to increased stress due to lack of resources
List the main cognitive distortions + explain
- All or Nothing/Polarised, see everything as all good or bad, ignore evidence suggesting otherwise, increases stress
- Overgeneralisation, assumption that previous events will repeat
- Mental filter, see and focus on the negative in every situation, feelings of hopelessness
- Disqualifying the positive, transforming the positive to the negative
-Jumping to conclusions/mind-reading, assuming you know what the other person is thinking
-Jumping to conclusions/fortune-telling, accepting negative predictions as fact
-Magnification (catastrophising) or minimisation, usually too +/-
-Emotional reasoning, accepting your feelings as evidence
-Should statements cause pressure
-Labelling and mislabelling can result in negative self-concept based on mistakes
-Personalisation, believing that every negative event is your fault
5 Senses Exercise
- 5 things you can SEE
- 4 things you can FEEL
- 3 things you can HEAR
- 2 things you can TOUCH
- 1 thing you can TASTE
Benefit of exercise
- Release endorphins, mood boosting
- Maximum benefit from exercising 30 min or more
- Short, 10-minute bursts of activity that elevate your heart rate and make you break out into a sweat can help to relieve stress and give you more energy and optimism.
Stress Process Summary
- Stressors: Daily hassles, traumas, chronic stressors
- Mediators: Cognitive assessment, control, social support, coping strategies
- Response: Physical, emotional cognitive behaviour
Principles of CBT
Emotions, thoughts and behaviour all influence each other
