Stress, Coping And Health

Question 0

What is acute stress?

Answer 0

Transient states of arousal with clear onset and offset patterns ex. A midterm exam

Question 1

What is stress?

Answer 1

• The tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a stressor strains our ability to cope effectively
• physiologically, stress is characterized by arousal of the sympathetic nervous system
• stress can be bad (distress) or good (eustress)

Question 2

What is chronic stress?

Answer 2

State of enduring arousal, in which demands are perceived as greater than the internal and external resources for dealing with them
Ex. A demanding career

Question 3

What are acute stress responses?

Answer 3

Fight or flight response
Walter cannon argued that body prepares for “fighting” or “fleeing” based on actions of hypothalamus and pituitary gland
- body mobilized for action, increased blood pressure, glucose utilization
- evolutionary theory

Question 4

What are some causes of stress?

Answer 4

Frustration, conflict, pressure, challenge, environment

Question 5

What is frustration?

Answer 5

The emotional state or condition that results when a goal- work, family, or personal- is thwarted

Question 6

What is conflict?

Answer 6

The emotional state in which a person has to make difficult decisions about two or more competing motives, behaviours, or impulses

• approach-approach conflict
• avoidance-avoidance conflict
• approach-avoidance conflict

Question 7

What are the conflict types?

Answer 7

Approach-approach conflict- results from having to choose between two equally attractive alternatives ex. Movies- theatre

Avoidance-avoidance conflict- results from having to choose between two equally distasteful alternatives ex. Studying-cleaning

Approach-avoidance conflict- results from having to choose an alternative that has both attractive and repellent aspects ex. Calories- hot fudge sundae

Question 8

What is pressure?

Answer 8

An emotional state resulting from the real or imagined expectations of others for certain behaviours or results

Question 9

What is challenge?

Answer 9

The emotional state that results when circumstances change in a way that requires action or effort

Question 10

What is the effect of temperature on stress?

Answer 10

Temperature can be a stressor that affects many behaviours

- very hot or very cold temperatures can cause behavioural effects ranging from annoyance to inability to function

Question 11

What effect does noise have on stress?

Answer 11

Noise is a stressor that can overstimulate people

- noise often leads to poor work performance and social functioning

Question 12

What effect does environmental toxins have on stress?

Answer 12

• nearly any substance, pollutant or natural pollen, can trigger respiratory problems, resulting in diminished work performance and health consequences
• airborne toxins can impair motor tasks involving reaction time and affect long-term health

Question 13

The effects of crowding on stress?

Answer 13

• the number of people in an area can have a profound impact on individual and group behaviour
• it is generally not the size of a space or number of people that causes a feeling of crowding
• crowding is the perception that personal space is too limited

Question 14

What is a stressor?

Answer 14

Stimulus event that places demand on an organism for some kind of adaptive response

Question 15

What is a stressor as stimuli?

Answer 15

• focuses on identifying types of stressful events
• helps identify situations that cause more stress and persons that react more strongly
• disasters that impact an entire community can increase social awareness and cement interpersonal bonds

Question 16

What is a stressor as transactions?

Answer 16

• interpretations and coping associated with stressors
• primary appraisals - decide whether the event is harmful
• secondary appraisal - how well can we cope?
• problem- focused versus emotion- focused coping

Question 17

What are stressors as responses?

Answer 17

• psychological and physical reactions to stressors
• can be lab-induced or real-world stressors
• a large number of outcome variables, including heart rate and stress hormones called corricosteroids

Question 18

What are some categories of stressors?

Answer 18

Daily hassles- minor annoyances that strain or ability to cope, physical and mental health influenced by daily hassles, even after controlling for major life events, particularly prominent for persons in low socioeconomic groups
Major life events- positive and negative changed that strain our ability to cope, while requiring adjustment and adaptation- marriage, divorce, children, sudden unemployment
Chronic stressors- prolonged annoyances that strain our ability to cope or force changes in our worldview- work life balance, high stress jobs, toxic work environments, discrimination, intimate partner violence, torture- prolonged reactions to acute events or responses to unchanging environmental or personal factors, linked to depression and cognitive impairment
Traumatic events- a negative, uncontrollable and unpredictable (personal and public levels) stressor so severe that it can produce long-term psychological or health consequences, linked to anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairment, distinguishing trauma and stress is always a matter of individual perception, exposure to traumatic events during our life times is exceedingly common

Question 19

Who is the father of stress research?

Answer 19

Hans Selye

Question 20

What is the general adaptation syndrome (gas)?

Answer 20

Alarm reaction- physiological response to a stressor- autonomic nervous system is activated, stress hormones released, physical symptoms of anxiety- hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (hpa axis)- fight or flight response- hypothalamus sends signals to the sympathetic autonomic nervous system (ans) and the pituitary gland - release of catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine) and corricosteroids (glucocorticoid)

Resistance- attempts to adapt and find ways to cope with a stressor

Exhaustion- resistance requires effort and cannot be maintained indefinitely, resulting in physical and mental fatigue and damage- chronic presence of stress hormones can compromise immune system- linked to osteoporosis, arthritis, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, memory impairment, etc- learned helplessness- attempts at resistance stop despite the ongoing presence of the stressor and a continued alarm reaction

Question 21

What is the reaction to traumatic event?

Answer 21

No “standard” pattern of reactions

Question 22

What are some common immediate reactions?

Answer 22

• seconds, minutes, hours, days
• fear: before, during, and immediately after, protective response to a current identifiable threat, including strong physiological reactions, and producing a fight or flight response
• anxiety: before and after, response to a pending or potential threat, including physiological reactions, dependent on uncertainty, and producing avoidance responses
• shock: sudden, intense disturbance, numbing, disconnected
• denial: not acknowledging the event or the intensity
• hours, days, weeks
• intense, sometimes unpredictable emotions: irritability, extremely dynamic mood, anxious, depressed
• changes in thinking and behaviour: repeated vivid memories of the event possibly associated rapid heartbeat or sweating, difficulty concentrating, making decisions, changes in sleep and eating
• recurring emotional reactions: event anniversaries can trigger memories and fears
• strained interpersonal relationships: greater frequencies of conflict with family members and coworkers, withdrawing, isolation, avoiding typical activities
• physical symptoms: headaches, nausea, chest pain may result and may require medical attention, pre-existing medical conditions may worsen due to the stress
• changes in thinking and behaviour: avoidance of reminders, increased pro-social behaviours, increased cautionary behavioural changes, celebrating life
• recurring emotional reactions: event anniversaries can trigger memories and fears
• changes in interpersonal relationships: increases and decreases in various interpersonal relationships
• post-traumatic growth and disorders

Question 23

What are the responses to stress?

Answer 23

Acute and post traumatic stress disorder:

• persistence clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of function
• not due to direct physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition, and not better accounted for by another disorder or a preceding disorder

Acute stress disorder:
- disturbance occurs within the 4 weeks post trauma, lasts for at least 2 days, and for a maximum of 4 weeks

Post traumatic stress disorder:

• disturbance lasts more than 1 month
• acute if less than 3 months
• chronic if 3 months or more
• delayed onset of begins at least 6 months after

Acute and post traumatic stress disorder:

• exposed to one or more event(s) that involved death or threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or threatened sexual violation
• the event was experienced by the person
• the event was witnessed as it occurred to others
• the person learned about an event where a close relative or friend experienced an actual or threatened violent or accidental death
• the person experienced repeated exposure to distressing details of an event, such as a police officer repeatedly hearing details about child sexual abuse

Question 24

What are the 4 symptom clusters of acute and post traumatic stress disorder?

Answer 24

• Intrusion (re-experiencing)- recurrent images, thoughts, dreams, flashbacks, distress on exposure to reminders
• avoidance symptoms- of memories and external reminders of the event
• negative cognitions or mood- numbing, detachment, anhedonia, depression, reduced awareness, derealization, depersonalization, dissociative amnesia
• alterations in arousal and reactivity- difficulty sleeping, irritability, self-destructive behaviour, poor concentration, hyper vigilance, exaggerated startle responses, motor restlessness
• non-specific symptoms- depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, shame, guilt, reduced libido, panic attacks, agoraphobia
• emotional regulation- persistent sadness, suicidal thoughts, explosive anger, or inhibited anger
• consciousness- forgetting traumatic events, reliving traumatic events, or having episodes in which one feels detached from ones mental processes or body (dissociation)
• self-perception- may include helplessness, shame, guilt, stigma, and a sense of being completely different from other human beings
• substance abuse- using alcohol or other substances to avoid and numb feelings related to the trauma
• self-harm- self-mutilation, self-harm, high-risk behaviours

Question 25

What is an adjustment disorder?

Answer 25

A heterogeneous array of stress-response syndromes that occur after exposure to a distressing (traumatic or no traumatic) event