Stress, Coping and Health Flashcards
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
Disorder where the immune system gradually weakens and eventually becomes disabled by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
Acute Stressors
Events of stress that have a fairly short duration or an end point
Approach-Approach Conflict
Having to make a choice between two attractive options
ie. pizza or pasta?
Approach-Avoidance Conflict
Having to make a choice between two options that have positive and negative aspects
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict
Having to make a choice between to unappealing options
Biopsychosocial model
Physical illness is influenced by biological, psychosocial and sociocultural factors
Burnout
Physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism and lowered sense of self-efficacy caused by chronic stress
Aggression
Behaviour intended to hurt someone physically or verbally
Catastrophic Thinking
- Unrealistically negative view of how stress is going to affect an individual
- Created by Albert Ellis
Catharsis
Release of pent-up emotions
Chronic Stressors
Stressful events that seem to persist for a long time and have no end point in sight
Conflict
Two or more motives compete for gratification
Constructive Coping
- Healthy coping methods
- Confronting problems in a task-relevant, action-oriented way
- Realistically appraising the stress
- Organize and regulate emotional distress that comes with stress
Coping
Efforts to reduce or tolerate stress
Defense Mechanisms
- Created by Freud
- Generally unhealthy coping strategies
- Work on self-deception
- Denial, fantasy, isolation, undoing, overcompensation etc.
Fight-or-Flight Response
- Sympathetic subdivision of the Autonomic Nervous System
- Physiological response to a seemingly threatening situation
Frustration
Occurs when a goal cannot be met
ie. you were late for work, various failures and losses
General Adaption Syndrome
- Created by Hans Selye
- The body’s reaction to stress broken up into three stages:
- Alarm Stage: first notice of the threat. Fight-or-Flight kicks in
- Resistance Stage: in the face of prolonged stress, the body’s physiological arousals are higher than normal but tend to average out as the organism becomes accustomed to the stress
- Exhaustion Stage: the body’s resources for fighting stress have been depleted, leading to burnout
Health Psychology
Psychosocial factors influence the maintenance of health and prevention and recovery from illness
Immune Response
Body’s protective response to fight foreign bacteria
Internet Addiction
- Spending an absurd amount of time online followed with an inability to control internet usage
- Interferes with their work, school, sleep schedules etc.
Learned Helplessness
- Behaviour produced by repeated exposure to unfortunate and stressful events
- Led to believe that life is out of control, they cannot do anything to help their situation
Optimism
- Generally positive attitude towards life
- Optimists deal with stress in more productive ways, have better health and a better immune system
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Psychological disturbance caused by a traumatic event
ie. rape, witnessing a death, etc.
Pressure
- Expectations to act a certain way
- Pressure to perform, pressure to conform
Primary Appraisal
- Richard Lazarus
- Evaluation of an event where it is either:
- Irrelevant
- Relevant but not threatening
- Relevant and threatening = stressful
Psychosomatic Diseases
- Diseases that were said to be caused by stress and other psychological factors
ie. High blood pressure, eczema, peptic ulcers, asthma etc.
Rational-Emotive Therapy
- Albert Ellis
- Alters thinking patterns to reduce and reverse irrational thinking and destructive emotions
- A-B-C Sequence:
- A: activating event
- B: belief system: appraisal of the event
- C: consequence: emotions that come from the appraisal
Resilience
Successful adaptation to significant stress or traumatic events
Secondary Appraisal
- Richard Lazarus
- Evaluation of options for coping with and handling stress
Social Support
- Comfort from one’s social circle
- Different cultures prefer different types of social support
- Explicit: overt concern from peers
- Implicit: comfort from knowing one has people to rely on
Stress
- Situations that threaten or seem to threaten one’s well-being
ie. security, self-esteem, safety etc. - First pathway: Hypothalamus activates sympathetic division of the ANS
- Stimulates adrenal medulla and releases catecholamines which produce the fight-or-flight response
- Second pathway: Hypothalamus sends signals to the pituitary which secretes ACTH
- Stimulates adrenal cortex which releases corticosteroids that increase energy and decrease inflammation
Type A Personality
- Competitive, impatient and hostile personality
- Intense reactions to stress lead to more physiological arousal and therefore more illnesses
- May experience earlier career success, which can lead to more stressors that can contribute to coronary risks
- Anger and stress may trigger chronic inflammation which increases the risk for coronary diseases
Type B Personality
Relaxed, patient and easygoing personality
Richard Lazarus
- Believes small stressors can add up and cause issues in people’s lives
- Primary and secondary appraisal
Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe
- Theorized stress may make people more susceptible to illness
- Social Readjustment Rating Scale
- Life changes (positive or negative) can cause stress because readjustment can be tough
Life Changes
Any change to one’s daily life
ie. buying a car, getting married, becoming a widow
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
- Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe
- Assigns a “stress value” to 43 major events
- The higher the score, the more vulnerable one is to physical illness and psychological issues
Barbara Fredrickson
- Broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions
- Believed positive emotions can lead to more social support and healthier coping strategies as well as reversal of negative effects left by unpleasant emotions during a time of stress
Walter Cannon
Developed fight-or-flight response
Shelley Taylor
- Theorized fighting or fleeing was maladaptive for females who had young to take care of
- “Tend and befriend” is more adaptive
- Believes “positive illusions” are good for us, as mentally healthy people tend to have a higher self-image and depressed people tend to have a more realistic self-image
- Studied cultural differences in the type of social support one seeks
Hans Selye
- Defined stress
- General Adaptation Syndrome
- Stress reactions are nonspecific, and can apply to multiple stressors
Albert Ellis
- A-B-C Sequence
- Catastrophic Thinking
- Rational Emotive Therapy
Roy Baumeister
- Theorizes that extremely unrealistic appraisals or distortions are often hurtful, but small bends to the truth can be beneficial
- Pressure to perform makes people self-conscious and it interrupts their attention. causing them to “choke” or “crack”
Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman
- Studied Type A and Type B personalities
- Theorized that Type A’s tend to be more driven and thus find earlier career success and therefore more stress
- Their intense reactions to stress make the more vulnerable to certain illnesses
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser
- Linked stress to suppressed immune activity
- Studied university students blood samples; one base sample and one “high stress” sample
- The “high stress” sample contained a lowered level of immune activity
M. Robin DiMatteo
- Explained why people delay medical visits
- Misinterpret or underestimate the significance of their symptoms
- Worry about seeming silly if their problems turn out to be nothing
- Worry about “bothering” their physician
- Don’t want to disrupt their life or plans
- Waste time on small things
Robert R. McCrae
Found that 40% of his test subjects use humour as a coping mechanism for stress
Neal Miller
- Investigated three types of conflict
- Approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance and approach-avoidance
- Found that both humans and rats will struggle and vacillate (go back and forth) between options regarding approach-avoidance conflict
