Stress, illness and coping Flashcards
What is stress?
- situations that average person would see as threatening
- situation exceeding the ability to cope
What is traumatic stress?
- involved real physical threat of injury or death
What is non-traumatic stress?
- threat to social self
- to identity
- to self esteem
- to confidence
e. g. bereavement
How does stress link to disease?
- people under stress alter behaviour
- affects health
- e.g. risky behaviour to cope= smoking, alcohol
- stress influences perception of symptoms
- stress increase complaint behaviour so more medical consultations
What is a Stressor?
- external events that may cause stress
- e.g. Life events, daily hassles, chronic Stressors
What is a Stress response?
RESPONSES TO STRESS:
- behavioural
- emotional
- cognitive
- physiological
What is a Strain?
- the effect of stress on a person.
What are the theories of approach to stress?
- GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome)= focuses on the response to stress
- LIFE CHANGE= stress as a stimulus
- TRANSACTION= stress as an interaction
How many stages of responses are there in the GAS model?
- Alarm reaction
= fight/flight
= gets body ready to defend against stressor
e.g. stress of exam - Resistance
= hyperarousal state
= body tried to defend/adapt to the stressor
e.g. revising for exam
3. Exhaustion = trying to resist stress = low physiological resources = causes disease, collapse, death e.g. get burnt out
What are the negatives of the GAS model?
- model seems like all stresses have the same magnitude e.g milk going off/battery running out/ death
- doesn;t consider cognitive appraisal of response to stressors
e. g.
- person A knows there is escaped criminal
- person B doesn’t
- both live seperately
- hear noise in the garden
- A= more alert and scared
- B= not alarmed
What is the LIFE CHANGE MODEL?
- looks at stress as a stimulus
- accumulation of life changing events
- causes stress
- affects health
- count the number of events occured within a time frame
What are examples of stressful life events?
- spouse death
- divorce
- marriage
- retirement
- new family member
- changing jobs
- injury
- illness
What is the problem with the life change model?
- all stresses are seen as the same
- not all events in life are bad e.g. divorce can be good
What is the transaction model?
- stress as a dynamic interaction
- between perceived demand of stress and the ability to cope
- it assumes you have time to think about streses- DOESNT LOOK AT SUDDEN STRESSES
Give an example of stress used in the transaction model?
- exam season= stressful for uni students
- student who copes by revising will be more confident to pass their exams
- exams seem less threatening
- if someone avoids revision/preparation
- then exam threat increases as they approach
What causes stress in the transaction model?
- perceived stress demand outweighs resources
What is the problem with the transaction model?
- doesn’t look at sudden stressors
How does one cope with stress?
- coping strategies
- changes in personality
- support
What is coping?
- changing effort
- to manage external and internal demands
- that are exceeding the resources of a person
- you can reduce demand
- or increase resources to dampen stress
What is coping split into?
- problem based (cope with the stressor)
- emotional based (cope with the reaction to the stressor)
What is problem based coping?
- Cognitive = Goal setting = Information seeking = escape = confront = problem solving
- Behavioural = Pros and cons = Time management = over generalise = positive reappraisal
What is emotional based coping?
- Cognitive
= Denial
= repression
= emotional
- Behavioural = Seeking support = distraction by acivity = smoking = alcohol
