StStress Flashcards
What is a Stressor ?
Stressors: are demanding events or situations that trigger coping adjustments in a person e.g. taking an exam, moving house, traffic jam when you are late.
* Financial problems
* Work problems
* Relationship issues
* Parenting
* Daily hassles – commute to work, trains!
* Individual differences – crowds, Christmas
What is Stress ?
Stress is the process by which a person both appraises and responds to events or situation that are judged to be challenging or threatening.
What is the Biopsychosocial explanation of stress ?
Biological Processes
* Experiences of stress can differ according to everyone’s unique physiology and levels of physiological reactivity; the same basic processes affect everyone.
Psychological Influences
* These influences affect how challenging situations are appraised—either as manageable (not stressful) or as unmanageable (stressful)—based on personalities and individual life experiences.
Sociocultural Factors
* Factors affect how we respond to stress from many different sources, including major life events, daily hassles, work, and family.
What is The transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus, 1984)
- We appraise (evaluate) the situation.
- Primary appraisal – is it relevant/important to me? will it harm me? could it be good for me? If yes, then I need to take some action. If not, then I don’t need to worry about it = no stress.
- Secondary appraisal – do I can cope with this situation? What are the demands of this situation? What resources (time, support, skills) do I have to meet these demands? If my appraisal is that the needs are more significant than the resources I have, then I will feel stressed.
- Coping strategies. Re-appraisal.
What are the effects of stress ?
- Emotional: distress, anxiety, fear, depression, anger, frustration, lowered self-esteem, learned helplessness, guilt.
- Behavioural: smoking, alcohol, poor adherence, social withdrawal, illicit drugs, risky sexual behaviours.
- Cognitive: poor attention, errors in decision-making, hypervigilance for threats, bias to interpret ambiguous events as threatening.
- Physiological: activation of nervous system, hormone production, metabolic function, immune function, fatigue, disease and illness.
What are the physiological effects of stress on inpatients within the ward ?
On the ward
Slower wound healing
More post-surgery complications
Longer in-patient stay
More staff time per day
More analgesia use
Less satisfaction with treatment - associated with poor adherence
What are the physiological effects of stress on patients following discharge?
Longer recovery, e.g. return to work
More service use, e.g. related symptoms
Less use of rehabilitation services
Increased risk of co-morbidity and early mortality
Ways to manage stress
- Focus on appraisal/coping.
- Relaxation techniques, yog, progressive muscle relaxation
- Physical exercise
- Expressive writing
- Social support.
What is the biological perspective to stress ?
- Focuses on the functioning of genes, hormones, brain structures and the nervous system.
- The amygdala interprets the stress from the outside.
- This alarm is sent to the hypothalamus and is sent to the rest of the body via the sympathetic nervous system.
- Usually, our pre-frontal cortex is where our rational thinking takes place and modifies the emotions from the amygdala. However, when anxious, the amygdala overrides this.
Can be effected by
- Hormones adrenaline/cortisol
- Family history
- Genetic basis or is it a Learned behaviour ? then this would be behavioural.
- Exposure to difficult situations in childhood
Treated with
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)
- Benzodiazepines
What is the cognitive approach to stress?
- Brain is like a human computer, and we act depending on how we process the input.
- Included memory, attention, perception.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy is usefull for this
What is the Bhevaioural perspective to stress ?
- The importance of the environment shaping our behaviour.
- Focused on learned behaviours.
- Social learning theory
- Positive reinforcement Is useful – it encourages repeat behaviour.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy might be appropriate for this
CBT - CBT is based on the concept that a person’s negative thoughts and feelings can trap them in a negative cycle of behaviour which in turn feeds the anxiety
- CBT aims to change these negative thought patterns to improve the way a person feels, which in turn should lead to behaviour change.
What is the psychodynamic perspective to stress ?
- A current event has triggered something in the person’s past, and that’s why a response to a situation may be inappropriate.
- It’s not because of something now it’s something in the past
- Overeating is a primary response to anxiety caused by unconscious conflict that may temporarily relieve distress.
- Abuse, parental separation, childhood abuse/
- Talking therapy useful
What is the humanistic approach to stress ?
- The here and now
- Self esteem
What is
THE BIOSPYSCHOSOCIAL MODEL OF STRESS
- Biological factors? Family history. Personal history. Age. Hormones. Menopause. Puberty. Stress hormones.
- Psychological factors? Coping mechanisms. Stress. Self esteem. Mood.
- Social contributors? Family support. Finance. Environment. Adverse events
