week 2 Flashcards
why do you need knowledge about stress and coping as a social worker?
concerning yourself:
- giving aid can sometimes be stressful
- you also have a (distinctive) way of dealing with stress
why do you need knowledge about stress and coping as a social worker?
(concerning the clients)
- clients often experience stress
- the helping process itself can also trigger stress (learning and doing new things)
- stress blocks and wears you out if it takes too long (risk of a burnout)
- coping is sometimes ineffective and new behaviour has to be learned
what is stress?
- a physical or psychological reaction to a threat or danger
the threat or danger is called a stressor
stressor
- traumatic or catastrophic events e.g. war, rape/assault
- major life events e.g. ill family member, starting a new job
e. g. - scary man in dark alley / a hard exam / public speaking
Chronic stressors:
- stressors in society e.g. bus is late
- daily annoyances e.g. traffic
physical (physiological) reaction
to stress
- the fight-flight-mode of our body (very functional against short term stressors)
- hypothalamus activates two systems
1. hormonal system (adrenaline & cortisol)
2. autonomic nervous system (sympathetic) e.g. fast heart rate, sweating, pupil dilate
psychological reaction
to stress
you feel tense, nervous, anxious, panicky, ashamed, depending on the stressor, because you think you are being threatened
effects of stress
- headaches
- stiff shoulders
- concentrations and memory problems
- sleep problems
- panic attacks
- anger attacks
- stomach problems
- heart & vascular problems
- depression or burnout
- PTSD
Eustress (+)
a form of stress having a beneficial effect on health, motivation, performance and well-being
Distress (-)
the type of stress we are referring to when we say stress. It is the form of stress with negative implications
coping
the typical way of responding to a stressor
you encounter stress when:
you perceive a difference between your capacities and burdens
coping style
is the distinctive way in which a person is coping
problem-focused coping:
dealing with the stressor itself or expanding your resources/capacities
-when we think change is possible
emotion-focused-coping:
regulating the emotional response to stress
-mainly we think that we cannot influence the stressful conditions
- active coping
assessing the situation, getting things straight, working goal oriented and with confidence to solve or deal with your problems (confronting problems)
- fostering reassuring thoughts
encourage yourself
relativize - putting things in perspective
give it meaning: is there an upside?
e.g. telling yourself “I have prepared, I know what i’m doing”
- seeking social support
seeking comfort and understanding in others; share your worries or seeking/asking for help
- is both problem-focused and emotion-focused
e. g. asking for a loan, seeking assurance and support
- seeking distraction (palliative care)
seeking distraction; doing or thinking about other stuff, so you do not have to deal with the problem. trying to make yourself feel better by smoking, drinking, or relaxing. to ease the stress or seeking enlightenment/relief
e.g. watching TV, suppress emotions through alcohol/drugs
- avoiding
let things take their course, avoid the situation or wait and see what will happen. little attention to the problem(in denial).
e.g.not taking the bus for weeks, where you are being harassed. Jane feels a lump on her breast and ignores is, she experiences stress for weeks
- passive coping
completely being taken up the problems. withdrawing yourself with worries, worrying about the past and future, not able to do anything about the situation.
e.g.two weeks ago martin heard he is being too critical at work, since then he cannot sleep and is worrying all the time. also he keeps thinking about the times he went through this before. he is dispirited, doesn’t know what to do and stops going to work
- expressing emotions
showing your emotions like annoyances and anger. taking it out on other (or sharing emotions).
e.g. nick has a stressful job, when he comes home he yells at his wife. / fatima has a stressful job, she shares her annoyances with her boss and her feelings with her colleagues.
personality traits and coping
go-getters, positive thinkers, persevering people perceive less stress and tend to suffer less under stress.
other influencing factors: exercise, healthy lifestyles, sleeping, social support
social support influences stress and coping, it …
lowers the duration and intensity of the fight-flight response.
Locus of control: prevents stress (Rotter, 1954)
to measure this: Internal-External Locus of Control Scale
someone does not have an internal nor an external locus of control but to some extent both.
Internal locus of control=
my life gets determined by me
external locus of control=
my life gets determined by the environment, destiny, fate, coincidence or other people
Learned helplessness (Seligman, 1967)
dogs were put in a cage with electrical currents, half could press a button to turn in off, the other half couldn’t, then they moved them to a half/half cage and the first group didn’t try anything while the second group jumped to the other side with no currents
Seligman taught dogs in his experiment that they were helpless - that is why they stayed that way
It applies to humans as well: research shows that also people learn to be helpless - they do not see their opportunities (external locus of control)
- prisons
- parenting
- abused children or women
Resilience: prevents stress (Masten 2001)
-capacity to get back up and adjust; even during/after severe threats
afterwards people often say that they became stronger by a bad/traumatic event.
Besides a trait, resilience is also something you do. For example forcing yourself to think positively, choosing a goal, making a plan etc.
Hardiness: prevents stress (Kobasa, 1979 and Maddi 1980)
a resistant attitude towards stress, that improves a healthy way of coping
hardiness consists of 3 characters:
- Challenge - seeing it as a way to learn and grow
- Commitment - setting goals and going for it
- Control - the belief you have your life in your own hands: an internal locus of control
