Stress

Stress is any circumstance (real or perceived) that threatens a person’s well-

being.

When we feel severe stress, our ability to cope with it is impaired.

Stress • Stress:

– physiological response to harmful or threatening events.

– Negative emotional state occurring in response to events that are

• Perceived as taxing• Or exceeding one’s resources or ability to cope• Cognitive appraisal = Eustress or Distress

*Short-lived or taken as a challenge, stressors may have positive effects.

*However, if stress is threatening or prolonged, it can be harmful.

Warning signs of STRESS EmotionalEmotional

AnxietyAnxiety Apathy (pretending not to care)Apathy (pretending not to care) IrritabilityIrritability Mental fatigueMental fatigue

BehavioralBehavioral Avoidance of responsibilities & relationshipsAvoidance of responsibilities & relationships Extreme, self destructive behaviorExtreme, self destructive behavior Self-neglectSelf-neglect Poor judgmentPoor judgment Escape / withdrawal (use of drugs)Escape / withdrawal (use of drugs)

PhysicalPhysical Excessive worry about illness or frequent illness Excessive worry about illness or frequent illness

(exhaustion)(exhaustion) Overuse of medicine, physical ailments & complaintsOveruse of medicine, physical ailments & complaints Migraines, ulcers, stomachaches, colds…Migraines, ulcers, stomachaches, colds…

Physiological symptoms of stress

Consider: How would you operationalize stress?What causes you most stress?

Stressor: Any environmental demand that creates a state of tension or threat & requires change or adaptation. *(event or situation)

Stress & Stressors

•Stress can be adaptive. –In a fearful or stress- causing situation, we can run away and save our lives.

•Stress can be maladaptive. –If it is prolonged (chronic stress), it increases our risk of illness and health problems.

Stress and Stressors

Different types of Stress

►Distress- stress that stems from acute anxiety or pressure

►Eustress- positive stress which results from striving toward a challenge

Sources of Stress

3 Types of Stressors

►Catastrophes– Unpredictable large scale events– Nearly everyone appraises catastrophes as

threatening

►Significant Life Changes– Can be good or bad– Young Adulthood is most stressful time for most

►Daily Hassles– Day to day issues, that we all face

Identify sources of stressLazarus

• Daily Hassles– Annoyance inventory– Linked to psychological distress &

physical symptoms– Why? Cumulative– Married women more than

hubbies

*better predictor of physical illness• Relationships• Culture• Gender• AP Specific

*personality, coping style, rest of day

Holmes & Rahe

• Major Life Events– Social Readjustment Rating Scale

• SRRS

• 43 life events that require adaptation

• Measured in LCU (life change units)

• Any change requiring one to adjust behavior & lifestyle cause STRESS

• Weak correlation between score and physical & psychological illnesses

• Does not take into account– subjective appraisal– Response to event– Ability to cope with event

Holmes & Rahe SRRS scale: Stressful Life Events

Catastrophic Events: Catastrophic events like earthquakes, combat stress, & floods lead individuals to become depressed, sleepless, & anxious.

The death of a loved one, a divorce, a loss of job, or a promotion may leave individuals vulnerable to disease

Cognitive Appraisal measure

• three primary appraisal dimensions:• Threat - potential for harm/los• Challenge - anticipation of gain or

growth from the experience• Centrality - perceived importance of

the event for wellbeing

• secondary appraisal dimensions reflect an evaluation of coping resources

– controllable-by-self, – controllable-by-others, – uncontrollable-by-anyone.

Everyday hassles- Lazarus

• Pressure: A feeling that one must speed up, intensify, or change the direction of one’s behavior or live up to a higher standard of performance.

• Frustration: The feeling that occurs when a person is prevented from reaching a goal.

• Conflict: Simultaneous existence of incompatible demands, opportunities, needs, or goals.

Hassles & Uplifts

• Hassles- minor, day-to-day stressors

• Uplifts- an activity or situation that makes a person feel good, this protects from stress

Lazarus: Daily Hassles & Uplifts…Daily Hassles Uplifts

Cultural Stressors

Acculturative stress- Stress that an immigrant might feel when they move to a different place

•Assimilated– Individual adopts the cultural norms of host culture over their original

culture•Separation

– Individual rejects the dominant culture in favor of holding onto their original culture

•Integrated– Individual adopt the dominant norms while still maintaining their

host culture•Marginalized

– Individual rejects both the dominant and the original cultural norms

Types of Conflicts

• When you need to make a decision between two options….

• LIKE/WANT- Approach

• DON’T LIKE/WANT- Avoidance

CONFLICTS:

• Approach-Approach– Win – win– Easy to resolve

• Avoidance-avoidance– Two unappealing– undesirable outcomes– More stressful– Delay decision

• Approach-Avoid– Single goal has

• Desirable & undesirable• Vacillate• Most stressful• Unable to stop thinking about it

Approach-approach conflicts

►You must choose between two attractive options – Do I want to go to the movie or to the mall?– Do I want an unlimited supply of Sour Patch Kids

or Swedish Fish?

Avoidance-Avoidance conflicts

• You must choose between two disagreeable options – Do I want to do my physics or math homework?– Do I want to go to Superdog or Brandy’s? (Both

overpriced)

Approach-avoidance

• You find yourself in a situation that has both enjoyable and disagreeable consequences – Asking your boss for a raise– Going to a Bulls game when it’s snowing

The Stress Response System

• Cannon: fight-or-flight response marked by• outpouring of

epinephrine & norepinephrine (adrenal glands),

• increasing heart & respiration rates,

• mobilizing sugar & fat, &

• dulling pain.

Alternatives to Fight or Flight~

…FREEZE

• Withdraw• Pull back • Conserve energy

Taylor: Tend & Befriend

• Seek & give social support• Nurture & brand together• Pair-bonding, cuddling,

massage• immune functioning calms

the cardiovascular system and lowers blood pressure.

General Adaptation Syndrome

• Hans Selye: stress response same• three phases

• ALARM• RESISTANCE• EXHAUSTION

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Phase 1: Alarm

►Sympathetic nervous system kicks in►Heart rate zooms►Blood flows to muscles►Feel the faintness of shock

Phase 2: Resistance

►Resources have been mobilizied in Phase 1, now ready for fight

►Your adrenal glands pump stress hormones (Adrenaline) into your bloodstream

►You are fully engaged at this point

Phase 3: Exhaustion

• Body soon begins to run out of resources• You become much more vulnerable to illness

– Fearful rats lived 100 days shorter

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Stress and IllnessGeneral Adaptation Syndrome

Physiological signs of stress

Stress & Susceptibility to Disease

Psychophysiological illness: stress-related physical illness such as hypertension & some headaches.

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI): developing field that studies health effects of psychological, neural, & endocrine processes on the immune system.

• B lymphocytes fight bacterial infections, • T lymphocytes attack cancer cells &

viruses, • microphages ingest foreign substances. • During stress, energy is mobilized away

from the immune system making it vulnerable.

Biofeedback, Relaxation, and Meditation

Biofeedback systems use electronic devices to inform people about their physiological

responses and gives them the chance to bring

their response to a healthier range. Relaxation and

meditation have similar effects in reducing tension and anxiety.

Stress and Colds

People with the highest life stress scores were also the most vulnerable when exposed to an

experimental cold virus.

Stress and Stressors

Stress is not merely a stimulus or a response. It is a process by which we appraise and cope with environmental

threats and challenges.

When short-lived or taken as a challenge, stressors may have positive effects. However, if stress is

threatening or prolonged, it can be harmful.

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Stress Effects and Health Stress and AIDS

Stress and Cancer

Stress and Heart Disease

Stress & AIDS

Stress & negative emotions may accelerate the progression from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).U

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Stress & Cancer

Stress does not create cancer cells.

Researchers disagree on whether stress influences the progression of cancer.

However, they do agree that avoiding stress & having a hopeful attitude cannot reverse

advanced cancer.

Stress & the Heart

Stress that leads to elevated blood pressure may result in coronary heart disease, a clogging of the

vessels that nourish the heart muscle.

Plaque incoronary artery

Arteryclogged

Individual factors that impact stress

Personality Types

Type A is a term used for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and

anger-prone people. Type B refers to easygoing, relaxed people (Friedman and Rosenman, 1974).

Type A personalities are more likely to developcoronary heart disease.

Life-Style Modification

Modifying a Type-A lifestyle may reduce the recurrence of heart attacks.

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Feelings of Control

• How much control do you want?• Internal Vs. External

Locus of Control (of reinforcement)

– belief about whether the outcomes of our actions…

•are contingent on what we do or on

•events, situations outside our personal control

• high internal locus seems desirable– Too much = neurotic, depressed

• high external locus seems very flexible– too much could maladaptive (learned helplessness)

Perceived Control: LOC scale

Research with rats and humans indicates that the absence of control over stressors

is a predictor of health problems.

Internal Locus of Control

• The view that we are in control of our own destiny– Achieve more in school and work– Act more independently – Less likely to feel depressed

External Locus of Control

• The view that chance or outside forces control fate

• Learned Helplessness– Hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or

human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

– Seligman experiments

Fig. 15.6 Fig. 15.6 In the normal course of escape and avoidance learning, a light dims shortly before In the normal course of escape and avoidance learning, a light dims shortly before the floor is electrified the floor is electrified (a). (a). Since the light does not yet have meaning for the dog, the dog Since the light does not yet have meaning for the dog, the dog receives a shock (non-injurious, by the way) and leaps the barrier receives a shock (non-injurious, by the way) and leaps the barrier (b). (b). Dogs soon learn to Dogs soon learn to watch for the dimming of the light watch for the dimming of the light (c) (c) and to jump before receiving a shock and to jump before receiving a shock (d). (d). Dogs made to Dogs made to feel “helpless” rarely even learn to escape shock, much less to avoid it.feel “helpless” rarely even learn to escape shock, much less to avoid it.

Explanatory Style

People with an optimistic (instead of pessimistic) explanatory style tend to have more control over stressors, cope better with stressful events, have better moods,

and have a stronger immune system.

Optimist Vs. Pessimists

– Optimists explain bad events as result of external, unstable, and specific causes

– Pessimists explain bad events as due to internal, stable, and global causes

SELIGMAN: Explanatory Style

Optimistic: explanatory style ~•have better control over stressors •cope better with stressful events •have better moods•have a stronger immune system.

Remember learned

helplessness?

Developing an Optimistic Outlook

• Martin Seligman - having optimistic outlook is a wise coping strategy and in many cases optimists have better physical and mental health than pessimists

• Optimism - how a person explains causes of bad events

McGraw-Hill ©2006 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 5-54

Adjustment Strategies for Becoming More Optimistic

1. Identify thoughts and feelings you have after something unpleasant happens2. Become aware of your pattern of thinking when you experience unpleasant events3. Distract yourself from your pessimistic thoughts4. Dispute your pessimistic thoughts

Human Flourishing Coping With Stress

Managing Stress Effects

Coping: the ways we try to change or interpret circumstances to make them less threatening.

Maladaptive Coping Adaptive Coping• Delay stress and it

intensifies

• Produce self-defeating outcomes– Ex.: I will fail no matter what

• Withdraw from others

• Realistically evaluates the situation

• Deal with the emotional aspects of the situation.

• Focuses on preserving important relationships

Types of Coping

• Problem-focused coping• Tries to directly change or manage a threatening or

harmful stressor. • Most effective when you have the personal control

• Emotion-focused coping • Tries to relieve or regulate the emotional impact• Used when we cannot change a stressor

McGraw-Hill ©2006 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 5-58

Coping Classifications

►Over the long term, problem-focused coping is usually more effective than emotion-focused coping

►Emotion-focused coping involves drawing on beliefs, values, and goals to modify the meaning of a stressful situation

Problem Focused Coping Strategies

• The GOAL is to change or eliminate the stressor

– Confrontive coping: • using aggressive or risky efforts to change the situation

– Planful problem solving: • efforts to rationally analyze the situation, • identify potential solutions, • and then implement them.

Emotion Focused Coping Strategies • Escape–avoidance strategy

– Shift attention away from stressor and toward other activities• Seeking social support

– Turn to friends, relatives, or other people for support• Distancing

– Putting space between you and your stressor to minimize or eliminate its impact

• Denial– Refusal to acknowledge that the problem even exists.

(Complicates Issue)• Positive reappraisal

– Minimize the negative impacts by focusing on the positive meaning

Coping with Stress

problem-focused coping

• Confrontive• Planful problem solving

Emotion-focused coping

• escape-avoidance• Seeking social support• Distancing• Denial• Positive reappraisal

Active Cognitive StrategyConstruct thoughts to help cope

w/problem

Active BehavioralEfforts to change the situation

AvoidanceTry to keep problem out of

awareness1, _____ Took things a day at a time. 2, _____ Got away from things for a while. 4. _____ Tried to reduce tension by drinking

more. 6. _____ Made a promise to myself that things would be different next time.

3. _____ Tried to find out more about the situation.

9. _____ Took it out on other people when I felt angry or depressed.

7. _____ Prepared for the worst. 5. _____ Talked with a professional person (e.g., doctor, lawyer, clergy).

14. _____ Tried to reduce tension by taking more tranquilizing drugs.

10. _____ Prayed for guidance and/or strength. 8. _____ Let my feelings out somehow. 16. _____ Kept my feelings to myself.

11. _____ Accepted it; nothing could be done. 12. _____ Talked with spouse or another relative about the problem.

19. _____ Tried to reduce tension by smoking more.

15. _____ Told myself things that helped me feel better.

13. _____ Talked with a friend about the problem.

24. _____ Tried to reduce tension by eating more.

20. _____ Tried to see the positive side of the situation.

17. _____ Bargained or compromised to get something positive from the situation.

27. _____ Avoided being with people in general.

21. _____ Considered several alternatives for handling the problem.

18. _____ Tried to reduce tension by exercising more.

30. _____ Refused to believe that it happened.

23. _____ Went over the situation in my mind to try to understand it.

22. _____ Made a plan of action and followed it.  

26. _____ Drew on my past experiences. 25. _____ Got busy with other things to keep my mind off the problem.

 

29. _____ Tried to step back from the situation and be more objective.

28. _____ I knew what had to be done and tried harder to make things work.

 

  31. _____ Sought help from persons or groups with similar experiences.

 

  32. _____ Tried not to act too hastily or follow my first hunch.

 

     

Mean: Mean: Mean:

Coping Strategies:Reflect on how you have approached your various challenges / stressors in the past year.

Using the scale below, indicate how often you used each of the following strategies to deal with those challenges / stressors.

 

0 = Not at all 1 = A little 2 = Occasionally 3 = Fairly Often

Debrief• Stressors are an everyday part of our life. • How we handle or cope with these stressors can

add or subtract to our stress level.– may empower us into positive action…– Or limit our physical & psychological well being.

– Active strategies more effective than avoidant– Problem-focused more effective than just dealing with

emotional distress.– Avoidance; trying to immediately reduce emotional

discomfort compounds or postpones the true issue.

COPINGProblem-focused

• Emphasis on solving & understanding the problem

• Direct outward – Change the situation or – Change behaviors of others

• Direct Inward – Change our attitude– Develop new skills

• Individualistic cultures– Personal autonomy & responsibility

Emotion-focused• Reducing distress• Reducing how one feels• Seek physical exercise• Relaxation• Communication • Social support

• Collectivist cultures– Control personal reactions

Coping style practice…1.) Rachel – Emotion focused: Denial

2.) Joey – Problem focused: Confrontive coping

3.) Chandler – Emotion focused: Distancing

4.) Monica – Problem focused: Planful problem solving

5.) Phoebe – Emotion focused: Positive Reappraisal

6.) _______ - escape avoidance or seeking social support

Health-Related Consequences

Stress can have a variety of health-related consequences.

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Human Flourishing

Psychologists and physicians have developed an interdisciplinary field of behavioral medicine that integrates behavioral knowledge with medical

knowledge.

Mind and body interact; everything psychological is simultaneously

physiological.

Promoting Health

Promoting health is generally defined as the absence of disease. We only think of health when we are diseased. However, health psychologists say that promoting health begins by preventing illness and

enhancing well-being, which is a constant endeavor.

Managing Stress Effects

Having a sense of control, an optimistic explanatory style, and social support can

reduce stress and improve health.

Aerobic Exercise

Can aerobic exercise boost spirits? Many studies suggest that aerobic exercise can

elevate mood and well-being because aerobic exercise raises energy,

increases self-confidence, and lowers

tension, depression, and anxiety.

Spirituality & Faith Communities

Regular religious attendance has been a reliable predictor of a longer life span

with a reduced risk of dying.

Intervening Factors

Investigators suggest there are three factors that connect religious involvement

and better health.

Topics to Review• Cognitive Appraisal & Stress

Seyle- GAS~alarm, resistance, exhaustionCannon- Fight or FlightTypes of Conflictsapproach-approachavoidance-avoidanceapproach-avoidanceHolmes & Rahe- SSRS-what is it & criticismsCopingProblem vs. EmotionalMaladaptive CopingAcculturative Stressassimilated, separated, integrated, marginalizedLazarus- Daily HasslesStress, Colds & DiseaseExplanatory StylesType A vs. Type BExternal vs. Internal Locus of ControlSeligman- Optimism vs. PessimismCollectivist vs. Individualist & Stress

• ConsciousnessSleep Stages & Characteristics of each stageSleep Stages & Brain Waves associatedREM vs. NREMDream Theories(Freud, Activation Synthesis, Problem Solving)

• Behaviorism/LearningClassical ConditioningUCS, UCR, CS, CRGeneralizationDiscriminationExtinctionSpontaneous RecoveryOperant ConditioningSchedules of Reinforcement(FR, FI, VR, VI)Negative ReinforcementPositive ReinforcementPunishment