STRESS, HEALTH AND COPING – Savvy Essay Writers | savvyessaywriters.net
STRESS, HEALTH AND COPING – Savvy Essay Writers | savvyessaywriters.net
STRESS, HEALTH AND COPING
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Stress
WHAT IS STRESS?
WHAT IS STRESS?
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Stress
Mental and physical condition that occurs when a person must adjust or adapt to the environment
A response to events that exceed our ability to cope
«When you´re under a lot of pressure; when things are getting on top of you»
from the perspective of the individual: response reaction
from the perspective of the environment: stressor
Eustress: Good stress (e.g., travel, dating)
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Stress
Acute stress: clear onset and offset
Chronic stress: a state of enduring arousal, continuing over time, which usually depletes our resources
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WHEN DOES A LIFE EVENT BECOME A STRESSOR?
Overload – urgent external demands or expectations (multitasking) – a single stressor adds to a background of other stressors
Ambiguous – e.g., work stress (poor job control, role ambiguity)
Uncontrolable events – unpredictability adds to stress
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Stress reaction
Changes in physiology – «stress reactivity»
Test: stressful task & participants attached to a monitor
various parametars: heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response.
Big individual differences
Reactivity might be unrelated to self-percieved stress
Stress recovery – some people recover more quickly
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Three perspectives on stress
Stimulus-based (life-events) perspective – assumes that individuals have certain tolerance to stress, but will become ill when stress is too great.
Response-based perspective – focus is on psychophysiology of stress (mechanisms that link stress to physical illness)
Stress as a transaction btw people and environment – (when you think that you can´t cope; or you don´t have enough ability to deal w/ it) = appraisal
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History in research on stress
Cannon´s fight-or-flight model
The groundwork of the modern meaning of stress by Walter Cannon (1932).
Fight or flight is an emergency response.
Helpful w/ predators, but rarely useful today
*Considered stress as an adaptive response
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History in research on stress
Cannon´s fight-or-flight model
Any problem, imagined or real, causes the cerebral cortex to send signals to the hypothalamus stimulates the sympatetic NS changes in our body
increased: arousal, breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, metabolism, blood pressure.
Your hands & feet get cold as blood is directed away from your extremities and digestive system to larger muscles (that help you run and fight).
Pupils dilate to sharpen vision; hearing – acute.
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History in research on stress
Selye´s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS; 1956)
The body responds in the same way to any stress (infection or stormy romance); non-specific response
studied lab animals; straightforward «stimulus-response» framework; individual as passive.
Series of bodily reactions to prolonged stress;
Occurs in three stages
In the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system (HPA)
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History in research on stress
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system:
Hypothalamus: the center of the stress response.
Activates the pituitary gland
hormone ACTH, adrenocorticotropic, stress hormone adrenal glands
Adrenal glands (top of the kidneys) are activated
corticosteroids (cortisol); epinephrine and norepinephrine are released liver (sugar)
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History: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Stage 1: Alarm Reaction
Body resources are mobilized; automatic response to emergency; adrenal glands produce adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol
Stage 2: Stage of Resistance
Body adjusts to stress; symptoms of the alarm reaction disappear; resistance towards the original stressor.
pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system overworks
if prolonged could lead to diseases of adaptation
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Body adjusts to stress but at a high physical cost
History: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Stage 3: Stage of Exhaustion
If the stress continues, body’s resources are drained possibly resulting in:
Coping is exhausted
Psychosomatic diseases (*questionnarrie)
Loss of general health (frequent illness, infections)
Emotional signs (anxiety, apathy, mental fatigue)
Behavioral signs (self-neglect, isolation)
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Psychosomatic Disorders
Psychosomatic Disorders
Psychological factors contribute to actual bodily damage (major and minor)
Most common complaints: respiratory and gastrointestinal
Difficulties:
Major: Eczema; hives; migraine headaches; hypertension; colitis (ulcer).
Milder: sore muscles; headaches; neckaches; backaches; constipation; PMS, fatigue
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If you answered which of the bodily system(s) is/are most reactive when you are under stress: you might expect that under prolonged, chronic stress, you could develop a psychosomatic disorder related to the sensitive system in your body.
Criticism
Body´s reaction to different types of stress is not uniform at all
Perhaps the physiological reactions found were caused by the emotional reaction of the animal to the stressful event, rather than to a direct physiological effect = PHYSIOLOGY OF FEAR
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1. Stimulus-based (life-events) perspective
Holmes & Rahe (1967) – Began by choosing 43 probably stressful life events, asked 400 US adults to rate the relative amount of readjustment required by each (death of spouse, divorce…)
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
Includes positive and negative life events
Each event assigned a numerical value (Life Change Units; LCU’s)
Add up value of LCUs to get total
Rates the impact of various life events on the likelihood of contracting illness
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Stress and Health
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
Total Score
0–150: No significant problems
150–199: Mild life crisis (33% chance of illness)
200–299: Moderate life crisis (50% chance of illness)
300+: Major life crisis (80% chance of illness)
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Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
The SRRS score is positively correlated to person’s number of medical visits in the following 6 months
People w/ SRRS scores above average were 10 % more likely to come down with a cold or flu.
From 1960s to 1990s the average total number of life-change units (LCU) went up for 45%
In 1990s people on average experience much more stress than their peers in the 60s.
Also, WOMEN in the 90s experience more stress than MAN.
Scale better for older, more established adults
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Fill this out, taking into consideration your last year, from the moment of taking this Inventory. Then, think critically: what types of problems could you think of about this approach to stress-measurement.
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College Life Stress Inventory
0–150: Very low
151–590: Low
591–1030: Below average
1031–1470: Average
1471–1910: High
1911–2350: Very high
2351 or more: Extremely high
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Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
CRITICISMS:
Are positive life events (getting married, having a child) always stressful?
Choice of items: highly arbitrary, ambiguous, vague (change in recreation; change in responsibility at work)
People differ in their reactions to stressful events: APPRISAL.
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Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
1. The individual´s own rating of the event is important
The interpretation should be left to the individual:
Pilkonis et al. – gave checklist of life events to Ss. They rated each event based on its:
Desirability
How much control they had over the event
The degree od required adjustment following the event.
Subject´s evaluation of events is taken into consideration.
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Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
2. Life experiences may interact with each other
One event may cancel out the effect of stressful event.
3. Stressors may be short-term or ongoing
short-term stress
ongoing stressors (financial, health) – should be put into the context of individual´s coping resouces…
* Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory (LISRES)
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Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS):
4. The problem of retrospective assessment REPORT BIAS
When the individual has become ill. (e.g. cancer):
Over-reporting negative events (when searching for a psycho-social cause of the illness)
Under-reporting negative events (when looking for a medical explanation)
Illness is self-reported:
«Neurotic» individuals may interpret small minor symptoms as indicative of physical illness and more stressful events
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Memory is constructive, re-constructive
Stress and Health: Hassles
Any distressing day-to-day annoyance; microstressors
Better predictors of day-to-day (immediate) health than major life events
Major stressors have more long-term impact
Hassles Scale
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2. Response-based perspective
GAS & Cannon´s “fight or flight” model
In this tradition: psychosomatic medicine – emphasizes the effects of stress and anxiety on the cardiovascular, gastro, respiratory systems, skin…
Research is still in the “virgin theory” (mostly relationship btw stress and cardiovascular d.)
Most active area of investigation: Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
Study of connections among stress, disease, and immune system
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Psychoneuroimmunology
The Immune System:
its role is to distinguish btw the body and its invaders (foreign) – antigens
when it overreacts – allergies
when it mistakes the body itself for an invader – autoimmune d/o
*Culture & Autoimmune diseases: We are facing an epidemic of autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, celiac disease, thyroid disease…). In the developed world!
***People in poor nations without modern amenities like running water, flush toilets, washing machines, and sterile backyards don’t get these diseases.
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Psychoneuroimmunology
The Immune System:
The main organs: lymphoid organs (bone marrow, lymph nodes, the spleen and thymus)
The immune system can be conditioned:
immunosupresive drugs paired w/ sweet taste the immune s. can be manipulated psychologically
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Psychoneuroimmunology
Three levels of IS activity:
Cell mediated immunity: lymphocytes – killer T cells, helper T cells, supressor T cells. They operate within the cells of the body & attack specific targets (virus, parasite, tumor…).
Humoral mediated immunity: antibodies and…
