Lecture1: Stress and Health Psychology
Stress
- A state of psychological tension or strain
- Adjustment is any attempt to cope with stress
- Health psychology
- Studies the relationship between psychological factors and physical health
- Stressors
- Events or circumstances that trigger stress
Sources of Stress
- Life changes
o Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
§ Assesses impact of major life changes
- Everyday Hassles
o Pressure
§ Occurs when we feel forced to speed up or shift focus of our behavior
o Frustration
§ Occurs when a person is prevented from reaching a goal
- Conflict
o Simultaneous existence of incompatible demands, opportunities, goals, or needs
§ Approach/approach conflict occurs when there is a conflict between two appealing possibilities
§ Avoidance/avoidance conflict occurs when there is a choice between two undesirable possibilities
§ Approach/avoidance conflict is the result of being simultaneously attracted to and repelled by the same goal
Categories of Stressors
- Cataclysmic stressors. Cataclysmic events are strong stressors that occur suddenly and affect many people simultaneously. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions are examples which can affect thousands of people at the same time.
- Personal Stressors. These are major life events such as the death of a spouse or parent, the diagnosis that you have terminal cancer, and the loss of job.
- Background stressors. These are minor irritations of life you face time and again: heavy traffic, smoke-belching vehicles, delays, irritating behaviors of other people.
Coping with Stress
- Direct coping
o Intentional efforts to change an uncomfortable situation
o Confrontation
§ Acknowledging stress directly and initiating a solution
o Compromise
§ Choosing a more realistic goal when an ideal goal cannot be met
o Withdrawal
§ Avoiding a situation when other options are not practical
- Defensive coping
o Can occur when you cannot identify the source of stress or cannot do anything to change the situation
o Defense mechanisms
o Anxiety is produced when the ego cannot satisfy the demands of the id in a way acceptable to the superego
o This anxiety causes feelings of uneasiness and worry
o Ego may employ any of a number of defense mechanisms to protect the conscious mind from this anxiety
Defense Mechanisms
- Denial
- Refusal to acknowledge a painful reality
- Repression
- Unpleasant thoughts are excluded from consciousness
- Projection
- Attributing one’s own feelings, motives, or wishes to others
- Identification
- Taking on the characteristics of other to avoid feeling incompetent
- Regression
- Reverting to childlike behavior
- Intellectualization
- Thinking about stressful problems in an abstract way to detach oneself from them
- Reaction formation
- Expression of exaggerated ideas and emotions that are opposite of true feelings
- Displacement
- Shift repressed motives from an original object to a substitute object
- Sublimation
- Redirecting repressed motives and feelings into socially acceptable activities
- Rationalization
- A person devices seemingly logical explanation to justify behavior which might result in loss of social approval and self esteem.
Socioeconomic and Gender Differences in Coping
- Lower socioeconomic status can lead to a more stressful environment and there may be fewer resources for dealing with stress
- Women and men seem to be equally affected by stress physiologically
- There are apparent differences between the genders in the perception of stress
- Men and women may use different coping strategies
Lecture 2: Stress and Health
The Biology of Stress
- Fight or flight response
o Release of adrenaline and norepinephrine into the bloodstream increasing heart rate and other functions to deal with stress
- General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
o Alarm reaction
o Resistance
o Exhaustion
Stress and Heart Disease
- Frequent or chronic stress can cause damage to the heart and blood vessels
- Type A personality
o Respond to life events with impatience and hostility
o Correlated with development of heart disease
- Type B personality
o Relaxed and easygoing
Lecture 3: Staying Healthy
Methods of Reducing Stress
- Calm down
o Exercise
o Relaxation training
- Reach out
o Social support network
- Religion
o Studies have shown an association between religion and lower stress
o May be related to social support
- Altruism
o Giving to others because is gives you pleasure
o Shown to be a good way to reduce stress
- Learn to cope effectively
o Proactive coping
§ Anticipate stressful events and take steps to avoid them
o Positive reappraisal
§ Alter the way you think about a stressful situation
§ Making the best of a tense or stressful event
o Humor
§ Finding the funny things in a situation
Coping With Stress at College
- Plan ahead
- Prioritize
- Exercise
- Listen to music, watch TV, or go out as a study break
- Talk to others
- Meditate or use other relaxation techniques
Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle
- Eat a well-balanced diet
- Exercise
- Quit smoking
- Avoid high risk behaviors
Sources of Extreme Stress
- Unemployment
o Stages of relief, optimism, doubt, malaise, cynicism
- Divorce and separation
o Ambivalence, feelings of failure, sadness, and fear
- Bereavement
- Catastrophes
o Shock stage
o Suggestible stage
o Recovery stage
- Combat and other threatening personal attacks
o Effects can linger
o Can lead to depression and other disorders
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Characterized by episodes of anxiety, sleeplessness, and nightmares from a disturbing event in the past
- Victims may withdraw from social life or job and family responsibilities
The Well-Adjusted Person
- Psychologists may judge the adjustment value of an action by the following criteria
o Does the action realistically meet the demands of the situation or just postpone the resolution of the problem?
o Does the action meet the individual's needs?
o Is the action compatible with the well-being of others?
