Coping with stress

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Coping with stress

• Physical approaches

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Physical approaches

• Physical approaches to stress management include
  
• Exercise
• Biofeedback
• Drugs.

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Drugs and Stress

• Benzodiazepine and antiaxiety drugs such as
  librium and valium work by reducing the activity
  of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
• Beta blockers work by reducing sympathetic
  activity. They are usual for for high blood
  pressurem and raised heart rate.

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Biofeedback

• This is a technique used to control physiological
  responses to certain stressors. Heart rate is
  monitored and when activity is increased a light
  appears. Stratergies are then used to reduced
  activity. These stratergies are then transferred
  to the outside world.

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Evaluation

• Drugs can have an addictive nature, unwanted
  physical side effects. Eg Liver damage. They can
  decrease the ability of the individual to be able
  to deal with stress.
• Drugs deal with the symptom of the problem and
  not the cause.
• Biofeedback is an expensive technique that has
  had limited success. It is certainly no more
  successful than MRT.

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Strengths

• Effectiveness Anxiolytic drugs work.
• One way to assess effectiveness is to compare
  outcomes when some anxious patients are given a
  drug and others are given a placebo.
• Kahn et al. ( 1986) followed nearly 250 patients
  over 8 weeks and found that Bzs were
  significantly superior to placebo.
• Easy to use One of the great appeals of using
  drug treatment for stress is that the therapy
  requires little effort from the user.

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Weaknesses

• Addiction Patients display withdrawal symptoms
  when they stopped taking the drug, demonstrating
  physiological addiction.
• Side effects Side effects include drowsyness, (
  Bz), dizziness, tiredness, weakness, dry mouth,
  diarrhoe, upset stomach, changes in appetitie,
  blurred vision, changes in sex dirve and
  irregular heartbeat.
• Treating the symptoms not the problem?

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Strengths

• Effectiveness Biofeedback has been found to be
  successful in treating a wide assortment of
  behaviours and disorders .
• No side effects Biofeedback is not an invasive
  technique.
• In other words, it does not alter the body in any
  permanent way as drugs do.
• The only effects are increased relaxation, which
  can only be desirable.

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Weaknesses

• Expensive
• The technique requires specialist equipment,
  which means that it is expesive and can only be
  undertaken with specialist supervision.
• If the success of biofeedback is mainly due to
  relazation rather than feedback and conditioning,
  there is no need for these expensive and time
  consuming procedures.
• Treating the symptoms, not the problem
• The aim with biofeedback is to reduce symptoms
  associated with stress, such as reducing heart
  rate or muscle tension.
• Biofeedback does not treat the source of stress,
  such as workplace tension.
• However, it does provide the patient with a
  potentially long-lasting means of dealing with
  stress symptoms- by applying relaxation
  techniques.

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Study Questions

• Outline one physical approach to stress
  management. (3)
• Describe one strength of the approach you have
  outlined. (3)
• With named examples identify drugs and conditions
  involved in stress management. (3).