Instructor

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Instructor

• John Kremer

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COGNITIVE APPRAISAL OF STRESSORS
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Objectives

• Know the cognitive model
• Understand specific theories
• Know essential stress evoking properties of the
  stressor

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Stressor
Cognitive Appraisal
Effects of Stress
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Cognitive Theories

• Albert Ellis
• Aaron Beck
• Richard Lazarus

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Rational Emotive Therapy
Albert Ellis

• Clinical psychology
• Disorders from irrational thoughts

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A-B-C-D-E Paradigm

• A Activating experience
• B Beliefs
• C Consequences
• D Disputing beliefs
• E Effects of confronting

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Process

• Atherosclerosis Fatty Deposits
• Arteriosclerosis Thickening of walls
• Insufficient blood supply
• Destroy heart muscle tissue
• Heart attack

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Irrational Thoughts

• Self-defeating
• Self-destructive
• Empirically false
• Grandiose
• Should be different because I want it to be
• It should be fair
• You should give me love
• It shouldnt be so hard

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Irrational Beliefs

• I must be approved
• I must be competent
• I cant control my life
• I should worry about possibilities
• Avoid some difficulties
• I need someone to rely on

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RETsValueLong-RangeHedonism
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Cognitive Therapy

• Beliefs
• Adaptive and maladaptive
• Test beliefs against reality

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Three Levels of Cognition

• Cognitive processes or conclusions
• Arbitrary inference-no facts
• Selective abstraction-few facts
• Overgeneralization-irrelevant transferral
• exaggeration

• Automatic thoughts
• Internal speech
• Worry
• Will I make it
• Unnoticed
• I am totally confused

• Cognitive schemata
• Stable patterns
• I am no good at work
• Emotional patterns

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Appraisal Theory

• Actively negotiates between demands of
  environment and beliefs or motives of person
• Constantly evaluates self significance for self

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Levels of appraisal

• Primary
• Harm
• Threat
• Challenge
• Benefit
• Secondary
• Coping potential
• Self-efficacy
• Coping
• Reappraisal

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Emotional Appraisal Theory

• All emotions are potential consequences
• Not just threat, etc.

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Appraisal Components

• Motivation
• Valence
• Responsibility
• Accountability

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Anger Threat to self-esteem

• Against
• Negative
• Other
• Blame

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Anxiety Threat

• Away
• Negative
• Unknown
• N/A

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Depression
A
B
C
Loss
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Fear
A
B
C
Danger
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Stressor
Cognitive Appraisal
Effects of Stress
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Stressor
Cognitive Appraisal
Effects of Stress
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Necessary and Together Sufficient Conditions of
Stimulus to be an Anticipatory Stressor

• Event severity
• Imminence
• Likelihood of occurring

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Exacerbation of Stress

• Incubation
• Uncertainty

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Stress Management

• Recognize self statements
• Look for basis
• In logic
• In reality
• Examine alternate self statements
• Identify common themes
• Identify reoccurring emotions

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Today

• CHD, cancer, hypertension
• Chronic Conditions
• No Specific Causes
• Psychological Research

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Behavior emotions, and psychological reactions
are determined by internal statements.
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Better understand illness by looking at patients
representation of illness rather than the
physicians
Leventhal et al.,1984
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Stress Management

• Know your personal vulnerabilities
• Know what situations set you off
• Dont allow chronic stress-vulnerability
  interactions to persist
• Recognize intermediate reactions
• Behavior, Emotions, Physiological
• Realize illness probably will not follow symptoms
• Eliminate chronic conditions
• Remember the stress-illness connection is complex