Stress Study Guide

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Stress Study Guide

• Good vs. Bad stress
• Autonomic Nervous System
• Mind/Body connection
• Most common stressors
• Immune system
• Fight or Flight
• A/B Personality Types
• Psychosomatic symptoms vs. Hypochondriac symptoms
• What are they and why do people get different
  symptoms?
• Self-efficacy
• Locus of Control
• Emotion vs. Problem-Focused Coping (control and
  change yourself or the situation)
• Coping with stress healthy and non-healthy
  methods
• Biofeedback
• Meditation
• GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome Alarm,
  Resistance, Exhaustion)
• Effects of exercise
• Dealing with conflict approach/avoidance
• PTSD

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• To be totally without stress is to be
  dead.
• - Hans Selye

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• Negative bad stress vs. Positive good stress
  how can that be?
• Review
• Autonomic Nervous System

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• Stress is any time your body has to adjust to any
  kind of change. Ex.
• Stress causes a significant overload to the MIND
  and BODY.
• 1 stressor
• 2 stressor

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• People who report a high level of stress are
  twice as likely to get a cold.
• Being stressed out is bad for your body!
• Hormones are produced when you stress out
  these hormones suppress the IMMUNE SYSTEM, thus
  making the body more susceptible to diseases,
  viruses and infections. Ex. Womans husband dies.

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• Immune System the bodys defense and
  surveillance network of cells and chemicals that
  fight off bacteria, viruses and other foreign or
  toxic substances.

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Most vulnerable to disease

• People recently
• Fired
• Divorced
• Widowed
• Finnish study
• 96,000 widowed people study
• Risk of death doubled in the week following
  partners death
• Dying of a broken heart

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Stress, Health and Coping

• FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE
• Primitive physiological responses (sweat, heart
  rate increase etc.) that arouse and prepare the
  body (muscles and brain) for action. Its
  triggered by physical or psychological situations
  that are new, threatening or challenging.
• This response provides the body with increased
  energy to deal with perceived threatening
  situations whether real or imagined.
• The number of fight or flight we experience
  depends on our levels of stress.

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• Its a survival mechanism to prepare the body for
  action and survival its automatic. It used to
  be used to prepare the body to escape from
  predators now we use the same response for
  non-threatening situations such as traffic.
• If we overuse it and
• keep our body in a
• near constant state
• of arousal painful
• physical symptoms

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Biggest problem with stress

• Your body cant distinguish between physical
  stress and mental stress.
• So your body is ready to FIGHT or FLEE even when
  thats not what you need to do
• This activation is hard on your body and youre
  more likely to get sick if it continues

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Are there gender differences? Yes!

• Sources are often different
• Married men show better mental health than
  married women
• Caring for children is more stressful than almost
  any job
• New research men are more likely to have fight
  or flight reaction, while women have tend and
  befriend reaction (seek social support)
• Women emotional coping
• Men problem-solving strategies

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Does EXERCISE help alleviate stress?

• YES working out regularly
• can help alleviate physical
• and mental stress. Stress causes a lot of
  physical problems that can be overcome with
  exercise (obesity, muscle aches etc.). It also
  releases endorphins (the feel-good chemicals)
  that produce a calming effect.

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2 Types of Personality
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The Type A PersonalityWe try harder!!!

• Early Characteristics
• Impatient, aggressive, workaholic, competitive,
  time-urgent, HOSTILE, bossy, road rage, fast
  drivers, fast talkers, list makers, prefer to
  work alone
• More likely to suffer from heart attack
  (hostility plus depression in men is best
  predictor) their hearts cant take the stress
• To CHANGE
• Reduce cynical mistrust of others
• Reduce frequency and intensity of anger and rage
• Learn to treat others with kindness and develop
  skills to handle stress

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Cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Roy Rosenhan

• Mid-1950s, San Francisco
• Noticed that the chairs in their waiting rooms
  were all worn out along the front edges but
  almost like new otherwise
• Thought their patients might be the type of
  people who often sit on the edges of their chairs
• Realized other characteristics of male heart
  patients
• Competitive and ambitious
• Speak rapidly and interrupt others
• Frequently hostile and angry

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Changing from Type A to Type B and lessening the
effect of stress

• Positive self-statements
• Challenge appraisal
• Exercise
• Progressive relaxation
• Biofeedback
• Learn to meditate

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Some other Type A thoughts

• Not just hostility but also MISTRUST of other
  people a CYNICISM
• Can it be genetic?
• Is it a result of failure to resolve Eriksons
  first stage trust vs. mistrust?
• More research needed to find link between
  personality and biology
• Take a test to see if youre a Type A

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Type B Personality

• Easygoing, calm, relaxed and patient, slow
• drivers, slow talkers
• Less likely to get heart attacks, colds, ulcers
  etc.

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• Executives more likely to be type A or B?
• New Type A/B
• Gender adjectives for both.

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Hans Selye 1907-1982
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GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME GASThe pattern
your body goes through when its stressed.

• ALARM STAGE initial reaction to stress fight
  or flight response which causes physiological
  arousal. Short bursts of stress - bodies go in
  and out of this stage many times a day. Can be
  false alarms. Ex.

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• RESISTANCE STAGE eye of the storm bodys
  reaction to continued stress bodily responses
  return to normal levels to do this, since the
  body is stressed, the body has to use up great
  stores of energy. Body seems to be functioning
  normally but actually it has to work 2x as hard
  to do this.
• EXHAUSTION STAGE Bodys reaction to long-term,
  continuous stress actual breakdown in internal
  organs or weakening of the infection-fighting
  immune system. Body gets tired of constant state
  of arousal. During this stage, for example,
  stomach pains turn into ulcers. PAY BACK! Ex.

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How your body reacts to stress
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Effect of sustained stress

• Change in immune system reduces bodys resistance
  to disease
• Can alter a diseases course
• Response in heart
• Increase in blood pressure
• Increase in blood clotting
• Increase in chance of clots
• Increase in likelihood that loose fat deposits
  will close off coronary arteries
• Arrhythmias

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Life expectancy in Russia1990-93

• Following collapse of Russian socialism
• Mushrooming rates of divorce, murder, suicide,
  stress-related diseases
• Life expectancy for Russian men plummeted
• From 64 years to 58.9 years
• Contrast
• Monks with a relatively peaceful life
• Lowest rate of heart attacks

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PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

• PSYCHOSOMATIC SYMPTOMS
• psycho mind somatic body
• Real physical symptoms that are caused by
  psychological factors such as stress.
• 70-90 health problems!
• Real tissue damage (unlike hypochondriac
  imagined physical ailments)

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Common psychosomatic symptoms

• Outbreaks of herpes (facial or genital)
• High blood pressure
• Cardiovascular difficulties
• Pains in neck, shoulders, back
• Grinding teeth during sleep
• Recurring colds of flu
• Eating problems

• Headaches
• Stomach problems
• Intestinal difficulties
• Fatigue without physical exertion
• Insomnia
• Skin problems or rashes
• Asthma and allergy flareups

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• Prolonged stress can produce physical
  deterioration and psychosomatic symptoms (not the
  same as hypochondriacal symptoms when a person
  misinterprets physical sensations as symptoms of
  disease!).

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Why does one person have some psychosomatic
symptoms and someone else have different ones?
(And some people dont have any!)
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• Whatever part of our body is genetically
  vulnerable will be attacked (different for
  different people).
• The parts of our bodies that are targeted or
  weakened will be especially vulnerable during
  stress.
• When and why stressors surface
• Inherited predisposition
• Nutrition
• Lifestyle
• Stressful situation
• Appraisal of situation as a threat

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Psychosomatic symptoms are a clear demonstration
of the Mind-Body connection
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Dealing with Conflict

• Having to choose between two (or more)
  possibilities
• Approach-approach
• Both possibilities are appealing
• Avoidance-avoidance
• Both possibilities are disagreeable
• Approach-avoidance
• Situation has good and bad possibilities
• Having to choose can be very stressful

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2 Ways to COPE with STRESS

• PROBLEM-FOCUSED Coping
• Change the situation (for when you have
  control).
• Ex.
• EMOTION-FOCUSED Coping
• Change ourselves (for when we have no control).
  
• EF coping changes how we think about the
  situation.
• Ex.
• Coping control!

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Which one we use depends on the situation and how
much control we have (or think we have).Control
sometimes you can only change yourself and
sometimes you should change the
situation.Coping less control more
stress(Social support better health)
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So the good (or bad ) news may
be

• How stressed we are depends on how we appraise
  events.

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Stress appraisal

• Appraisal Response
• THREAT Panic,
• (Yikes, this is freeze up
• beyond me!)
• CHALLENGE Aroused,
• (Ive got to apply focused
• all I know!)

• Stressful event
• (tough math test)

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One of lifes best coping mechanisms is to know
the difference between an inconvenience and a
problem.If you break your neck, if you have
nothing to eat, if your house is on fire then
youve got a problem. Everything else is an
inconvenience.Life is inconvenient. Life is
lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the
throat and a lump in the breast are not the same
kind of lump. One needs to learn the
difference.- Robert Fulghum
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Our feelings of perceived controlgame

• Locus of control our belief about how much
  control we have over our situations in our lives
• External locus of control - more stress!
• Belief that we dont have much control
• because fate determines what happens to us
• Internal locus of control
• Belief that we have at least some control over
  what happens to us
• People with an internal locus of control are more
  likely to have self-efficacy and are healthier
• Studies show better mental health, report of
  less stress,
• preventive health measures taken

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Why do people appraise stress differently?

• Our personality makes a difference
• High Self-efficacy/Internal Locus of Control and
  hardiness Optimism
• Low Self-efficacy/External Locus of Control -
  Pessimism
• Negative affectivity
• Pessimistic explanatory style
• Suffer more illnesses
• More stress
• Die earlier
• More likely to die of a second heart attack
• Type A personality vs. Type B personality

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The importance of Optimism

• Shown to predict
• Good health
• Immune system functioning
• Faster rehabilitation
• Living longer

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Biofeedback
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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Severe psychological symptoms suffered after
  experiencing a traumatic event
• Recurring and disturbing real memories
• Recurring nightmares
• Intense fear and anxiety

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MODEL OF STRESS Include stressors, perceptions,
physical and psychological reaction and coping
responses.

• 1. Brainstorm examples of stressors that are
  common among students (arguments with parents
  etc.)
• 2. After a long list has been developed your
  group must
• A Decide on the 6 that occur most frequently.
• B Come up with a list of perceptual statements or
  self-statements commonly used by students when
  dealing with stress (I cant deal with this
  anymore) and pick most common statements.
• C Decide what kinds of physical and psychological
  stress reactions are most common (headaches etc.)
• D Frequently used coping methods (shopping,
  drinking) and circle non-healthy methods and come
  up with alternative and healthier methods.