Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Cirrhosis, Transtheoretical Model, Aversion Therapy
7 May 2018
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Chapter 15: Stress, Coping, and Health
The Nature of Stress
3 Ways Stress is Viewed:
1. Stressors - eliciting stimuli that place strong demands on us (For the same number of
stressors, women have greater risk of developing chronic health condition)
2. Response - our cognitive, physiological, and behavioral responses (*negative emotions)
3. Transaction - person-situation interaction (stress is a pattern of cognitive appraisals,
physiological responses, and behavioral tendencies that are evoked when there is a
perceived imbalance between).
4 types of stress:
1. Frustration: Some goal is thwarted
2. Change: Notieale hage i oe’s liig situation that require adjustment
3. Pressure: Expectations/demands to react in a certain way
4. Conflict: Two or more incompatible motives or behavioral impulses compete for expression.
Stressors
- specific eliminating stimuli that place strong demands on us
- microstressors: daily hassles and annoyances
- catastrophic events: occur unexpectedly and affect a lot of people (natural disasters, war)
- major negative events: victim of major crime or sexual abuse, loss of loved one, academic or career
failure, major illness
- * events that occur suddenly, unpredictably, and are uncontrollable that have long-lasting effect seem
to take the greatest toll on physical and psychological well-being
Measuring Stressful Life Events
- Life Event Scales: quantify the amount of life stress a person has experienced over time by asking
people their appraisal of whether the even was negative or positive and whether it was a major event
measuring intensity, duration, predictability, controllability.
- * Only negative events are involved in stress
The Stress Response
- Our Cognitive Response to Stress
1. Primary Appraisal - appraisal of the demands of the situations (is the situation benign, neutral, or
threatening? how significant is it to your well-being?)
2. Secondary Appraisal - appraisal of the resources available to cope with the demands
3. Judgements of what the consequences of failing to cope w/the situation could be
4. Appraisal of the personal meaning (certain beliefs or personal standards, like self-worth, make people
vulnerable to situational demands)
Stress + Motivation
- Optial leel of stess eeded to
function adequately
- Too much = disorganization, anxiety
- Too little = depression, lack of
motivation
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Chronic Stress and the GAS
- Bod’s Phsiologial Respose to “tog ad Pologed “tessos
- GAS = General Adaptation Syndrome
1. Alarm Reaction = rapid increase in physiological arousal because of the sudden activation of the
sympathetic nervous system (activates smooth muscles, organs, glands) and the release of stress
hormones by the endocrine system
- Physiological Arousal: increase in heart rate, respiration (more O2 to skeletal muscles) , dilation
of pupils (enhances vision), slow digestion (more blood diverted to muscles)
- Hormonal Stress Response: adrenal glands produce cortisol during a period of stress that
triggers an increase in blood sugars, supresses the immune system, and supresses inflammation
so ijued tissues do’t sell (*Constant secretion of cortisol depression/anxiety disorder)
2. Resistance = continued response pattern if stressors continue, body is resisting parasympathetic
nervous system that is trying to calm it down to maintain homeostasis
- can last a log tie ut it depeds o seeit of stess, idiidual’s geeal health, aailale suppot
- od’s esoues ae eig depleted ad state of aousal ieased heat ate + espiatio + lood
sugars, suppression of digestion + immune system) cannot be maintained w/out exhausting the body
3. Exhaustion = if stressor is intense and pesists to log, ehaustio ous ad od’s esoues ae
dangerously depleted
- increased uleailit to disease, ollapse, ad death duig this stage this is h studet’s get sik
after exams!)
- he a peso leaes esistae ad etes ehaustio depeds o seeit of stess, idiidual’s
general health, ability to cope with stress, available support
- whichever system of the body is weakest (due to maturational, genetic, or experiential factors) is the
first to break down
Stress and Health
- stress can result in physical and psychological deterioration because evolved physical stressors are not
useful fo dealig ith toda’s pshological stressors
Stress and Psychological Well-Being
- effects of stress on psychological well being:
- natural disasters cause increase in anxiety and depression
- holocaust survivors experience anxiety and recurrent nightmares about traumatic experience
- people who have lost parent/siblings fear losing spouse/children when they are out of sight
and depression, crying spells, insecurity, and trouble forming close relationships are common
- Rape Trauma Syndrome - for months or years after rape, victims feel nervous and fear another
attack by the rapist and have numerous other side effects
- Negative Life Events are linked to Psychological Distress but Neuroticism (the heightened
tendency to experience negative emotions and to get into stressful situations) affects both
the number of Negative Life Events and the amount of Psychological Distress
- Stress plays role in 50 - 70% of all physical illness (e.g. heart disease, ulcers, diabetes, migraines)
Physiological
and Hormonal
stress response
ae the fight o
flight espose
Limitation: GAS only refers to physical side of
stess ad does’t ilude ogitie appaisals
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PTSD
- severe anxiety disorder that is caused by exposure to traumatic life events (severe stress)
- characterized by:
- severe anxiety, physiological arousal (the stress response) and distress
- painful, uncontrollable reliving of the event(s) in flashbacks, dreams, and fantasies
- emotional numbing and avoidance of stimuli associated w/trauma
- itese suial guilt
- individuals w/PTSD also show self-destructive and impulsive behavior
- key notes:
- civilian victims of war more likely to develop PTSD than soldiers
- traumas caused by human perpetrator (like war, assault, rape, torture) tend to cause more
severe PTSD than do natural disasters
- developing PTSD is influenced by social support, presence of childhood stressors, personality
factors, coping strategies, and pre-existing psychological conditions, however if trauma is too
severe (genocides, violent rape) then likelihood of developing PTSD is high regardless of other
factors
- PT“D does’t iediatel deelop afte taua it a take oths o ee eas to full
develop)
- PTSD can lead to other disorders (women who have PTSD have double the risk of developing
alcohol related problems in future)
Stress and Illness
- Within a month following death of spouse, people show higher mortality rates
- Caig fo a spouse /Alzheie’s lead to hoi stess hih leads to increased risk of developing
own health problems
- Stressful life events increases risk of cancer, and chronic health conditions like arthritis, rheumatism,
bronchitis, emphysema, ulcers (men = increased risk of heart disease, women = increased risk of asthma
and migraines)
- Traumatic life event can worsen and already existing medical condition (little black girl w/sickled cell
anemia died after eig used to hite eighohood / ag hites elled go back to where you
ae fo
- Working memory is compromised due to the impact of stress on the frontal lobe
- Physiological responses to stressors directly harm body systems (adrenal gland which produces
hormones as part of stress response contribute to heart attacks and strokes + breakdown of immune
system leads to illness)
- Stress also causes people to change behavior (diabetics stop regulating diets and meds, people quit
exercising and start smoking, drinking, using drugs, undereating/overeating, etc.)
- Hippocampus is sensitive to cortisol and so under stressful situations, overexposure to cortisol causes
hippocampus deterioration which leads to memory impairment
- Prolonged elevation of stress hormones associated w/depression and anxiety
- Experiences we have when we are young impact stress hormone levels and efficiency in which we
recover from stress in adulthood. (ex. childhood abuse interferes w/ability of hippocampus to control
stress response which increases risk of suicide)
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