Psychology 110-04 Lecture 12 Stress, Coping and Health (1)

  1. What is stress?
    1. Definition: any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one's well-being and thereby tax one's coping abilities
    2. Related to physical illness
      1. Biopsychosocial model: physical illness results from a complex interaction of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors
      2. Contemporary diseases not contagious, have a behavioral component
      3. Health psychology: psychosocial factors affecting health and cause, prevention & treatment of disease.
      4. One factor is likely the immune system, psychosocial affects its performance
    3. Stress is highly subjective
      1. Individual susceptibility to stress varies wildly among individuals
      2. Awareness varies among individuals
  2. Types of stress
    1. Frustration, when the pursuit of some goal is thwarted
      1. failures and losses, especially personal
    2. Conflict, when two or more incompatible motives or behavior impulses compete for expression (Lewin,35; Miller, 44,59)
      1. Approach-Approach, drawn toward two incompatibles, loss associated with unchosen
      2. Avoidance-Avoidance, most unpleasant, highest stress, no-win situation
      3. Approach-Avoidance, both positive & negative valences with alternatives, indecision
    3. Change, noticeable alterations in ones circumstances requiring readjustment
      1. Holmes & Rahe (67) Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
        1. Worst is death of a spouse (100), divorce (73), separation (65), jail (63)
        2. Least are minor legal (11), Holidays (12), Vacation (13)
      2. Not change, but negative change produces stress
    4. Pressure, expectations or demands that one behave in a certain way
      1. Conformity to others wishes
      2. Internal or external
      3. Better indicator than change
      4. Pressure degrades performance, "choking"
  3. Responding to Stress
    1. Stressful Event
    2. Cognitive Interpretation
    3. Reaction
      1. Emotional
        1. Reactions are tailored to "appropriate" response
      2. Physiological
        1. Cannon (32) fight or flight
        2. Selye (36, 56, 82) General Adaptive Syndrome (GAS), inverted U
          1. Alarm, resistance, exhaustion
          2. Chronic stress breaksdown behaviors
        3. Endocrine response
          1. catecholamines, ready for "fight"
          2. ACTH, corticosteroids, increase energy, inhibit tissue inflammation
      3. Psychological-Behavioral
        1. Coping, active efforts to master, reduce or tolerated demands caused by stress
        2. Aggression, verbal or physical reaction, striking back
        3. Catharsis, release of emotional tensions, goal of ancient Greek plays, part of entertainment today.
        4. Indulgence
        5. Defensive coping, unconscious reactions designed for protection
          1. Denial
          2. Fantasy
          3. Intellectualization (isolation)
          4. Undoing
          5. Overcompensation
        6. Constructive coping, healthful efforts to dealing with stress
          1. Confronting problems
          2. Realistic appraisals
          3. Recognize and inhibit disruptive reactions
  4. Reducing physiological risk