CHAPTER 3
MEETING LIFE CHALLENGES
Eustress - level of stress - good for us- best assets for achieving peak performance and managing minor crisis.
Stress - pattern of responses an organism makes to stimulus event that disturbs the equilibrium and exceeds a
person’s ability to cope.
Strain - reaction to external stressors
An individual’s response to a stressful situation largely depends upon the perceived events and how they are interpreted or
appraised.
LAZARUS
1. Primary appraisal - perception of new or changing environment as positive, neutral or negative in its consequences.
NEGATIVE EVENTS appraised for their possible harm, threat or challenge(HTC)
Harm - assessment of damage already done by an event.
Threat - assessment of possible future damage.
Challenge appraisals - more confident expectations of ability to cope with stressful event, potential to
overcome - even profit from event.
2. Secondary appraisal
- assessment of one’s coping abilities and resources
- whether sufficient to meet harm, threat or challenge of event
- may be mental, physical, personal or social.
- if has positive attitude, health, skills and social support to deal with the crises - will feel less stressed.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF STRESS (PePS)
1. Physical and Environmental Stress:
demands that change state of body -e.g. suffering injury, not enough sleep.
Environmental stress - surroundings often unavoidable -E.g. - pollution, summer heat, earthquake, floods
2. Psychological Stress:
we generate in our minds-personal and unique to person experiencing
i. Frustration
- blocking of needs and motives by something or someone that hinders us from achieving a desired goal.
ii. Conflicts
- occur between two or more incompatible needs or motives
- whether to study dance or psychology
iii. Internal pressures
- stem from beliefs based upon expectations from inside us to ourselves
E.g. - I must do everything perfectly
iv. Social pressures
- from people who make excessive demands on us.
- greater pressure when we work with them.
- people with whom we face interpersonal difficulties
3. Social Stress:
induced externally
result from our interaction with other people.
E.g. death or illness, trouble with neighbours
SOURCES OF STRESS (LHT)
Life Events:
stressful - disturb routine - cause upheaval.
if several planned or unpredicted - occur within short period of time-find difficult to cope
Hassles:
personal stresses endured due to happenings in daily life
devastating consequences – on one coping alone - as others not aware
more stress people report as a result of daily hassles, poorer their psychological well-being.
E.g. noisy surroundings, commuting, electricity, water shortage, traffic snarls
Traumatic Events:
involved in variety of extreme events -E.g. fire, road accident, earthquake, tsunami
effects may occur after some lapse of time-may persist as symptoms of anxiety, flashbacks, dreams, intrusive thoughts
can strain relationships-professional help may be needed.
EFFECTS OF STRESS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING AND HEALTH
Emotional Effects:
mood swings -erratic behaviour
decreasing confidence - feelings of anxiety and depression
increased physical tension - increased psychological tension
Physiological Effects:
in stress, production of certain hormones -lead to changes in heart rate, blood pressure levels, physical activity.
damaging to body in the long-term-E.g. - release of epinephrine and nor – epinephrine
slowing down of digestive system, increased heart rate
Cognitive Effects:
mental overload-lose ability to make sound decisions.
poor concentration-reduced short-term memory capacity.
Behavioural Effects:
eating less nutritional food-increasing intake of stimulants-excessive consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, drugs
leads to loss of concentration, poor coordination, and dizziness.
disrupted sleep patterns, increased absenteeism, and reduced work performance.
BURN-OUT
state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress that has not been managed well.
E.g. when someone works too hard, too much, or for too long without getting any breaks in between.
DESCRIBE HANS SELYE'S GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME . STATE THE CRITICISMS OF THIS MODEL.
1. Alarm reaction stage: activation of adrenal pituitary-cortex system-release of hormones
individual is ready for fight or flight.
2. Resistance stage: this stage when stress prolonged
the parasympathetic nervous system calls for more cautious use of the body’s resources.
efforts to cope with threat
Exhaustion stage: Continued exposure drains body -physiological systems involved in alarm reaction and
resistance become ineffective
susceptibility to stress-related diseases - high blood pressure becomes more likely.
Criticism –
assigning limited role to psychological factors in stress.
how people respond to stress substantially influenced by their perceptions, personalities and biological constitutions.
STRESS AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Psychoneuroimmunology
links between mind, brain and immune system.
effects of stress on immune system.
white blood cells (leucocytes)- identify and destroy foreign bodies (antigens) - viruses
- production of antibodies -E.g.- T cells, B cells and natural killer cells.
T cells -destroy invaders
T-helper cells - increase immunological activity - are attacked by HIV - virus causing AIDS
B cells - produce antibodies
Natural killer cells - fight against both viruses and tumours.
PATHOGENS - agents causing physical illness.
COPING
- dynamic situation-specific reaction to stress- set of concrete responses to stressful situations or events
- intended to resolve problem and reduce stress
Endler and Parker (TEA)
Task-oriented: - deal directly with stressful situation- Example - schedule time better
Emotion-oriented: - venting feelings of anger and frustration Example -worry about what I am going to do.
Avoidance-oriented: - denying or minimising the seriousness of the situation-Examples - watching TV, phone up a friend
LAZARUS AND FOLKMAN
Problem-focused - attack problem with behaviours to gain information etc. Eg. - I made a plan of action and followed it.
Emotion-focused - limit degree of emotional disruption. E.g. - I did some things to let it out of my system
STRESS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES (REM-CC-Bio)
1. Relaxation Techniques:
2. Exercise:
3. Meditation Procedures:
4. Creative Visualisation: uses imagery and imagination
5. Cognitive Behavioural Techniques: inoculate people against stress-developed by Meichenbaum
6. Biofeedback: monitor and reduce physiological aspects of stress by providing feedback about physiological activity
STRESS RESISTANT PERSONALITY:
people with high levels of stress but low levels of illness share three characteristics – hardiness
Hardiness - set of beliefs about oneself, the world, and how they interact.
three Cs’- Commitment - to work, family, hobbies and social life
Control - sense of purpose and direction in life
Challenge - see changes in life as normal and positive rather than as threat.
LIFE SKILLS (Check all from the book)
1. Assertiveness:
communicate, clearly and confidently, our feelings, needs, wants, and thoughts.
ability to say no to request
state an opinion without being self-conscious
2. Time Management:
way we spend our time determines quality of life
learning how to plan time and delegate help to relieve pressure.
spend time doing things that we value
or help you achieve our goals
3. Social Support:
Existence - availability of people on whom we can rely
Supportive friends, family provide emotional support
reassuring individual that he is loved, valued, and cared for
reduces psychological distress – depression, anxiety
growing evidence - social support positively related to psychological well-being.
leads to mental health benefits for both giver and receiver.
Perceived support - quality of social support - positively related to health and wellbeing,
Social network - quantity of social support-unrelated to well-being - very time-consuming – demanding
May be in form of tangible support (money, goods, services)
Informational support – provide information
4. Overcoming Unhelpful Habits:
a. Perfectionists
- want to get everything just right
- have difficulty due to time available, consequences of not being able to stop work, effort needed
b. Avoidance - put issue under carpet, refuse to accept or face it.
c. Procrastination - putting off what we know we need to do
- deliberately avoiding confronting their fears of failure or rejection
5. Rational Thinking
i. Stress due to distorted thinking
ii. when stressed – we attend to negative thoughts from past
iii. affect our perception of present and future
iv. principles of rational thinking:
challenge distorted thinking
challenge irrational beliefs
drive out intrusive, negative anxiety-provoking thoughts
make positive statements
_______________________________________