Chapter 15: Stress, Coping & Health

Question 1

Nature of Stress

Answer 1

-Stress viewed as in three different ways (stimulus, response, and organism-environment interaction)

Question 2

Stimulus (stressors)

Answer 2

-situations that place demands on organisms that tax or exceed their resources

Question 3

Stress

Answer 3

-a pattern of cognitive appraisals, physiological responses, and behavioural tendencies that occurs in response to a perceived imbalance between situational demands and the resources needed to cope with them

Question 4

Stressors

Answer 4

• Stressors range in severity
• Microstressors: daily hassles and everyday annoyances we encounter
• Catastrophic events: natural disasters, acts of war, etc.

Question 5

Life Event Scales

Answer 5

-questionnaires that measure the number of positive and negative life events that have occurred over a specific period of time

Question 6

4 Aspects of the Appraisal Process during a Stress Response

Answer 6

• Primary: appraisal of demands
• Secondary: appraisal of resources to cope
• Judgment of consequences
• Appraisal of personal meaning

Question 7

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Answer 7

-a physiological response pattern to strong and prolonged stressors

Question 8

3 Phases of GAS

Answer 8

• Alarm reaction: a rapid increase in physiological arousal
• activation of sympathetic nervous system and release of hormones
• Resistance: body’s resources compensate so the person can function despite stressor
• Length depends on severity of stress, individual’s health, available support, and other factors
• Adrenal glands release epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol to maintain arousal
• Exhaustion: body’s resources are dangerously depleted
• Occurs when stressor is intense for too long

Question 9

Stress and Psychological Well-Being

Answer 9

-Studies of results of catastrophic events has found average increase of 17% in rates of psychological disorders

Question 10

Rape Trauma Syndrome

Answer 10

-a pattern of cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses that occurs in response to being raped

Question 11

Neuroticism

Answer 11

a personality trait that involves the tendency to experience high levels of negative affect and to behave in self-defeating ways
-People high in neuroticism have heightened tendency to experience negative emotions and to involved in stressful situations through maladaptive behaviours

Question 12

Stress & Illness

Answer 12

• Stress can combine with other physical and psychological factors to influence the entire spectrum of physical illness
• Stress can trigger illness by causing a breakdown in immune system functioning
• Stressors can release enough stress hormones to induce structural changes in the hippocampus that last for a month or longer

Question 13

Vulnerability Factors

Answer 13

-increase people’s susceptibility to stressful events (includes lack of a support network, poor coping skills, tendencies to become anxious, etc.)

Question 14

Protective Factors

Answer 14

-environmental or personal resources that help people cope more effectively (includes social support, coping skills, and personality factors such as optimism)

Question 15

Social Support

Answer 15

• One of the most important environmental resources that people can have
• Enhances immune system functioning
• Discussing traumatic incidences can enhance immune system functioning

Question 16

Hardiness

Answer 16

a stress-resistant personality pattern that involves the factors of commitment, control, and challenge

• Hardy people are committed to work, families, and believe what they are doing is important
• View themselves as having control over outcomes (strongest stress buffer)
• Appraise demands of situations as challenges or opportunities, rather than threats

Question 17

Coping Self-Efficacy

Answer 17

-beliefs relating to our ability to deal effectively with a stressful stimulus or situation

Question 18

Cognitive Protective Factors: The Importance of Beliefs

Answer 18

-Optimistic people are at lowered risk for anxiety and depression when confronted with stress

Question 19

Physiological Toughness

Answer 19

relations between two classes of hormones secreted by the adrenal glands in the face of stress

• Catecholamines (which includes epinephrine and norepinephrine) and corticosteroids (cortisol) mobilize the body’s fight-or-flight response
• Cortisol’s arousal affects last much longer, seem more damaging than those produced by catecholamines
• Reduces immune system functioning and helps create fatty deposits in arteries that lead to disease
• Catecholamines increase immune system functioning

Question 20

Physiological Toughness Includes…

Answer 20

• A low resting level of cortisol, low levels of cortisol secretion in response to stressors, and a quick return to baseline level of cortisol after stress is over
• A low resting level of catecholamines, but a quick and strong catecholamine response when the stressor occurs, followed by a quick decline in catecholamine secretion and arousal when the stressor is over
• Fact that physical exercise entail catecholamine-produced arousal may help account for exercise’s health-enhancing effects

Question 21

Problem Focused Coping

Answer 21

-attempt to confront and deal directly with demands of the situation, or change the situation so that it is no longer stressful (Examples: studying for a test, going directly to another person to work out a misunderstanding, etc.)

Question 22

Emotion Focused Coping

Answer 22

-attempt to manage the emotional responses that result from it (Examples: appraising the situation in a manner that minimizes the emotional impact, avoidance or acceptance of the stressful situation)

Question 23

Seeking Social Support

Answer 23

-turning to others for assistance and emotional support in times of stress

Question 24

Statistics about Coping with Stress

Answer 24

• Problem focused coping and seeking social support often demonstrate favorable adjustment in stressors, while emotion focused coping often predict depression and poor adjustment
• In hostage studies, problem focused coping and seeking social support fare better than those with no strategy, but emotion focused coping was found to help individuals adapt most to uncontrollable conditions of captivity
• People with high stress who are too emotionally restrained to express negative feelings have a higher likelihood of developing cancer
• Men are more likely to use problem focused coping, while women often seek social support and use emotion focused coping

Question 25

Gate Control Theory

Answer 25

- the experience of pain results from the opening and closing of “gating mechanisms” in the nervous system - Sensations from two types of sensory fibres enter the spinal cord, and activate neurons that travel up toward the brain regions responsible for our perception of pain - Thin fibres carry sharp pain impulses, thick fibres carry dull pain information - Experience of pain depends on ratio of thin-to-thick fibre transmission - Thin fibre activity opens spinal cord “gates”, while thick fibre activity closes them - rubbing a bruise or scratching an itch stimulate thick fibres, and produce relief - acupuncture may stimulate mostly thick fibres, causing pain relief

Question 26

Endorphins

Answer 26

- natural opiate-like substances that are involved in pain reduction - Inhibit release of neurotransmitters involved in synaptic transmission of pain impulses - Individuals often differ in pain experiences despite identical pain stimulation - Linked in variations in number of receptors for endorphins and ability to release endorphins

Question 27

Stress-induced Analgesia

Answer 27

-a reduction in, or absence of, perceived pain that occurs under stressful situations

Question 28

Cultural and Psychological Influences on Pain

Answer 28

- Interpretation of pain impulses sent to brain depends in part on experiences and beliefs, and both are influenced by our culture - Women report pain more frequently than men - Differences in pain experience also occur within culture - Soldiers often require less pain medication than civilians for war-related wounds, since soldiers see the injury as a ticket home to their families, while civilians see the wound as a life disruption

Question 29

Placebos

Answer 29

...substances that have no medicinal value but are thought by the patient to be helpful -People in control of their own medication often feel less intense pain and will give themselves less medication than those with prescriptions

Question 30

Dissociation

Answer 30

-involves dissociating, or distracting, oneself from the painful sensory input

Question 31

Associative

Answer 31

-involves focusing attention on the physical sensations and study them in a detached and unemotional fashion, without labeling them as painful or difficult to tolerate

Question 32

Cognitive Strategies after Surgery

Answer 32

-Surgical patients with informational interventions show better courses of recovery and require less pain medication than those treated in a traditional fashion

Question 33

Health Psychology

Answer 33

-the study of psychology and behavioural factors in the prevention and treatment of illness and in the maintenance of health

Question 34

Health Enhancing Behaviours

Answer 34

-serve to maintain or increase health

Question 35

Health Compromising Behaviours

Answer 35

-promote development of illness

Question 36

Transtheoretical Model

Answer 36

identifies six major stages in process of how people change -Precontemplation (problem unrecognized or unacknowledged) -Contemplation (recognition of problem, contemplating change) -Preparation (preparing to try and change) -Action (implementing change strategies) -Maintenance (behaviour change is being mastered) -Termination (permanent change, no maintenance efforts required) -People do not go through stages in smooth sequence • Often go back and forth, and failure is likely if previous stages not mastered

Question 37

Aerobic Exercise

Answer 37

-sustained activity that elevates heart rate and increases the body’s need for oxygen

Question 38

Yo-yo Dieting

Answer 38

...severe intermittent dieting that results in large weight fluctuations -Results in accumulation of abdominal fat, increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease

Question 39

Motivational Interviewing

Answer 39

-a treatment approach that avoids confrontation and leads clients to their own realization of a problem and to increased motivation to change

Question 40

Multimodal Treatments

Answer 40

...substance abuse interventions that combine a number of treatments -Often combines a biological measure (nicotine patch) with psychological measures

Question 41

Aversion Therapy

Answer 41

-undesired behaviour is associated with an aversive stimulus, such as nausea, to create a negative emotional response to the substance

Question 42

Relapses

Answer 42

...a return to the undesirable behaviour pattern - Often occurs after a lapse (one time “slip”) in a high-risk situation (stressful event, social pressure) - Lapse followed by abstinence violation effect (a person blames himself and concludes that he is incapable of resisting high risk situations)

Question 43

Harm Reduction

Answer 43

-a prevention strategy that is designed not to eliminate a problem behaviour, but to reduce harmful consequences