stress 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Stress and Coronary heart disease - cause?

A
  • develops with cholesterol buildup in artery walls (atherosclerosis)
  • Main cause of coronary heart disease is atherosclerosis: gradual narrowing of the arteries that occurs as fatty deposits (plaque) that build up on inner walls of arteries
  • Narrowed arteries =reduced blood supply =if artery is blocked by blood clot/detached plaque =heart attack
  • Other causes: smoking, sedentary lifestyle, diet high in fat/cholesterol
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2
Q

how does stress contribute to coronary heart disease? other risk factors?

A
  • activated arousal of sympathetic NS = high blood pressure =damage to blood vessels =accumulation of plaque = more likely heart disease
  • Risk factors: age, diabetes, high blood pressure, family history, stress, Type D personality (someone who tends to experience negative life events or interprets them as negative, glass half empty kind of person)
  • Friedman and Rosenman: link between work-related stress and coronary heart disease
    o Type A behaviour pattern: tendency toward easily aroused hostility, impatience, sense of time urgency and competitive achievement strivings
    o Interviewed 3 000 middle aged healthy men – identified as type A and type B
    o Out of the 258 men who had heart attacks in the following year, 2/3 were type A
  • Hostility, particularly in men, was best predictor of heart disease
    b) Stress and illness
    Asthma: condition in which breathing is
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3
Q

Friedman and Rosenman: link between work-related stress and coronary heart disease - Type A? predictor of disease?

A
  • Type A behaviour pattern: tendency toward easily aroused hostility, impatience, sense of time urgency and competitive achievement strivings
  • Hostility, particularly in men, was best predictor of heart disease
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4
Q

Psychological reactions - cognitive appraisal?

A
  • Stress Interpretation: one’s perception of a stressful situation
  • primary and secondary appraisal
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5
Q

Primary vs Secondary Appraisal? (Cognitive Appraisal)

A
  • Primary appraisal: assess what a stimulus is, whether it is harmful/stressful or not
  • Secondary appraisal: determining whether the stressor is something you can handle or not, whether you have control over the event =evaluate what you might be able to do, look for resources around that might help, look inside of you to see resources: energy, etc
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6
Q

Threat vs. Challenge?

A
  • Threat: stressor you feel you might not be able to overcome
  • Challenge: stressor you feel confident you can control
  • Both threat and challenge raise heart rate, but threat also increases vascular reactivity – constricting blood vessels = higher blood pressure
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7
Q

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A
  • characterized by chronic physiological arousal, recurrent unwanted thoughts or images of trauma, avoidance of things that call the traumatic event to mind
  • feelings of social withdrawal, very low affect -depression, anger, sadness, flashbacks, recurrent nightmares, intense distress, difficulty sleeping, irritability, sudden strong reactions to sudden noises/movements
  • commonly caused by war, rape, natural disasters -terrifying and uncontrollable experiences
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8
Q

PTSD: %? MRI research?

A
  • 8% Americans suffer from PTSD
  • people with PTSD have smaller a hippocampus =pre-existing condition that made them susceptible to developing PTSD when they were later exposed to trauma
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9
Q

Burnout - def? what? who? theory?

A
  • a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion created by long-term involvement in an emotionally demanding situation and accompanied by lowered performance and motivation
  • long term emotional or physical stress, comes on slowly, but continues on for longer periods of time
  • interns in med school, grad students
  • theory: using job to give meaning to your life, so when work fails, self-worth goes down
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10
Q

Relaxation therapy

A
  • technique for reducing tension by consciously relaxing muscles of the body
  • meditation but without the religion
  • comfortable position, quiet down, and focus on something repetitive/soothing that holds your attention like breathing
  • activities that draw on a relaxation response: a condition of reduced muscle tension, cortical activity, heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure
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11
Q

Biofeedback

A
  • use of external monitoring device to obtain information about a bodily function and possible gain control over that function
  • hook you up to some kind of machine that measures body response – heartbeat, sweating, etc
  • immediate feedback from machine to make changes
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12
Q

Aerobic exercise to deal with stress

A
  • increases heart rate and oxygen intake for a sustained period
  • Improves mood as well as health
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13
Q

Social Support to deal with Stress- what? marriage?

A
  • aid gained through interacting with others
  • Failing to get married is bad for your health – increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer, pneumonia, influenza, COPD, liver disease, cirrhosis
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14
Q

Why being Lonely is bad? males vs females?

A
  • more likely to be stressed, depressed, susceptible to illness
  • Women: tend and befriend
  • males are more fight or flight
  • Females also release oxytocin in addition to epinephrine and norepi - hormone secreted byy pit gland in pregnant and nursing mothers
  • Triggers social response in presence of estrogen – tendency to seek out social contacts, nurture others, create/maintain cooperation
  • Women have longer life span, healthier than men
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15
Q

Stress and Humour

A
  • Sense of humour:
    o Reduces sensitivity to pain and distress
    o Reduces time needed to calm down after a stressful event
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16
Q

Repressive coping

A
  • avoiding situations or thoughts that are reminders of the stressor, maintaining an artificially positive view point
  • denial, ignore the situation
  • Can work well, but avoidance can also be a problem – might be better to face them
17
Q

Rational coping

A
  • opposite of repressive coping, facing the stressor and working to overcome it
  • encounter problem head on instead of avoiding it
18
Q

rational coping - 3 steps?

A
  1. acceptance: stressor exists and cannot be wished away
  2. exposure: attending to stressor, thinking about it, even seeking it out
  3. understanding: working to find meaning of the stressor in you life
19
Q

Reframing?

A
  • finding a new or creative way to think about a stressor that reduces its threat
  • Re-think it, cognitive re-appraisal
  • rather than seeing it as a problem, maybe there’s an opportunity
  • this isn’t a problem, this is an opportunity for me
20
Q

Stress inoculation training, SIT

A
  • reframing technique that helps people cope with stressful situations by developing positive ways to think about the situation
  • Self-disclosure, expressive writing found to improve immune function
21
Q

Catharsis

A
  • does NOT work
  • punching a pillow, etc
  • reinforces tendency to act out aggressively, etc