Stress and Health

Question 1

What determines whether you find an event stressful or not?

Answer 1

Stressors → things that cause stress (genes, personal limitations or defects, beliefs, etc.)

Question 2

Explain the difference between daily hassles, traumatic stress, and chronic stress

Answer 2

Daily hassles → things that cause minor stress but go away

Traumatic stress → incense, short-term events
Natural disasters, terrorist attacks

Chronic stress → less intense, long-lasting events
Homelessness, marital issues

Question 3

What are the five stages of grief?

Answer 3

Denial → anger → bargaining → depression → acceptance

Question 4

What is our current understanding of grief?

Answer 4

Anticipatory grief, chronic grief, and deep sadness (pendulum of grief)

Question 5

Describe the General Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 5

Alarm reaction → the body mobilized its resources to cope with a stressor

Resistance → the body seems to adapt to the presence of the stressor

Exhaustion → the body depletes its resources

Question 6

What are the characteristics of resilient people?

Answer 6

Understand that suffering is part of life
Good at attending to positive things
Ask themselves, “Is what I’m doing helping or harming me?”

Question 7

What is the difference between emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping?

Answer 7

Emotion-focused coping → try to deaden the emotional reaction instead of addressing the problem

Problem-focused coping → dealing with the actual problem

Question 8

Who are the happiest people?

Answer 8

Typically, people with a spiritual dimension in their lives report being happy.