Week 5: Stress & Coping Flashcards
Explain generalised adaption syndrome
Found similar symptoms across all sorts of illness- may just be a response to being unwell
Unspecific reaction of the body to stressors in the environment
3 phases: alarm reaction, resistance phase, exhaustion phase
Body becomes fatigued coping with chronic stress
Explain the HPA stress response
The amygdala: detects things that are dangerous in the environment
Prefrontal cortex: regulates the stress response by making things seem less scary
Hypothalamus: wakes up the pituitary gland
Pituitary: hormones from here tell the adrenal gland to release cortisol
Cortisol: travels through the blood and tells other body parts to react to stress
What is the alarm reaction (generalised adaption syndrome)
Can cause downturn in bodily defences and BP, heart rate may initially decrease before rising to much higher than normal levels this arousal cannot be maintained for long periods of time
What is the stage of resistance (generalised adaption syndrome)
Body tries to adapt to a stressor arousal reduces but he still higher than normal this stage of mobilisation of bodily defences cannot last in definitely without the organism becoming vulnerable to illness
What is the stage of exhaustion (generalised adaptation syndrome)
Exhaustion if resistance stage last too long resulting in a depletion of bodily resources in energy the ability to Resist stress declined and an increased likelihood of diseases of adaption such as cardiovascular disease arthritis and asthma is proposed
What is acute stress
Short lived such as exam’s natural catastrophes and traumatic events
What is chronic stress
Occupational stress relationship stress persistent dresser and no easy way of reducing the stress
Explain stress and the dysregulation of the immune system
The central nervous system, Endocrine system and immune system are complex systems that interact with each other
Stressful life events and the negative emotions they generate can dysregulate the immune response by disturbing the sensitive interplay among these systems
Acute inflammation is an adaptive response to physical injury or infection
Chronic long-term stress can produce exaggerated and or prolonged inflammatory responses that is detrimental to health and has been linked with numerous diseases
What else has been linked to increases stress and pro-inflammatory responses to this stress?
Being in troubled relationships, having negative or competitive social interactions and feeling lonely.
Getting a good amount of sleep, eating well and exercising can mediate this.
What is the social readjustment rating scale (SRRS)?
Life events are scored according to estimated degree of adjustment they would each demand from the person experiencing them
What are the criticisms of the social readjustment rating scale?
The human is made a passive recipient of stress in these earlier models. They also ignored important individual variables (prior learning, environment, support networks, personality and life experiences)
Explain the transactional model of stress and coping
Stress is thought to be the product of a transaction between a person and his or her complex environment
Involves primary and secondary appraisal that lead to coping
Explain the primary appraisal process within stress as a transaction
The person decides if the situation is benign, stressful or irrelevant. If it is stressful, it is passed to secondary appraisal
‘How significant is this event?’
Explain the secondary appraisal process within stress as a transaction
It has passed to secondary appraisal, it has obviously been considered stressful. The person then needs to work out what they can do about it and how to respond
‘Do I have the resources to cope?’
Internal resources: strength, determination
External resources: social support, money
How did the transactional model of stress differ from earlier models
Coping was looked at in terms of thoughts and actions that people use in stressful situations - person is no longer seen as a passive recipient of stress
changed from earlier approaches where coping was defined in terms of personality style or defence mechanisms derived from the ego personality
What is coping?
The process of managing demands that are appraised as taxing/exceeding the persons resources
Anything a person does to reduce the impact of a perceived or actual stressor
Operates to alter or reduce negative emotions attached to the stressor or can directly target the stressor
May or may not succeed, it is concerned with trying to achieve adaption
What if coping skills balance with stresses?
No stress!
What predicts psychological adjustment and quality of life?
Coping and social support
