Podcast
Questions and Answers
What best defines stress according to psychological principles?
What best defines stress according to psychological principles?
How does stress affect the immune system?
How does stress affect the immune system?
What distinguishes acute stress from chronic stress?
What distinguishes acute stress from chronic stress?
Which factor is likely to contribute to high levels of stress in individuals?
Which factor is likely to contribute to high levels of stress in individuals?
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What is a recognized technique for managing stress effectively?
What is a recognized technique for managing stress effectively?
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What characterizes acute stress disorder?
What characterizes acute stress disorder?
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Which type of stress is typically prolonged and caused by long-term emotional pressures?
Which type of stress is typically prolonged and caused by long-term emotional pressures?
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Which factor does NOT contribute to high stress levels?
Which factor does NOT contribute to high stress levels?
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What psychological response occurs when an individual is prevented from reaching a goal?
What psychological response occurs when an individual is prevented from reaching a goal?
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Which of the following examples best represents chronic stress?
Which of the following examples best represents chronic stress?
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In stress management, which strategy is typically beneficial?
In stress management, which strategy is typically beneficial?
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What is a common psychological impact of acute stress?
What is a common psychological impact of acute stress?
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Which scenario best illustrates the concept of pressure in stress?
Which scenario best illustrates the concept of pressure in stress?
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What is a common work-related factor that may contribute to stress?
What is a common work-related factor that may contribute to stress?
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Which of the following is classified as a traumatic stressor?
Which of the following is classified as a traumatic stressor?
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How can attitudes and perceptions influence stress levels?
How can attitudes and perceptions influence stress levels?
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What type of stress is often the result of prolonged exposure to demanding situations?
What type of stress is often the result of prolonged exposure to demanding situations?
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Which social factor can significantly contribute to stress levels?
Which social factor can significantly contribute to stress levels?
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What is a potential consequence of constant high levels of stress on the body?
What is a potential consequence of constant high levels of stress on the body?
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Which technique is commonly used for managing stress effectively?
Which technique is commonly used for managing stress effectively?
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Which of the following can be considered a reason for feeling insecure at work, leading to stress?
Which of the following can be considered a reason for feeling insecure at work, leading to stress?
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Study Notes
Introduction to Psychology: Stress and Health
- Psychology's role in establishing and maintaining health, and preventing/treating illness is emphasized by the subfield of Health Psychology.
- Biomedical Medicine is an interdisciplinary field focusing on integrating behavioral and biomedical knowledge to promote health and reduce illness, which overlaps with health psychology.
- Psychoneuroimmunology explores connections between psychological factors (like attitudes and emotions), the nervous system, and the immune system scientifically.
What is Stress?
- Stress is a negative emotional discomfort accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, and behavioral changes, directed towards altering the stressful event or accommodating its effects.
Stress and the Immune System
- Stressful experiences lower the efficacy of the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to disease.
- Stress directly promotes disease-producing processes.
- Stressful events can activate dormant viruses, diminishing the individual's ability to cope with disease.
Stress vs. Stressor
- Stress is an uncomfortable emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, and behavioral changes.
- A stressor is any event, experience or environmental stimulus that causes stress in an individual.
Types of Stress
- Acute Stress: A short-term stress reaction (also called acute stress disorder). Characterized by severe anxiety, dissociation, and other symptoms within one month, as a result of a traumatic event.
- Chronic Stress: A prolonged emotional response to pressure, where the individual perceives a lack of control. This involves the endocrine system releasing corticosteroids. Examples include serious life events like the death of a loved one, loss of a job, loneliness, or on-going marital problems.
Why is Our Stress Level So High?
- Factors influencing high stress levels include urbanization, globalization, technology, and social/economic burdens.
- Behavioral risk factors such as unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and tobacco or alcohol use also contribute.
Four Major Factors Leading to Stress:
- Change: All stressful events are caused by change; the more change involved, the more stressful the situation.
- Pressure: Feeling forced to speed-up, intensify, or shift direction in our behavior, or feeling compelled to meet higher performance standards.
- Frustration: Occurs when a person is prevented from reaching a goal because something or someone stands in the way.
- Conflict: Facing two or more incompatible demands, opportunities, needs, or goals (e.g., approach/approach, avoidance/avoidance, approach/avoidance).
Four Major Factors Leading to Stress: Conflict (continued)
- Conflict is the simultaneous arousal of two or more incompatible motives.
- Situations producing stable or unstable equilibrium are distinguished. Easily resolved conflicts are in unstable equilibrium. Conversely, unresolved conflicts remain in stable equilibrium.
- Common conflict patterns include approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, and approach-avoidance.
Approach-Approach Conflict
- Involves the necessity of choosing between two or more desirable goals.
- The desirability of the chosen goal increases as one moves closer to it.
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict
- Involves choosing between two undesirable goals.
- The individual is "caught between a rock and a hard place."
- Equilibrium is stable, and the individual is likely to remain balanced between the two negative possibilities as long as possible.
Approach-Avoidance Conflict
- Involves a single goal with both appealing and unappealing aspects.
- The closer one gets to the goal, the more intense the avoidance tendency becomes.
- This pattern also produces a stable equilibrium.
Other Major Factors Causing Stress
- Work-related stress: Unhappiness in a job, heavy workloads, too much responsibility, long hours, poor management, unclear expectations, dangerous working conditions, insecure career prospects, giving speeches, discrimination/harassment
- Social stressors: Death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, financial difficulties, getting married, moving, chronic illness, emotional problems, caring for elderly/ill family members
Other Major Factors Causing Stress: Variables We Cannot Control
- Major life changes (even happy events like weddings/promotions), unpleasant events (divorce, major financial setbacks), and conflicts (e.g., disagreements with neighbors) can be significant sources of stress.
- Traumatic stressors: Natural disasters, theft, rape, violence.
Attitudes and Perceptions
- How you view the world/a situation influences the experience of stress.
- Fear and uncertainty due to global threats/problems can increase stress.
Other Factors Causing Stress (continued)
- Unrealistic Expectations: Stress stems from expecting perfection; when things don't go as planned.
- Personality: Different personality types have varying stress levels and coping responses.
Physiological Responses to Stress
- Stress has various impacts on the body including: Headaches, despair, lack of energy, problems with skin, muscles, joints, heart, stomach, pancreas, intestines, reproductive system, lowered immune system's ability.
Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
- GAS describes the common effects on the body to stressful demands.
- It consists of three stages: Alarm (fight or flight), Resistance (fight and stay), and Exhaustion (giving up).
- The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a critical role during stress response.
Coping with Stress
- Direct Coping: Confrontation (attacking the problem directly), Compromise (settling for less than initially desired), Withdrawal
- Stress Management Program: Identifying stressors, monitoring stress levels, understanding stress antecedents, avoiding negative self-talk, and setting goals
- Defense Mechanisms (from Selye): Repression (pushing unwanted thoughts into unconscious), Rationalization (replacing objectionable motives with acceptable ones), Displacement (redirecting feelings towards a different target), Sublimation (replacing socially unacceptable motives with acceptable ones), Projection (attribute personal faults/shortcomings onto others), Reaction Formation (transforming unacceptable motives into opposite ones).
The 5 R's of Coping with Stress
- Rethink: Changing perceptions to lessen the impacts of stressors
- Reduce: Decrementing the amount of stressors in life
- Reorganize: Placing health as a higher priority.
- Release: Reducing stress via physical activity
- Relax: Finding time for self-care to reduce stress
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Description
This quiz explores the critical connections between psychology and health, particularly in the context of stress and its physiological impacts. Delve into key concepts of Health Psychology and Psychoneuroimmunology, along with the effects of stress on the immune system and overall well-being.
