Stress and Diseases: Biopsychosocial Perspectives

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering definitions, biological mechanisms, cognitive appraisals, and measurement methods associated with stress and disease.

Stress

The circumstance in which transactions lead a person to perceive a discrepancy between the physical or psychological demands of a situation and the resources of his or her biological, psychological, or social systems.

Stressors

Physically or psychologically challenging events or circumstances that act as environmental stimuli.

Strain

The psychological and physiological response of a person to a stressor.

Transactions

Continuous interactions and adjustments between a person and their environment, where each affects and is affected by the other.

Resources

A person's biopsychosocial capabilities (biological, psychological, or social) for coping with difficult events or circumstances.

Demands

The amount of our resources that a stressor appears to require.

Discrepancy

A poor fit or mismatch between the demands of a situation and the resources of the person, occurring when demands exceed resources or when resources are underutilized.

Cognitive Appraisal

A mental assessment process formulated by Richard Lazarus and colleagues in which people evaluate whether a demand threatens their well-being and whether sufficient resources are available to meet it.

Primary Appraisal

The cognitive assessment of a situation's meaning to the individual, evaluating whether an event is irrelevant, benign-positive (good), or stressful.

Harm-Loss

A primary appraisal category referring to the amount of damage that has already occurred from a stressful situation.

Threat

A primary appraisal category involving the expectation or anticipation of future harm.

Challenge

A primary appraisal category that views a stressful demand as an opportunity to achieve growth, mastery, or profit through using more than routine resources.

Secondary Appraisal

The cognitive evaluation of the resources an individual has available for coping with a potentially stressful situation.

Life Transitions

A situational stressor characteristic involving the process of passing from one life condition or phase to another, such as starting school, parenthood, or retirement.

Difficult Timing

A situational stressor characteristic where events happen earlier or later in life than usual or expected (e.g., having a child at 15 or entering college at 40).

Ambiguity

A situational stressor characteristic defined by a lack of clarity regarding a task, role, health status, treatment options, or prognosis.

Low Controllability

Circumstances that appear to fall outside an individual's behavioral influence (preventing events) or cognitive influence (stopping traumatic thoughts).

Reactivity

The physiological portion of an individual's response to a stressor, influenced by genetic factors and heightened by chronic stress.

Fight-or-Flight Response

Walter Cannon's concept of an adaptive physiological reaction that mobilizes an organism via the sympathetic nervous system and endocrine activation to either confront danger or flee.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Hans Selye's three-stage physiological model describing the sequence of reactions the body makes in response to long-lasting or chronic stress.

Alarm Reaction

The first stage of GAS, characterized by rapid sympathetic nervous system activation, adrenaline/noradrenaline release, and initiation of the HPA axis to mobilize bodily resources.

Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis

A major stress pathway where the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to secrete ACTH, stimulating the adrenal cortex to release cortisol into the bloodstream.

Stage of Resistance

The second stage of GAS, where the body attempts to adapt to continuous stress; HPA activation predominates, outward signs decrease, but vulnerability to new stressors increases.

Diseases of Adaptation

Illnesses resulting from prolonged resistance and impaired immune function during ongoing stress, including ulcers, high blood pressure, and asthma.

Stage of Exhaustion

The third and final stage of GAS, in which prolonged severe stress depletes energy reserves and weakens immune defenses, potentially causing organ damage or death.

Distress

A harmful, damaging type of stress that involves strong negative emotional states such as anxiety, uncertainty, boredom, or dissatisfaction.

Eustress

A beneficial or constructive form of stress (derived from the Greek root meaning "good") associated with positive encounters and personal growth.

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

A life-event assessment tool developed by Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe that assigns quantified values to major life changes requiring psychological adjustment.

Daily Hassles

Day-to-day unpleasant or potentially harmful experiences, ranging from minor annoyances to major practical difficulties, that correlate strongly with health outcomes.