Stress

no, what is a stressor to your friend may not be stressful to you

no, what is a stressor to your friend may not be stressful to you

do 2 people feel stress the same way?

everyday little stressors are worse than one BIG stressor

everyday:

• doesn’t raise sympathy from friends

ex. “traffic everyday? , eh whatever everyone worries about that”

• they build up over time

one BIG stressor

• raises sympathy (induces tend and befriend support system)

ex. “house burned down? oh I’m so sorry, here I’ll bring you calzones everyday and get everyone to start a GoFundMe!!” --your sympathetic neighbors probably

what has a larger impact? everyday little stressors or one big stressor?

Approach-Approach Decisions

1 of Lewin’s 4 stressful decision scenarios

= faced with 2+ great decisions

ex. top choice college vs another good college with lots of financial aid

• “The grass is always greener…”

  • regret after, “what if I chose the wrong one? what am I missing out? (FOMO)”

Avoidance-Avoidance Decisions

1 of Lewin’s 4 stressful decision scenarios

= faced w/ 2+ bad options

ex. have a cavity, could go to dentist (but terrified of dentists) OR keep enduring terrible pain

Approach-Avoidance Decisions

1 of Lewin’s 4 stressful decision scenarios

= faced with 1 option that has both good and bad aspects

ex. get part-time job you’ve been hoping for, BUT have to work on saturdays

CAUTION: this is NOT when you have one good and one bad option, because that would be an easy decision, not a stressful one

Multiple Approach-Avoidance Decisions

1 of Lewin’s 4 stressful decision scenarios

= 2 mutually exclusive decisions that are both good and bad

ex. could go on family trip to Europe (expensive, but worth it?), or go stay with family in Buffalo (inexpensive, get to do whatever because grandparents aren’t strict, but miss out on european activities, or whatever)

• this when you make a pros and cons list

Negative Mental Filtering

= filtering out all of the positive information about a specific situation, and only allowing in the negative information

• lessens as prefrontal cortex develops (shifts cognitive activity away from emotional centers)

General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye)

= body goes through 3 stages of stress

1. Alarm

2. Resistance

3. Exhaustion

Alarm

1st stage of Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome

= body sends a distress signal to your brain

• alert,

• fight or flight mode activated

• mobilize resources

• adrenaline released

• elevated blood pressure

• high heart rate

Resistance

2nd stage of Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome

= trying to calm down, discomfort

• During this stage, your body tries to thwart the changes that occurred during the reaction stage employing the parasympathetic nervous system.

  • typically occurs when whatever was triggering your stress has stopped

  • your body begins to lower your blood pressure and heart rate

  • reduces the amount of adrenaline and cortisol being produced

• body, however, remains on alert in this stage and can easily switch back to the reaction stage if the stressor persists. At this stage, your body is simply trying to recover from the shock of the alarm reaction stage\

• signs:

  • Irritability

  • Poor concentration

  • Frustration

Exhaustion

3rd stage of Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome

• reserves depleted

• even if the stressor persists, your body is too depleted to continue to combat it

• most prone to developing health conditions here

• signs:

  • Anxiety

  • Cognitive difficulties

  • Depression

  • Fatigue

  • Insomnia

PTSD

disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event

• person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event

  • Symptoms may include nightmares or unwanted memories of the trauma, avoidance of situations that bring back memories of the trauma, heightened reactions, anxiety, or depressed mood

Learned Helplessness

a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly. They come to believe that they are unable to control or change the situation, so they do not try — even when opportunities for change become available.

Increased Hypersensitivity

= a reaction to stress where you are more sensitive to the negative

• more likely to be angry/grumpy

• as stress increases, selfishness increases

Tend and Befriend

a coping strategy for stress

= getting social support (friends and family)

• finding a social network

Cognitive Appraisal (Lazarus)

a coping strategy for stress

“is this really something that I should stress about?”

Problem-Focused Coping

a coping strategy for stress

= actually taking care of the problem

if you’re stressed about a test → study

interview? → practice roleplaying

Emotion-Focused Coping

a coping strategy for stress

= when the problem is out of your control, so you focus on controlling your reaction to the problem

ex. go for a walk

Cognitive RE-Appraisal

= the attempt to reinterpret an emotion-eliciting situation in a way that alters its meaning and changes its emotional impact

ex. “celebrations of knowledge!” instead of “tests”

Arousal = high (hard to calm down)

BUT

can change valence from negative (I’m anxious about a test) to positive (I’m actually just excited!)