Module 4b - Stress I

What are the 3 ways to Conceptualize Stress?

1. Stressor = the stressful stimulus 

2. Strain = the bodies response 

3. Transaction = the process

What is 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 their biological psychological or social systems

Cognitive Appraisal Model

1. Primary Appraisal

2. Secondary Appraisal 

Cognitive Appraisal 

Mental process by which people assess two factors 

Primary Appraisal

Whether the demand threatens them (psychologically or physically)

What is at stake

Secondary Appraisal

Whether they have the coping resources to meet the demand

What can be done?

Judgments of Primary Appraisal

1. Irrelevant - stressor unlikely to impact you (being ill in the past has not hurt you) 

2. Benign-positive - stressor might work to your advantage (being ill can let you skip a test) 

3. Stressful - stressor might harm you (being ill could lead to death) 

Primary Appraisal - under stressful categories

Stressful:

1. Harm-loss: damage that has already been done

2. Threat: expectation of future harm

   1. Challenge: opportunity for growth, mastery, profit

Secondary Appraisal

What can be done?

Comparing primary appraisal to the resources we have to determine if we can cope with the stressor

Especially if we appraise something as stressful

Draw out Nervous system

Fight or Flight

Fight: aggressive response to stress

Flight: withdrawal

What happens to you nervous system when in fight or flight?

Sympathetic NS activations (organs and stimulated)

Endocrine system and adrenal glands activate

• Adrenaline (epinephrine) secreted

• Physiological changes happen to prepare body for stress

Fight or Flight today

Fight: aggressive response to stress

Flight: social withdrawal

General Adaption Syndrome

Sequence of physiological reactions to stress

Response is identical regardless of stressor

What are the three phases of General Adaption Syndrome

Alarm

Resistance

Exhaustion

Alarm Phase

Mobilized bodies resources to meet the stressor

Similar to fight or flight

What does a Fast Acting Alarm phase look like? 

Sympathetic activation, epinephrine released into blood stream 

What does slow acting Alarm phase look like?

Hypothalamus-pituatary-adrenal (HPA) axis stimulates response that lead to the release of cortisol to further prepare body for mobilization

Resistance

Effort to cope/adapt with a strong stressor that has continued

However, continued physiological arousal might lead to inability to cope with new stressors

Fasting acting Resistance

Physiological processes diminish

Slower acting Resistance 

HPA activation predominates 

Exhaustion 

Depleted physiological resources 

Caused by severe long-term repeated stress 

Weaken immune system 

If continues, disease and internal damage likely 

Allostatic Load

The effect of the body adapting repeatedly to stressors that accumulate over time

High load = poor health

Cumulative stress > degree of activation

What are the four factors impacting physiological stress?

Exposure

Reactivity

Recovery

Restoration

Do all stressors create the same physiological reactivity

Yes - general adaptation syndrome is the same regardless of stressor

What are the psychosocial factors related to stress?

Cognitions 

Marginalization 

Emotions 

Cognition and stress

Thoughts can prolong stress response

Stress can interfere with memory

Emotions and Stress

Emotions tend to accompany stress

Used to evaluate their stress

Fear is a common emotional reaction to a stressor

Fear

Psychological discomfort and physical arousal during threat

Phobias

Anxieties

Marginalized populations and stress 

Generally report increased stressors 

Intergenerational Trauma

Trauma that is transferred from the first generation of trauma survivors to the second and further generations of offspring of the survivors