Coping with Stress

coping style

• cognitive, behavioural and emotional ways in which we manage stressful situations

• not a one time reaction but rather a dynamic process 

  • series of responses involving our interactions within the environment 

• not only the iinsital incident but also continuing interactions with the environment 

• categories

  • approach coping - engagement

  • avoidance coping - disengagement

approach copying

• engagement 

• taking action and confronting a source of stress

• generally more effective in the long run 

avoidance coping

• disengagement 

• cognitive in nature

  • denying distress

  • wishful thinking

  • fantaziing

• behavioural

  • excessive sleeping

  • taking drugs

  • shopping

  • playing video games

• may be effective in the short term but less likely to work for chronic. sources

planned procrastination

• make a plan or setting a date to make a decision or to complete a task

problem focused coping

• coping strategy that deals directly with a stressor by reducing its demands or increasing ones resources for meeting those demands 

  • perception of availability of changeable resources 

  • reducing demands or increasing coping dealing capacity 

emotion coping

• coping strategy in which a person tries to control their emotional response to a stressor 

• either approach-orientated or avoidance-oriented 

  • emotional-approach coping 

    • rumination and emotional cascade 

  • avoidance coping 

    • repressive coping 

      • ex. I dont want to 

• coping intelligence

emotional-approach coping

• working through emotional reactions using cognitive strategies

  • often leads to better problem focused coping

• tend to rely on it when we believe that little or nothing can br done to alter a stressful situation

• when we believe our coping resources or skills are insufficient to meet demands of the stressful situation

emotional cascade

• viscous cycle of intense rumination 

  • causing more rumination 

• self-amplifying feedback loops of rumination and negative emotion 

rumination

• thinking retrospectively about an upsetting situation

comparison of emotion and problem focused coping

• dependant on nature of stressful event, feasibility of constructive action and controllability of stressor 

  • problem-focused

    • school and work related stressors 

  • emotional focused 

    • some health related stressors

    • rumination 

    • emotional cascade 

  • emotional-approach coping 

    • made up of emotional processing and emotional expression 

repressive coping 

• avoidance coping style 

• inhibits or avoids info and emotional responses 

• not healthy 

  • emotional repression activates SNS functioning like a stressor 

    • elevating blood pressure and triggers fight or flight response 

• inhibited emotional expression contributes to greater cortisol reactivity in people with CV disease

  • increased incidence of adverse CV events and death

• associated with development of cancer, asthma and diabetes

  • higher number of eosinophils

    • active in allergic diseases and infections

dispositional affect

• general approach to life

  • tendency to respond to situations in a predictable way

• positive affect and negative affect are relatively independent dimensions that seem to differ in etiology

  • no longer on one continuum

    • can interact relatively independently

high positive affectivity

• happy, cheerful, optimistic and energetic

• influences more by situational experiences

• predict better physical and mental health

  • lower risk of disease

    • lower chronic levels of stress hormones and stronger immune response to environmental challenges

high negative affectivity

• tense, anxious, insecure, jealous, hostile and less emotionally stable

• influenced more by herditary 

  • heritability does not mean immutability 

• linked to poorer health 

  • including chronic disorders such as arthritis, diabetes, hypertension and coronary artery disease and to higher allostatic load 

• influenced by culture 

  • individualistic cultures 

    • negative emotions tend to be viewed as the individuals responsibility and harmful 

  • collectivistic cultures 

    • rooted in relationships and natural 

optimism

• less heridary than dispositional affect

• people with an optimistic nature cope more effectively with stress and tend ot lead healthier, longer lives than pessimistic counterparts

  • reduced stress hormone levels nad reduced biological marker levels of inflammation

  • less stress-related elevations in hypertension and other disease-promoting processes

  • lower levels of allostatic loads

  • problem focused action against a stressor

    • seeking treatment when illness strikes

    • pessimists are more likely ot disengage or to ruminate

• largely correlational data

  • experimental data shows this can be developed overtime

learned optimism

• set of consciously cultivated habits that entail viewing lifestyle setbacks and misfortunes as external, temporary and specific 

pessimism

• people with a pessimistic outlook have different physical reactions to stress and different coping mechanisms 

  • negative explanatory style 

    • can be changed Into learned optimism 

  • view of life setbacks as internal stable and global 

  • tendency to ruminate and passively disengage 

  • associated with anger, hostility, depression, smoking, alcohol abuse and drug abuse 

• tend to “see the work as it actually is and be more accurate

ABC’s of opmisim 

• learned optimism can occur when early-life-identified pessimism changes to optimism 

  • adversity

    • external, temporary and specific

  • beliefs

    • practicing optimistic explanations mindfully leading others holding healthier beliefs

  • consequences

    • promote more positive health consequences

psychological control

• Bandura’s self-efficacy 

• benefit that we make out own decisions and determine what we do and what we allow others to do ot us 

  • not a perfect correlation 

regulatory control

• various ways in which we modulate out thinking, emotions, and behaovur over time and across circumstances 

  • individual diferences in coping 

    • good control - likely ot use constructive problem focused coping 

      • unlikely to use avoidant or aggressive coping responses 

self-regulation of emotion

• success in dieting, quitting smoking and maintaining good interpersonal relationships 

• children with good self-control are calmer, more resistant to frustration and better able to delay gratification and less aggressive 

perception of psycohlgical control

• May be a reason minoritized groups are at high risk

• Buffers out physiolgical response ot stressful situations

• Stressors percived as uncontrollable lead to greatest most prolonged activation of hypothalamic-pituatary adrecocortical axis -> cortisol levels

• Perception of psychological control in stressful sitaitons improves immune system function, fostering greater physical acitvity and controbuting to greater overall health

resilience

• ability of some children to bounce back from sometimes overwhelming stressors that might otherwise disrupt well-being

factors associated with resilience

• caring and supportive relationships, positive role models 

• capacity to make and carry out realistic plans 

• positive self-view and confidence of personal strengths and abiltiies

• capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses

• research based 

  • individual traits 

    • social-emotional competence 

  • positive life experiences nad social support 

    • consistent supportive person in ones life 

  • understanding development of adaptive processes 

  • focus on resilience in adults 

• at least one consisitently supportive person in the life of a child 

  • model of resilience playing signficant role in convincing at-risk convincing at-risk children they can and will beat the odds

biological resilience

• various protective factors that contribute to positive outcomes in older adults 

  • genetic, demographic, social cultural, psychological, gender linked identity and environmental 

SES affect of ability to cope

• Strong predictors of both health nad health behaviours

  • Even at level of inidvudal neighbourgoods 

• one of the most influential factors with respect ot health and oping 

  • impoverished families experience more pollution, substandard housing, crime, low-paying work, limited education, lack of access ot health insurance nad health care

  • children from low-SES homes experience more divorce, punitive parenting, frequent school transfers 

  • socioeconomic indicators at the level of individual neighbourhoods predict the health of residents in relationship to smoking and other harmful health behaviours 

• Low levels of education and income and high levels of distress tend to be associated with mamaldiptive coping

  • May cause people ot develop feeling of hopelessness and pelvie that they have little or no psychological control

    • With increase exposé to stress and no way to break the cycle their only resource is to control emotional response

unhealthy days by socioeceomic status and ex

• consistent difference between lowest 20% and highest 20%

• Older adults who never completed high school and those with annual household incomes less than 15 000 have more than twice as many unhealthy days compared to those with a college degree and annual household income of 50 000 or more

social support

• companionship from others that conveys emotional concern, material assistance or honest feedback 

• people who perceive strong social support experience 

  • faster recoveries ad fewer medical complications 

    • better adjustment/faster recovery from surgery, RA, childhood leukaemia and stroke 

      • women with strong social ties have fewer complications during child brith

  • lower mortality rates at any age 

    • benefits remain even when health habits and differences in SES and health status are taken into account 

  • less distress in the face of terminal illness 

    • perceived strong network of social support experience less depression and helplessness when undergoing treatment for AIDs, DM and other chronic illness 

buffering hypothesis

• may mitigate stress indirectly through the use of more effective coping strategies 

  • less likely to ruminate leading to less negative interpretation of events, triggering recall and interfering with problem solving 

direct effect hypothesis

• may enhance the body’s physical responses ot challenging situations

• better immune function 

• encourages healthier lifestyles 

• better relationships with doctors, nurses etc. 

social isolation and mortality

• men with fewer social ties 40% 60-69yrs died from all causes 

• 30% of women 60-69 died from all causes 

  • substantially less in both men and women with more social ties 

stress, social support and PSA

• level of PSA was positively associated with stress and inversely related to satisfaction with social contacts

• participants who perceived low levels of stress and high satisfaction with social contacts has significantly lower levels of PSA

  • biological marker of prostate malignancy

receivers of social support

• people with better social skills receive more support 

  • relate well to others and are caring and giving 

    • create stronger social networks 

• angry and hostile people receive less support than agreeable people 

• angry people report more native life events nad make others feel more stress

when is social support not helpful

• if it is not perceived as beneficial

  • not wanted or inadequate 

• if the type of support is not what is needed at the moment 

  • matching hypothesis 

• if too much support is given - increase a persons stress 

matching hypothesis

• different stressful situations create different needs and support this is responsive to these differences is most effective

stress management

• variety of psycollcial methods designed ot reduce impact of potentially stressful events 

components of a stress management program

• education 

  • what is stress, how it takes a toll and process of connive appraisal 

• acquiring skills 

  • learning new skills to eliminate or reduce experience of stress 

• practicing skills 

progressive muscle relaxation

• cornerstone of many modern relaxation 

  • tense and then release 

    • learn to relax more tense muscles at will

relaxation response

• assume meditative state in which metabolisms blows and BP lowers 

• 4 requiremnts for achieving relaxation response

  • Quiet place with minimized distraction and external stimuation

  • Confortable postion

  • Mental device

  • Passive non-judgemental atitude

diaphragmatic breathing and visualization

• taking long deep breaths 

• shown to improve lung functioning in patients with athsma, heart failure and COPD

• ease of learning safety and decreased side effects make it advantageous 

• stimulates PNS stabilizing HR and P and body’s autonomic stress response

• effective in reducing the perception and symptoms of anxiety

• can be combined with positive self-affirmations

mindfulness-based stress reduction

• focuses on using structured mediation to promote moment ot moment nonjudgemental awareness to override autopilot 

• decreases stress, depression and anxiety in cancer patients 

• reduces distress nad possibly sloes disease progression in people with HIV

• increases acitvity in preforntal cortex and other parts of limbic system 

  • area important to regulate acitvity in amygdala and other parts of limbic system 

• may improve immune functions and reduce some chronic health risks 

• suggests that stress can be reduced by overriding autopilot behaviour mode and focusing on present moment 

matching visualization

• focused relaxation used to create peaceful images in the mind 

  • a mental escape 

cognitive behavioural therapy

• uses principles from learning theory to change unhealthy patterns of thinking and behqiovur 

• teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting 

  • cognitive reconstructing 

• based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions 

cognitive restructuring

• Term describing a variety of psycologocial intervnetions directed at replacing maladaptie, slef defeating thoughts with healthier adaptive thiking

• Intervnetions aim to break vicious cycle of negative thiknig

  • Pessimistically distorts pervpeitons of everyday events nad prevents adaptive coping behaviours

negative stress cycle

• stressful events interpreted though a pessimistic, self-defeating style create a negative mood that leads to stress-related physical symptoms nad fuels additional stress

• fortunately this vicious cycle can be interrupted at any point 

• cyclical reciprocal cycle 

  • negative or productive cycle

CBSM

• proven effective in these ways 

  • helping people cope with hypertension and with depression associated with chronic illness 

  • reducing HPA axis hormones 

• stress inoculation training includes three-stage process that helps build “immunity” to stressful events 

  • confront stressful events with a variety of coping strategies that can be used before events become overwhelming 

    • decrease BP

    • decreased depression and therefore increased well-being 

• graduation stressors paired with coping or relaxation technique 

  • pairs ot increase immunity to stressful events

stress inoculation training

• recoencpetualization 

  • patients reconceptialized the source of stress

    • changing is appraised meaning 

• skill acquisition 

  • taught relaxation and controlled breathing skills

    • logic is inescapable

      • being relaxed is incomparable with being tense and physically arroused

• follow through

  • using coping skills in everyday life

    • how to apply in upcoming stressful situations

emotional disclosure

• Pneebaker: expressive writing studies

  • those who has written about stressful experiences visited university health centre less than this who had warrant about everyday things

• emotional disclosure is associated with a variety of positive health benefits

  • lowers CV mortality

  • may increase sources of reinforcement nad social support

  • encouraged cognitive reappraisal

  • more helpful in coping with physical rather than psycholgoical challenges

gratitude

• Recognition of a postive outcome from an external sourve

• Those who maintian grateful outlook on life cope better with stress, percive greater oscial support n their lives, sleep better nad have better phyiscial and mental health

  • Develop postivie affectivity through cultiatving gratitude

humour

• Help many people cope with stress

• Laughter reduces E and cortisol secretion, boosts immune system and reduced risk of coronary disease, lower BP and promote vascualr health

pet 

• Pet owenrship can reduce loneliness, lower BP, decrease secretion of cortisol, increase seceretion of dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin

spirituality and meaning

• Promote well being and health

• Tend ot eat healthier, exercise more, smoke less frequently and have healthier lifestyles

• Those who particiapte in spiritual or regous gorups often benefit from icnreased social support

• Foster more psotive eoitions and sense that life is meaningful