Health, Stress & Coping - PSYC121

Flashcards covering topics discussed in the lecture on Health, Stress & Coping including models of stress, sources and impacts of stress and different coping mechanisms.

Stress

A challenge to a person’s capacity to adapt inner and outer demands, producing physiological and emotional arousal, and eliciting cognitive and behavioral efforts to cope with it.

Walter Cannon (1932)

Physiobiological process/fight-or-flight response to stress

Hans Selye (1936, 1976)

Physiobiological process/defense mechanism/general adaptation syndrome in response to stress

Richard Lazarus (1981, 1993)

Transactional process/transactional model of stress

Transactional Model of Stress

Stress is a transaction between the individual and the environment where demands exceed available psychosocial resources and depends on the meaning of an event to an individual/person’s appraisal of the situation and their ability to cope with it.

Primary Appraisal

Appraisal of the situation/event where a person decides whether the situation is positive, dangerous/stressful, or irrelevant.

Secondary Appraisal

Person evaluates the options and decides how to respond. Includes an analysis of resources; if poor/insufficient, leads to a negative response and potential use of coping resources.

Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale

Assesses stress related to 43 common life events that cause change and require adaptation.

Acculturative Stress

Stress people experience in trying to adapt to a new culture, leading to symptoms like anxiety, depression, uncertainty about ethnic identity, and substance abuse.

Catastrophes

Stressors caused by nature (e.g., tsunami, earthquakes) or humans (e.g., war, torture).

Daily Hassles

Irritating, frustrating, distressing demands that characterize everyday transactions with the environment, such as interpersonal conflicts, commuting, or concerns about weight.

Stress and Health

Stress has a direct impact on health by decreasing the body’s capacity to fight illness and an indirect impact through health-compromising behaviors.

Behavioral Impacts of Stress

Include alcohol use, smoking, poor sleep, less exercise, and over or under eating.

Psychological Impacts of Stress

Interference with the frontal cortex and hippocampus, altered gene expression, mental and physical disorders, and increased likelihood of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance use disorders.

Immune System

The body's security system that detects and eliminates disease-causing agents and toxins where stressed individuals are more likely to suffer from infectious diseases.

Stress-Related Growth

Positive psychosocial changes experienced following stress-related events and responses.

Problem-Focused Coping

Strategies aimed at changing the situation or dealing with the stressor itself.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Strategies aimed at altering thoughts about the situation and the unpleasant emotions being experienced, dealing with the perception or outcome of the stressor.

Adaptive Coping Mechanisms

Include social support, relaxation (yoga, meditation), problem-solving, humor, and physical activity.

Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms

Include isolation/withdrawal, unhealthy self-soothing (overeating, unhealthy snacking, alcohol use), numbing (excessive smoking, binge eating), risk-taking, and self-harm.

Buffering Hypothesis

Social support that can act as a force that protects a person from stress in the first place where knowing that support is available if needed can be beneficial.