Lesson 5 - COPING WITH STRESS IN MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE

Personal Development

Stress

A medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both physiological and psychological, which can cause physiological response called the general adaptation syndrome.

Stressor

The term used to denote those which cause stress. These are the things, events, situations, or thoughts that bring about stress.

Physical Stress

Stress increase the level of adrenaline and corticosterone in the body, which in turn leads to an increased heart-rate, respiration, and blood-pressure and puts more physical stress on body organs.

Emotional Stress

Stressed individuals are prone to agitation, impatience, irritability and moodiness.

Cognitive

Thoughts of stressed individuals are filled with worrying. As a result, they commonly become forgetful and disorganized.

Behavioral

Some stressed people lose appetite while others tend to overheat. When overstressed, many tend to procrastinate and avoid responsibilities.

Walter Cannon

He introduced the fight or flight response or the acute stress response. This kind of stress response involves the occurrence of physiological reactions when one is under stress or pressure.

Dr. Hans Selye

He introduced the General Adaptation Syndrome.

Alarm Phase

The theory concurs that the body naturally reacts to stress by activating its fight or flight response system.

Resistance Stage

This response stage involves the secretion of hormones for long term protection.

Exhaustion Stage

The stress has been lingering at this phase.

Dr. Herbert Benson

He introduced the Relaxation Response.

Relaxation Response

The response is defined as your personal ability to encourage your body to release chemicals and brain signals that make your muscles and organs slow down and increase blood flow to the brain.

Problem-focused approach

This strategy fundamentally involves focusing on the source of the stress. This may include trying to analyze the situation and making extra effort or working harder to solve the problem.

Emotion-focused strategy

This approach encompasses concentrating on one’s feeling emotion brought about by stress instead of facing the actual source of stress.