Introduction to Stress

What are the three ways we can perceive stress?

Stressor --> Stress perception --> Stress response

Social self-preservation theory

The theory that threats to the social self engender a specific set of psychological and physical reactions like low self-worth and increases in cortisol

How can we conceptualize stress?

Unpleasant, emotionally disruptive state, accompanied with tension

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But there are many definitions, not just one

How can you test the social self-preservation theory?

Stressor: back-to-back speech tasks

1) Shoplifting scenario

2) List best and worst personality traits

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Three conditions: No audience, 1 person audience, 3 people present -- increased stress because increased feeling of being evaluated

How can you induce acute stress in people?

Give people feeling of being evaluated or no control

Daily hassles

 Things that bother people often (for example, troubling thoughts)

Reactivity hypothesis

Exaggerated cardiovascular responses to acute stress is risk factor for development of cardiovascular disease (high blood pressure) later on

What are many questions on the Perceived Stress Scale on?

Many questions are about perceived control: "could not cope", etc.

Can predict things: Develop common cold twice as likely if you're stressed

What was shown in the experiment with two monkeys where one could turn off the electric shock off?

Second monkey that's not in control develops cardiovascular problems and stomach ulcers

What did the study that measured relation between negative life events and depression in the elderly show?

Large number of major life events - slight more chance of developing depression

Large number of daily hassles - 3x more chance than MLEs for developing depression

Why do we select for stress if it's so detrimental to health?

Difference between chronic stress and acute stress

Reductions in immune function related to chronic stress Increase in immune function related to acute stress

Stress as a **stimulus**

This is a stressful event or events in our lives. They are usually assessed with questionnaires asking about major life events (measured by units of change perception) and daily hassles

What are the steps when we perceive stress as an evaluative process (Lazarus and Folkman)?

Step 1: Primary appraisal of the situation: is it threatening, challenging, etc?

Step 2: Secondary appraisal: Assess resources and choose a coping method

Step 3: Emotional focused coping: Manage emotional reaction

And/or

Problem focused coping: Deal directly with a stressor to decrease or eliminate it (best to help)

How do we know that stress is instinctive and not a higher cognitive function?

If cortex is eliminated in animals they still have a stress response

What are the three ways we can measure stress as a response:

Self-report of stress-related emotion, physiology (health problems), behaviour

How long do each of the two-wave defence responses take

First response: Seconds-minutes, second response: 0.2-2 hours

First response

Parasymp nervous system (releases acetycholine)

• Parasympathetic withdrawal: Dry mouth, raised heart rate (tachicardia), slowed GI peristaltic)

• Typically measured as heart rate variability

Sometimes, in rare cases, parasympathetic activated nervous system (disgust, blood phobia, fainting)

• Sympathetic activation

Inhibits digestion, sweating, high heartbeat

Often measured with blood pressure, heart rate, norepiniphine in blood, salivary protein, skin conductance (sweating) pupil dilation

Second wave

(1) Hypothalamus: releases corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CHR);

(2) CHR: signals the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH);

(3) ACTH: travels down to the adrenal glands where it prompts the release of cortisol.

(4) Cortisol: causes a number of changes that help deal with stress (increased blood sugar)

What is evidence against the body’s homeostasis theory by Cannon?

Body shows anticipatory reactions during stress, not just a reaction

The body often has multiple set-points: example: body temperature, different situations call for different set-points

During stress, homeostasis is sometimes actively disrupted (higher blood pressure)

What is allostasis and an allostatic load?

Allostasis: Health is state of responsiveness towards demands of the environment, more healthy than homeostasis

Definition: Maintaining physiological stability by adapting to demands

Allostatic load: A non-functional response to stress, or if you don't / can't adapt

Allostatic load (AL) represents the ‘wear and tear’ on the body after repeated allostatic responses

How can chronic stress affect the HPA-axis?

It can become dysregulated, leading to chronically elevated levels of cortisol.

impairment of the hippocampus decreases the reliability and accuracy of contextual memories, which may exacerbate more stress.

Stress responsivity

the strength and nature of one’s physical response to stressors (whether you’re a dandelion or an orchid child)

Tend-befriend response

A response to stressors that entails tending to one’s offspring and seeking out others for safety and comfort. This response can reduce the negative effects of stressors because it involves the release of oxytocin, associated with reduced physiological stress responses and psychological distress.

What is the fight/flight, what is the tend-befriend response good for?

It is thought that, while fight-flight responses are good for acute resolution of threats, tend-befriend responses can buffer against long-term negative impact of stressors on health.

How does the immune response differ depending on whether the stressor is acute, chronic or brief?

• Acute: rapid increased immune response to immediately defend against injuries and risk of infection; quick return to baseline levels.

• Brief: influence on the function of the system, to which it is almost immune for a short period; this effect largely disappears when the stressor goes away, leading to increased sickness after.

• Chronic: negative impact on almost all aspects of the system; poorer immune function overall.

Interactional approach

approach to stress that states that the perception (appraisal) of the stressor by the individual is the most important factor in how people respond to stressors.

What are the different forms of appraisal in the interactional approach?

(1) Primary appraisal: the demands of a situation are evaluated as either nonthreatening or stressful

(2) Secondary appraisal: one’s resources and capacity to cope are evaluated

(3) Reappraisal: after a coping strategy is applied, a person reconsiders the stressor as being less or more stressful than originally thought (based on the effect of their coping)

Why is it hard to directly link stress and health?

(1) Variation in stress responses: there is huge variation in how people respond to stressors (even when people are put in the same circumstances, one person might become stressed while the other does not). These differences are the result of many factors (appraisal characteristics, social support).

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(2) Cause of the illness: it is usually not possible to say whether an illness is the result of stress or other factors, as illnesses often have multiple causes and the role of stress varies between illnesses.

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(3) Effects of stress: the effect of stress on health can be mediated by behavioral, emotional, or physical responses to stressors (people who are stressed will drink or smoke more).

Vulnerability-stress model

= a model that summarizes how vulnerability factors interact with stressors to influence whether someone develops disease or not. It can be seen that pre-existing vulnerability influences disease both indirectly and directly

Approach coping

dealing with the situation proactively (some overlap with problem-focus strategies

Avoidant coping

trying to avoid the problem (some overlap with emotion-focused strategies)

Stress burnout has 3 main symptoms

• Emotional exhaustion: feelings of physical exhaustion, being depleted, worn out.

• Depersonalization = having an unfeeling, impersonal approach to others, cynicism, and a lack of engagement with the job or people.

• Reduced personal accomplishment = a poor sense of effectiveness, involvement and commitment, and poor belief in one’s ability to change or improve work patterns or environment.

What are 6 factors to contribute to burnout?

(1) high workload

(2) lack of control

(3) insufficient rewards

(4) absence of fairness

(5) value conflicts

(6) poor sense of community

Stress inoculation

a stress management technique in which people are exposed to potential stressors while being trained to skillfully respond to them (mock traffic accidents for paramedics in training).

Cognitive-behavioral stress management

A stress management program that focuses on appraisals and coping responses to help people manage stressors and perceived stress better

Critical incident debriefing

a stress management program that usually involves a session after a stressful event, during which the person is encouraged to talk about their thoughts and feelings during the event and their symptoms since. The therapist will then educate the person about responses to traumatic events, in an attempt to normalize them. Results for this strategy are mixed.

What are 4 criteria that are related to stressful life events (MSLEs)

(1) Adaptation: the stressfulness of an event depends on the amount of adaptation it requires.

(2) Threat & harm: stressful events are those that are harmful or threatening.

(3) Demands exceed resources: situations that demand more than there are resources result in stress.

(4) Interruption of goals: stressful events are those that interrupt major goals

What diseases can stress impact?

Most of them, including depression, cardiovascular diseases, increases risk for infectious diseases and risk for mortality from cancer

Do people who are exposed to stress necessarily get sick?

No, the majority of people exposed to stressful events will remain resilient to physical and mental health problems

What is the amount of MSLEs related to?

MSLEs do not occur randomly but are influenced by individual differences in environmental circumstances (socioeconomic status (SES)) and psychological characteristics (personality factors, cognitive styles)

Chain reactions of MSLEs

Individual stressful events may trigger sequences of other events, like dominos.

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For example, when someone losses his/her job he/she may be exposed to additional stressors (residential relocation, increased strain in the relationship which may lead to divorce)

Do stressful events cause disease in healthy people?

MSLEs may not trigger the initial onset of disease in otherwise healthy people, but rather influence the risk for disease. However, in already vulnerable people, it can worsen early or premorbid diseases

Which stressful events impact health the most?

MSLEs that threaten an i**ndividual’s sense of competence or status within domains that make up someone’s core identity** appear to be most impactful: interpersonal problems (centered around interactions or relationships with others) and especially those that concern the loss of social status are big on impact.

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Furthermore, employment difficulties, particularly becoming unemployed, are potent.

Generally, chronic stressors increase the risk of disease more than acute stressors, but there are also other factors involved. What are they?

• **Severity**: events that are severely threatening are more likely to be ones that are chronic, and they are also the hardest to habituate or adapt to.

• **Periodicity**: random irregular events will hinder habituation, while continuous or predictable events promote it.

**• Biological processes:** many stressor-elicited changes may persist with the chronicity, while others may habituate over time.

**• After-effects:** even when an event is over, ensuing appraisal processes, affective responses, or stress-related physical effects can ‘prolong’ the impact of the event

How can violation of event expectations lead to an impact on health?

Violations of the certain life stage expectations can lead to a bigger impact on health and well-being.

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These violations include expectations that occur ‘too early’ (death of a spouse early in the life course), but also those that occur ‘too late’ or not at all (not getting married, not getting promoted)

Sensitive periods

Periods of life where you are more vulnerable (e.g. childhood)

How does biol. sex influence MSLEs?

Research has argued that men are more likely to be exposed to achievement related MSLEs, while women are more likely to be exposed to interpersonal MSLEs. However, the available data shows that women reported greater MSLE exposure across all domains.

When measuring stress in the lab, what things are usually used as a marker of stress?

Anxiety levels, heart rate, adrenaline

What tests can be used to induce stress in the lab?

improvised speech

mental arithmetic

Intelligence test, etc.

Amplifying components:

time pressure

social evaluation

avoid punishment / obtain reward

What was found in the study where they gave people glucocorticoids like cortisol when doing exposure therapy?

They responded better to the exposure treatment (e.g. had less fear than treatment as usual). This could be because the glucocorticoids help the body with stressful situations, for example by increasing alertness

How do the SNS and HPA-axis affect the immune system?

The SNS increases immune system activity, while the HPA axis suppresses some immune activity through the production of cortisol.

In the experiment where people from individualist vs collectivist cultures were given either solicited or unsolicited support from a “mathematics major”?

• Participants from the collectivistic culture were less likely to ask for support and they also found the task more stressful when they had to ask for support instead of when they were given it.

• Participants from the individualistic culture rated the task as equally stressful regardless of the condition.

What 2 general approaches to stress management are there?

(1) those that focus on physical and mental relaxation (yoga, mindfulness)

(2) those that focus on cognition and behavior (psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring).

What 4 types of allostatic load are there?

(1) Frequent stress: the normal stress response is repeated frequently over time.

(2) Lack of adaptation: there is no adaptation to repeated stressors of the same type.

(3) Prolonged response: there is an inability to shut off allostatic responses after the stress is over.

(4) Hypo responsiveness: there are inadequate responses by some allostatic systems, which triggers compensatory increases in other systems.

Why does acute stress increase immune function, where chronic stress does not?

The immune system responds to pathogens with an acute-phase response as well as the formation of an immunologic memory.

Acute stress can have immune-enhancing effects, lasting for 3 to 5 days. Chronic stress can result in suppressed cellular immunity, which can lead to increased severity of the cold.

Hippocampal dysfunction

Stress-induced hippocampal dysfunction is a two-fold mechanism:

(1) Increased cortisol secretion: acute stress increases cortisol, which suppresses the mechanisms in the hippocampus that sub-serve short-term memory.

(2) Atrophy: repeated stress causes atrophy of dendrites of neurons in the hippocampus, which can result in those neurons being killed in the long-term.

What happened in the mta-analysis study where they measured acute vs chronic stress by S-IgA (a protein in saliva that protects us against viruses.) and immune function

A meta-analysis of studies measuring S-IgA during acute or chronic stress showed an increase in SIgA (better immune function) during acute stress, but a decrease in S-IgA (worse immune function) during chronic stress.

—> Acute stress can be beneficial for the immune system, but chronic stress can have negative effects.

S-IgA = a protein in saliva that protects us against viruses.