a person’s biological and psychological reactions to adjustive demands
a response to the demands for adjustment (usually in the environment)
* may be internal or external
Types of Stress
Eustress: positive situation
* getting into the Dean’s List
Distress: negative situation
* failing on a major subject
Categories of Stressors
Frustration: occurs when a person’s strivings toward a goal are blocked or by the absence of an appropriate goal
* happens because you want something; goal is blocked or inappropriate
Conflict: presence of 2 or more incompatible needs
* Types of Conflict:
* Approach-Avoidance Conflict
* strong tendencies to approach and to avoid the same goal
* Double Approach Conflict
* choice between 2 or more desirable goals
* Double Avoidance Conflict
* choice between undesirable alternatives
Pressure: a force that requires one to speed up, intensify effort, or change the direction of goal-oriented behavior
* may be internal or external
What Makes Something Stressful?
Factors Predisposing an Individual to Stress
Nature of Stressor: EXTERNAL
* Importance: level of importance or how important it is to you
* Duration: “How long does the stressor lasts?”
* Cumulative Effect: stressors pile up; daily hassles
* Multiplicity: stressors occur all at once
* Imminence: imminent (very close); the closer the stressor is, the more impactful
* Involvement: how involved you are = the amount of stress you feel
* Degree of Control: high sense of control over the stressor = the less stressed you are
Perception of Threat and Stress Tolerance: INTERNAL
* Stress Tolerance: ability to withstand stress without becoming seriously impaired
* something that you build up
* better to be exposed to low level stress
* “How tolerant am I of stress?”
* If you perceive something as a threat, you are going to be stressed → fight or flight response
External Resources and Social Support: EXTERNAL
* Social Support: buffer for possible development of mental disorder
Coping Strategies
Coping: efforts to deal with stress
Levels of Coping with Stress
* Biological: immunological defenses and damage-repair mechanisms
* Psychological: learned coping patterns, defenses, social support
* Sociocultural: group resources
Basic Coping Strategies
* Task-Oriented Coping: directed primarily at dealing with the requirements of the stressor
* problem solving
* “active way of coping”
* addressing the problem head on
* “Reducing Time Together"“: reducing but not completely cutting off
* Defense-Oriented Coping: directed primarily at protecting the self from hurt and disorganization
* psychological damage-repair mechanisms
* ego-defense mechanisms
* not directly dealing with it
* emotional or psychological damage control
* “passive way of coping”
* “Ghosting”: possible that the person would continue to contact you
Decompensation: process of lowering of adaptive functioning in biological and psychological levels
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): a model proposed by Hans Selye that explains the course of biological and psychological decompensation under excessive stress
* 3 Major Phases of GAS
* Alarm Reaction: a person’s resources for coping with stress are alerted and mobilized
* fight or flight response
* Biological: obvious physiological signs
* Resistance: maximum level of adaptation in the use of biological and psychological resources
* Exhaustion: adaptive resources are depicted and the coping patterns for resistance began to fail
* when all resources and adaptation are stopped or depicted and resistance starts to fail
* you need to take a break and replenish yourself
Burnout can happen if it’s prolonged (may manifest in resistance and/or exhaustion stage)