Stress, Health, and Coping Notes

Stress: Experiencing events perceived as endangering well-being. Stressors lead to stress responses.
Types of stressful events:
- Traumatic events: Situations of extreme danger outside usual experience (e.g., natural disasters, accidents).
- Uncontrollability: Lack of control increases stress. Perceived control can reduce stress impact.
- Predictability: Unpredictable events are more stressful. Predictability allows for preparation and reduces the impact.
- Major life changes: Events requiring readjustment (e.g., marriage, job change) can be stressful.
- Internal conflicts: Unresolved conscious or unconscious issues create stress (e.g., independence vs. dependence).

Common reactions: Anxiety, anger, apathy, cognitive impairment.
Anxiety and PTSD:
- PTSD: Severe anxiety-related symptoms after trauma, including detachment, reliving trauma, and hyperarousal.
- Cultural and gender factors influence PTSD vulnerability.
Anger and Aggression: Frustration can lead to anger and aggression, sometimes displaced.
Apathy and Depression: Learned helplessness from uncontrollable events can cause apathy and depression.
Cognitive Impairment: Stress impairs concentration and logical thinking.

Fight-or-Flight Response: Body's mobilization to attack or flee.
- Involves the release of glucose and hormones, increased heart rate and metabolic rate, muscle tension, and pain relief.
- Sympathetic system and adrenal-cortical system activation.
General Adaptation Syndrome: Selye's model of stress response with three phases: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
Physiology of PTSD: Physiological changes including altered neurotransmitters, hormone levels, and brain activity. Lower resting cortisol levels are noted.
How stress affects health:
- Allostatic load: Wear and tear from chronic stress leading to physical disorders.
- Psychophysiological disorders: Physical disorders with emotional roots (e.g., ulcers, heart disease).
- Coronary Heart Disease (CHD): Stress contributes via high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.
- Immune System: Stress impairs immune function.

Psychoanalytic Theory: Neurotic anxiety from unconscious conflicts.
Behavioral Theory: Learned associations between situations and stress responses.
Cognitive Theory: Optimism helps manage stress, pessimism worsens health.
Hardiness: Commitment, control, and challenge as stress-resistant traits.
Finding meaning: Discovering positive changes from trauma aids adjustment.
Type A Pattern: Competitiveness, time urgency, hostility increases heart disease risk.

Coping: Managing stressful demands.
- Problem-focused coping: Addressing the problem directly.
- Emotion-focused coping: Managing emotional reactions.
Emotion-Focused coping strategies include:
- Behavioral strategies
- Cognitive strategies
- adaptive and others (such as drinking heavily) to merely cause more stress
Social support is an important coping mechanism.
Avoidant coping such as denying negative emotions has been linked with health related problems.
Rumination and social isolation can also worsen the outcomes.

Behavioral techniques:
- Biofeedback: Gaining control by receiving physiological state information.
- Relaxation training: Deep muscle relaxation and focused thoughts.
- Exercise: Aerobic exercise reduces stress.
Cognitive techniques: Cognitive behavior therapy alters cognitive responses.
Modifying Type A Behavior: Cognitive and behavioral techniques reduce Type A behavior and heart disease risk.