Mod 43

Understanding Stress

  • Definition of Stress: Stress is the process of appraising and responding to threatening or challenging events (stressors). It involves both perception and response.
  • Types of Stressors:
    • Catastrophes: Large, unpredictable events (e.g., earthquakes, floods) with significant emotional and physical health impacts.
    • Significant Life Changes: Transitions such as losing a loved one, divorce, graduation, and moving away can be sources of stress, even if they are positive.
    • Daily Hassles: Everyday annoyances (e.g., dead phone batteries, family issues) contribute to cumulative stress.

Stress Response System

  • Development of the Concept: Walter Cannon in the 1920s identified the stress response as central to a unified mind-body system.
  • Stress Hormones: Extreme conditions trigger adrenal hormones:
    • Epinephrine (Adrenaline)
    • Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline)

Fight or Flight Response

  • Sympathetic Nervous System Activation: When under stress, the body:
    • Increases heart rate and respiration
    • Diverts blood from digestion to muscles
    • Dulls pain and releases stored energy
  • This response enhances survival chances during immediate threats.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

  • Concept by Hans Selye: The body’s adaptive response to stress unfolds in three stages:
    • Phase 1 - Alarm Reaction: Activation of the sympathetic nervous system; heart rates zoom up, shock can be felt.
    • Phase 2 - Resistance: Body's resources are engaged to meet the challenge; temperature, blood pressure, and hormone levels remain elevated.
    • Phase 3 - Exhaustion: Prolonged stress leads to depleted resources, increasing vulnerability to illness and extreme cases, death.

Coping with Stress

  • Variations in Response:
    • Withdrawal: Some shy away and conserve energy.
    • Tend-and-Befriend: Women often seek or provide social support in times of stress.
    • Social Withdrawal: Men may tend to withdraw or resort to substances like alcohol.

Impact of Stress on Health

  • Health Psychology: The study of how psychological factors affect health and illness.
  • Psychoneuroimmunology: Investigates the intersection of psychological processes, neural and endocrine systems on immune function.
  • Stress and Disease: Stress can accelerate diseases; for instance, it can speed up the transition from HIV infection to AIDS.

Heart Disease and Stress

  • Cardiovascular Risks: Cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death:
    • Approximately 610,000 Americans die from heart disease annually.
    • Risk factors include high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, and stress related to psychological trauma.
  • Friedman and Rosenman Study: Linked Type A personalities (aggressive, competitive) with higher heart attack rates:
    • Type A individuals had elevated cholesterol and clotting during stressful periods, while Type B personalities remained unaffected.

Psychological Effects of Stress

  • Catharsis: The idea that expressing aggressive energy can relieve urges.
  • Case Study - Debbie Reynolds: Example of how grief and related stress may have health implications, such as causing a stroke after the loss of a loved one.