Chapter 14
Stress, Health, and Well-Being
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Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2009
What Causes Stress?
Traumatic events, chronic
lifestyle conditions, major life
changes, and even minor
hassles can all cause stress.
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Stress
Stress –
• A type of emotional response
• Cognitive appraisal plays a role
• Leads to individual differences
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Traumatic Stressors
A situation that threatens one’s physical
safety, arousing feelings of feel, horror,
or helplessness
• e.g., sudden life changes
Catastrophic EventsSudden violent calamities
• e.g., natural disasters, terrorist attacks
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Psychological Response to
Catastrophe
Cohen and Ahearn (1980) identified five
stages that occur in the wake of natural
disasters.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Psychic numbness
Automatic action
Communal effort
Letdown
Recovery
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Working Through Catastrophes
Narratives• Formulate accounts of what happened
• Stories help explain ourselves to others
Trauma in the Media• news coverage expands the experience
• Can create second-hand traumatization
e.g., perceived greater personal risk and threat
Vicarious TraumatizationSevere stress caused when one is exposed to
others’ accounts of trauma
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Grief
• Emotional response to loss
• Painful complex of feelings
• Sadness, anger, helplessness, guilt, despair
• Attempt to make sense of loss
• Normal process of adapting to major life
changes
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Posttraumatic Stress
Posttraumatic stress disorder – (PTSD)
• delayed stress reaction
• individual involuntarily re-experiences
mental and physical responses that
accompanied the trauma
• e.g., natural disasters, life-threatening
accident, witness to a murder
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Symptoms of PTSD
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Distracted
Disorganized
Memory difficulties
Emotionally numb
Less likely to feel pleasure
Feel alienated by others
Trouble sleeping
Guilt about surviving
Difficulty concentrating
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Chronic Stressors
Stressful conditions with a gradual onset, lower
intensity, and long lasting
1) Social stressorsPressures in our social, cultural, and
economic environment (e.g., unemployment,
racism)
2) Burnout –
A syndrome of emotional exhaustion,
physical fatigue, and cognitive
weariness
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Chronic Stressors
3) Major Life Eventse.g., beginning of end of a relationship,
new job, starting college
4) Daily Hassles –
Situations that cause minor irritation
or frustration
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A Model of Stress
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Change Can Be Hazardous to Your
Health
Social Readjustment Ratings Scale –
A psychological rating scale designed to
measure stress levels by means of
values attached to common life changes
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How Does Stress
Affect Us Physically?
The physical stress response
begins with arousal, which
stimulates a series of
psychological responses that
– in short term- are adaptive,
but which can turn harmful
after prolonged stress
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The Physiological Response to Stress
Fight-or-flight response –
• A sequence of internal processes that prepares
the organism for struggle or escape
Acute stress –
• A temporary pattern of arousal caused by a
stressor with a clear onset and offset
Chronic stress –
• A continuous state of stressful arousal
persisting over time
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The Physical Stress Response
General adaptation syndrome (GAS) –
A pattern of general physical responses
that takes essentially the same form in
responding to any serious chronic
stressor
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The General Adaptation Syndrome
Alarm
reaction
Resistance
– the body
– the body seems to adapt
mobilizes it’s
to the
resources to
presence of
cope with a
the stressor
stressor
Level of
normal resistance
Alarm Reaction
Exhaustion
– the body
depletes it’s
resources
Successful Resistance
Illness/death
Resistance
Exhaustion
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Tend-and-befriend model
Stress response model proposing that
females are biologically predisposed to
respond to stress by nurturing and
protecting offspring and seeking social
support
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Stress and the Immune System
Immune system –
• bodily organs and responses that protect the
body from foreign substances and threats
Immunosuppresion• impairment in the function of the immune
system
Psychoneuroimmunology• Multidisciplinary field that pulls together
psychologists, neurologists, and immunologists
• Interest in mind-body connection
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Who is Most Vulnerable
to Stress?
Personality characteristics
impact our individual responses
to stressful situations and,
consequently, the degree to
which we feel exposed to
potential stressors
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Personality and Stress
Type A –
• behavior pattern characterized by
intense, angry, competitive, or
perfectionistic responses to challenging
situations
Type B –
• behavior pattern characterized
by a relaxed, unstressed
approach to life
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Locus of Control
Individual’s expectations about our ability to
influence the outcomes in our life.
• Internals-belief that one has the ability to gain
the outcomes desired
• Externals-factors outside one’s control will
determine outcomes
Influence on health-
• Comparison of internal vs. external
• Research with seniors varying level of control
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Psychological Responses to Stress
Learned helplessness –
• Pattern of not responding to noxious
stimuli after an organism learns that its
behavior has no effect
Hardiness –
• Mental quality of resistance to stress,
based on a sense of 3 characteristics:
• challenge, commitment, and control
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Psychological Factors Related
to Stress and Health
Optimism• See a future of bright possibilities
• Fewer physical symptoms of illness
• Recover more quickly from certain disorders
• Live longer
Resilience –
• Capacity to adapt, achieve well-being, and
cope with stress, in spite of serious threats to
development
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How Can We Reduce
the Impact of Stress
on Our Health?
Healthy coping strategies
reduce the impact of stress
on our health, and lifestyle
choices reduce both our
perceived stress and its
impact on our health
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Psychological Coping Strategies
Defending–
• reducing the symptoms of stress
• reducing one’s awareness of stress
Coping –
• taking action to reduce or eliminate
cause of stress
• Problem-focused
• Emotion-focused coping
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Psychological Coping Strategies
Emotion-focused coping –
Responding to stress by controlling one’s
emotional responses
Problem-focused coping –
Responding to stress by identifying,
reducing, and eliminating the stressor
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Psychological Resources For Coping
With Stress
Cognitive restructuring –
•
reappraising stressors
•
goal to create a less-stressful perspective
•
seeing a situation in a more positive light
•
cornerstone of cognitive-behavioral therapy
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Psychological Resources For Coping
With Stress
Social Comparison –
•
Type of cognitive restructuring
•
Compare oneself to others in similar situation
•
Downward social comparison
•
•
Compare to those worse off
Upward social comparison
•
Compare to those better off
Positive Emotions –
•
Health inducing
•
Increases longevity
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Psychological Resources For Coping
With Stress
Psychological Debriefing
•
Brief, immediate counseling focused on
venting emotions and discussing reactions to
the trauma
•
Based on belief it is best to express negative
feelings
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
•
Group sessions to trauma survivors
•
Few studies to test its effectiveness
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Psychological Resources For Coping With
Stress
Social support –
• Emotional support, tangible assistance,
informational support
• Resources others provide to help an individual
cope with stress
• Reduces physical and psychological ailments
• Increases longevity
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Physical Coping Strategies
Physical coping strategies include
• Exercise
• Nutrition and diet
Using drugs as stress relievers is more of a
defense than a coping strategy
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Happiness and Well-Being
Subjective well-being (SWB) –
An individual’s evaluative response to his
or her life, including cognitive and
emotional reactions
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Health Psychology and Behavioral
Medicine
Behavioral medicine –
Medical field specializing in the link
between lifestyle and disease
Health psychology –
Psychological specialty devoted to
understanding how people stay
healthy, why they become ill, and
how they respond when ill
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Prevention: The Example of Heart
Disease
Knowledge of cardio-vascular disease risk
factors was greater among residents of
Town B, who were exposed to a two-year
mass media campaign, than among
residents in Town A, who were not
exposed to the campaign
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Percentage of change in knowledge
Prevention: The Example of Heart
Disease
Good
50
40
30
Town B
(media only)
20
Town A
(Control)
10
0
0
1
Years 2
Media campaign in progress
3
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Percentage of change in knowledge
Prevention: The Example of Heart
Disease
Good
50
Town C
(media and workshops)
40
30
Town B
(media only)
20
Town A
(Control)
10
0
0
1
Years 2
Media campaign in progress
3
Knowledge gain was
greater still in
residents of Town
C, who participated
in intense
workshops and
instruction sessions
for several months
during the media
blitz
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Prevention: The Example of Heart
Disease
As knowledge increased, bad health habits
decreased, with town C leading the way, followed
by town B
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