PSK171
STRESS MANAGEMENT
History of Stress and Stress Studies
The pioneers of stress studies

Walter Cannon
 Described
body’s reactions to stress
 Fight-or-flight response (1932)
 The
body’s reaction that includes an increase in heart rate,
respiration, blood pressure and serum cholesterol
General Adaptation Syndrome

Hans Selye (endocrinologist-1956)
The Stress of Life (Book)
 Exposed rats to stressors
 Regardles of the source of stress their bodies reacted in the
same manner

Enlargement of the cortex of the adrenal glands
 Shrinkage or atrophy of the thymus, spleen, lymph nodes
 Dissapearence of a kind of white blood cell (eosinophil)
 Bleeding ulcers

Eustress (caused by desired conditions)
 Distress (caused by undesired conditions)

General Adaptation Syndrome

Alarm Reaction (Phase 1)
 Recognition
of there’s a danger and preparation to
deal with the threat (the fight or flight response).
 During this phase the main stress hormones cortisol,
adrenaline, and noradrenaline, is released to provide
instant energy.
General Adaptation Syndrome

Stage of Resistance (Phase 2)
 Homeostasis
begins restoring body’s balance
 Stress hormone levels may return to normal but you
may have reduced defenses and adaptive energy left
 If a stressor persists, your body adapts by a continued
effort in resistance and remains in a state of arousal
General Adaptation Syndrome

Stage of Exhaustion (Phase 3)
 Following
long-continued exposure to the same stressor,
body adapts to new condition but energy is exhausted
 Often referred to as overload, burnout, adrenal
fatigue, maladaptation or dysfunction
Symbolic Stressors of 20th Century

A. T. W Simeons (1961)
Man’s Presumptuous Brain (Book)
 Human brain had failed to develop at the pace needed to
respond to symbolic stressors of twentieth-century life


For instance when our self-esteem is threatened




Fight-or-flight response
Neither fighting nor running away is an appropriate reaction
The body prepares itself physiologically to do something that our
mind inhibits
The unused stress products (hormones, energy) break down the body
and psychosomatic diseases may result
Stress and Health

Harold Wollf (1953)
 Relationship
 Why
between body and mind
only 1 in 100 prisoners of war held by Germans
during WW II died before their release, while 33 in 100
held in Japanese camps died before their release?
 Keeping other variables constant, he found that emotional
stress was the main cause of much of this difference.
Effects of Stress on Health

Stewart Wolf (1953)
 Digestive

Lawrence LeShan (1966)
 Effects

of stress on the development of cancer
George Engel (1955)
 Stress

function
and ulcerative colitis
Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman (1974)
 Stress
and coronary heart diesase
Interventions to Stress-related Illnesses

Thomas Budsyski (1970)


Robert Keith Wallace (1970) and Herbert Benson (1975)


Autogenic training (a kind of autohypnotic relaxation)
Edmund Jacobson (1938)


Transcendental Meditation
Johannes Schultz (1953) and Wolfgang Luthe (1965)


Biofeedback for headaches
Progressive relaxation
Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe

The more significant changes in one’s life; the greater the
chance of the onset of illness
Stres Theories

Life-Events Theory
 Holmas
and Rahe (1967)
 Stress
occurs when a situation requires more resources than
avaliable
 The main rationale: The more of demanding situations, the
greater the stress
 DeLongis et al. emphasized the importance of daily hassles

Routine stressful events are more important than major ones that
happen infrequently
Stres Theories

Hardiness Theory
 How
you deal with (attitudes) the stress is also
important.
 Threat
or Challenge
 The perception of challenge creates less stress and buffers
stress and diseases (Kobasa et al.)

Social Support Theory
 When
there is not enough social support, people cannot
respond to stress effectively
 Emotional,
financial…
The Stressor


A stimulus with the potential for triggering the fight-orflight response
May demand immediate reaction to prevent physical
harm


May be symbolic


A violent attack, a traffic accident etc.
Loss of status, work overload etc.
However, our our bodies respond to all stressors in the
same physiological manner which sometimes be
inapproriate (that requires stress management)
Stress Reactivity and Gender

The fight-or-flight response is termed stress
reactivity and is affected by two variables
 Duration
and Degree
 Duration of stress may cause more harmful effects

Shelly Taylor found that
 females
tend to exhibit nurturing activities to cope with
stress (tend-and-befriend). They use social groups more
than males
 Males tend to exhibit more fight-or-fligt response
What is Stress?




The stimulus (stressor)?
The response (stress reactivity)?
The whole spectrum of interacting factors?
The stimulus-response interaction?