http://www.stresstips.com/
Wood and Wood

TWO APPROACHES TO
HEALTH AND ILLNESS biomedical model:
A perspective that focuses on illness rather than on health, explaining illness in terms of biological factors without regard to psychological and social factors.
biopsychosocial model:
A perspective that focuses on health as well as illness and holds that both are determined by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors.
health psychology:
The field concerned with the psychological factors that contribute to health, illness, and recovery.

Personal Communication

One of the MDs I’ve worked with made the following observation:
 When my father was in medical school, he was taught that the cause of illness & death was infection.
 When I was in medical school, I was taught the cause of illness & death was chronic illness.
 In 30 years of medical practice, I have come to believe that dad was right. The cause of illness & death is infection.


The field within psychology devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when they do get ill”

Health psychologists study psychological factors associated with health and illness, and they promote interventions that foster good health and aid recovery from illness.

How would you define stress?
Is stress
 something in the environment?
 a physiological or psychological reaction that occurs within a person?
 something we should avoid at all costs?


Researchers either
 emphasize the physiological effects of stress
 focus on the role that thinking plays in stress

Life Stress Test
Dr. Tim Lowenstein
Conscious Living Foundation, P.O. Box 9, Drain, OR 97435
In the past 12 months, which of the following major life events have taken place in your life?
1. Write down the score for each event.
2. Total up your score for each page.
3. Add up the points for each page.
4. Wait until everyone finishes.
5. We will make a distribution of scores http://www.cliving.org/lifstrstst.htm

Page 1
_____ Death of Spouse 100
_____ Divorce 73
_____ Marital Separation 65
_____ Jail Term 63
_____ Death of close family member 63
_____ Personal injury or illness 53
_____ Marriage 50
_____ Fired from work 47
_____ Marital reconciliation 45
_____ Retirement 45
_____ Change in family member's health 44
_____ Pregnancy 40
_____ Sex difficulties 39
_____ Addition to family 39
_____ Business readjustment 39
______ Page 1 Score

Page 2
_____ Change in financial status 38
_____ Death of close friend 37
_____ Change to a different line of work 36
_____ Change in number of marital arguments 35
_____ Mortgage or loan over $10,000 31
_____ Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30
_____ Change in work responsibilities 29
_____ Trouble with in-laws 29
_____ Outstanding personal achievement 28
_____ Spouse begins or stops work 26
_____ Starting or finishing school 26
_____ Change in living conditions 25
_____ Revision of personal habits 24
_____ Trouble with boss 23
______ Page 2 Score

Page 3 ______ Page 3 Score
_____ Change in work hours, conditions 20
_____ Change in residence 20
_____ Change in schools 20
_____ Change in recreational habits 19
_____ Change in church activities 19
______ Page 1 Score
______ Page 2 Score
______ Page 3 Score
______ Your Total Score
_____ Change in social activities 18
_____ Mortgage or loan under $10,000 17
_____ Change in sleeping habits 16
_____ Change in number of family gatherings 15
304 My score
_____ Change in eating habits 15
_____ Vacation 13
_____ Christmas season 12
_____ Minor violations of the law 11

LIFE STRESS SCORES
0-149 Low susceptibility to stress-related illness
Keep on keepin’ on!
150-299 Medium susceptibility to stress-related illness.
Learn and practice relaxation and stress management skills and a healthy well life style.
300 & up High susceptibility to stress-related illness
Daily practice of relaxation skills is very important for your wellness. Take care of it now before a serious illness erupts or an affliction becomes worse.

The Definition of Stress

Fight or Flight?

An early, classic contribution to stress research was made by Walter
Cannon (1932), who described the fight-or-flight response.

When an organism perceives a threat, the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine glands prepare the body to fight the threat or flee from it.
 This fight-or-flight response helps the organism respond rapidly to threats.
 However, it is potentially harmful
 if an organism can't fight or flee
 experiences prolonged stress and continuing physical arousal.


Researcher most prominently associated with the effects of stress on health

Established the field of stress research.
 Wrote several books including:

The Stress of Life

Stress: Sources, Management And Prevention

Stress without Distress
 For a completely negative view of his research see: http://earthsave.bc.ca/animalvoices/selye.htm

General Adaption Syndrome
 Alarm
 Resistance
 Exhaustion

General Adaption Syndrome
 Alarm
The first stage of the general adaptation syndrome, when there is emotional arousal and the defensive forces of the body are prepared for fight or flight.
 Resistance
 Exhaustion

General Adaption Syndrome
 Alarm
 Resistance
The second stage of the general adaptation syndrome, when there are intense physiological efforts to either resist or adapt to the stressor.
 Exhaustion

General Adaption Syndrome
 Alarm
 Resistance
 Exhaustion
The final stage of the general adaptation syndrome, occurring if the organism fails in its efforts to resist the stressor.

GAS diagram

Criticisms of Selye’s Theory:
Identified Issues
 Thanks to Selye, the connection between extreme, prolonged stress and certain diseases is now widely accepted by medical experts

Critics say Selye’s model was primarily formulated from research on laboratory rats.
 Individual variation in rats stressors response is much less than individual variation in human stress responses.

Criticisms of Selye’s Theory:
A Missing Cognitive Factor

The major criticism: Selye’s claim that the intensity of the stressor determines the physical reaction to it.
 His theory does not provide for a psychological component—how a person perceives and evaluates a stressor.
 This criticism led to the development of the cognitive theory of stress.

Lazarus’s
Cognitive Theory of Stress
In responding to the criticism of Selye’s theory, Lazarus contends that it is not the stressor itself that causes stress, but a person’s perception of the stressor.

Lazarus’s
Cognitive Theory of Stress
 Causal Agent
 Stressor Evaluated
 Mind or Body uses coping process
 Stress reaction

Lazarus’s
Cognitive Theory of Stress
 Causal Agent
 Can be either external or internal.
 Is commonly referred to as stress or the stressor.
 Stressor Evaluated
 Mind or Body uses coping process
 Stress reaction

Lazarus’s
Cognitive Theory of Stress
 Causal Agent
 Stressor Evaluated
 the mind or the body evaluates the stressor
 as either threatening or benign.
 Mind or Body uses coping process
 Stress reaction

Lazarus’s
Cognitive Theory of Stress
 Causal Agent
 Stressor Evaluated
 Mind or Body uses coping process
 to deal with the stressor.
 Stress reaction

Lazarus’s
Cognitive Theory of Stress
 Causal Agent
 Stressor Evaluated
 Mind or Body uses coping process
 Stress reaction
 the “complex pattern of effects on mind and body”

Lazarus Vs. Selye

Lazarus

Physiological & psychological stress must be analyzed differently

Focus on how people cope with psychological stressors

Selye’s

Focus on how the body copes with physiological stress

Lazarus and Folkman’s
Psychological Model of Stress
Lazarus and Folkman emphasize the importance of a person’s perceptions and appraisal of stressors. The stress response depends on the outcome of the primary and secondary appraisals, whether the person’s coping resources are adequate to cope with the threat, and how severely the resources are taxed in the process.
 Primary Appraisal
 Secondary Appraisal
 Stress Response

Lazarus and Folkman’s
Psychological Model of Stress


There is research support for Lazarus and Folkman’s claim that the physiological, emotional, and behavioral reactions to stressors depend partly on whether the stressors are appraised as challenging or threatening.
Tomaka and others (1993) found:
 Active coping with stressors appraised as challenging was associated with increased heart rate, better performance, and positive emotions.

Active coping with stressors appraised as threatening was related to increased blood pressure, poorer performance, and negative emotional tone.

Lazarus and Folkman’s
Psychological Model of Stress
 Primary Appraisal
 Secondary Appraisal
 Stress Response

Lazarus and Folkman’s
Psychological Model of Stress
 Primary Appraisal
 an evaluation of meaning & significance of a situation
 whether its effect on one’s well-being is
 positive, irrelevant,
 harm or loss - damage that has already occurred
 threat, or challenge —the potential for harm or loss
 challenge —the opportunity to grow or to gain.
 can occur in relation to anything important to you
 a friendship, a part of your body, your property, your finances, or your self-esteem.
 Secondary Appraisal
 Stress Response

Lazarus and Folkman’s
Psychological Model of Stress


Primary Appraisal
Secondary Appraisal
 An evaluation of one’s coping resources prior to deciding how to deal with a stressful event.
 if they judge the situation to be within their control
 they make an evaluation of available coping resources —
• physical (health, energy, stamina)
• social (support network)
• psychological (skills, morale, self-esteem)
• material (money, tools, equipment)
• time.
 Then they consider the options and decide how to deal with the stressor.
 The level of stress they feel is largely a function of
 whether resources are adequate to cope with the threat

Lazarus and Folkman’s
Psychological Model of Stress
 Primary Appraisal
 Secondary Appraisal
 Stress Response

Sources of Stress
 Everyday Sources

Choices

Unpredictability and Lack of Control

The Stress of Being Different
 Stress in the Workplace
 Catastrophic Events and Chronic Intense Stress

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PSD)

 Problem-focused coping
 Emotion-focused coping
 Proactive Coping

 The Sick Role
 Reorganizing and Interpreting Symptoms
 Seek Treatment
 Compliance and Medical Treatment

 Coronary Heart Disease
 Type A and Type B Patterns
 Cancer
 Immune System
 T Cells and B Cells

 Optimism and Pessimism
 Psychological Hardiness
 Social Support

 Smoking
 Alcohol
 Exercise