Understanding Sources of Stress in Daily Life

1. Unit 6 – Adjustment and Breakdown Stress and Health

2. Sources of Stress What is stress?

3. Sources of Stress • What is stress? • Is an event that produces tension or worry. A person’s physical or psychological response to such an event. • Is a person’s perception of the event. • Reaction to their inability to cope with a certain tense event or conflict • Stress: is the anxious or threatening feeling resulting form our appraisal of a situation or reaction to demands placed on us.

4. Sources of Stress • Components of stress: • Stressor: a stress-producing event or situation. • Everyone is different, a stressor for one person may not be for another. • Ex. Flight attendant/person travelling. • Stress, then, will be used to refer to a person’s reactions – whether perceptual, cognitive, or emotional

5. Sources of Stress • To discuss the body’s observable response to a stressor, we shall use the term stress reaction. • People often think stress is a condition to be avoided. • Two types of stress: • Negative stress (distress) : stems from acute anxiety or pressure and can take a harsh toll on the mind and body. • Positive stress (eustress): results from the striving and challenges that are the spice of life.

6. Sources of Stress • Stress is normal, even essential, part of life that goes hand in hand with working toward any goal or facing challenges. • In fact, as athletes are gearing up for a game or students cramming for an exam can testify, stress can spur us on to greater effectiveness and achievement in some situations. • In addition, whether we like it or not, we cannot escape stress. “Complete freedom from stress.. is death.” • We can, however, learn to cope with stress so that it makes our lives interesting without overwhelming us.

7. Sources of Stress • In our daily lives, we often have to evaluate situations and then make difficult decisions between two or more options. • Example: going to a movie with friends or staying home to study for tomorrow’s exam. • These alternatives tend to result from conflicting motives – say, the desire to socialize vs. the desire to do well in school – and they are major sources of stress. • These choices create…… • Conflict situations: When a person must choose between two or more options that tend to result form opposing motives. • They fall into four broad categories

8. Sources of Stress • 4 different types: • Both good = approach-approach conflict • (accepted to two colleges, concert or ballgame, invited to two parties…) • Does produce great deal of stress, both choices are satisfying. • Both bad = avoidance-avoidance conflict • (study physics or math, study or do chores, bad job or no job…)

9. Sources of Stress • One good one bad = approach-avoidance conflict • (ask for raise – get raise or get fired, ask for date – get date or get rejected, ask parents to go out – yes or no…) • Multiple options with good and bad = double approach-avoidance conflict • (2 vacation choices, aggressive or conservative golf shots…)

10. Sources of Stress

11. Sources of Stress • Why do some people view a situation as stressful but others don’t? (parking) • Level of stress you feel depends on how you appraise the situation • Immediate evaluation of a situation = primary appraisal • Three ways you can appraise a situation, irrelevant, positive, negative. • Deciding how to deal / cope with the situation = secondary appraisal

12. Sources of Stress • Environmental ?? • noise, crowding… • Life changes ?? • teenage issues…

13. Sources of Stress • Major life changes - marriage, serious illness, new job, moving away, and a death in the family – are important sources of stress. • Common to most of these events is the separation of an individual from familiar friends, relations, or colleagues.

14. Sources of Stress • Hassles - relatively minor, day-to-day events, gradually weaken body’s defense system • slow traffic, lose keys, forget homework… • Uplifts – small, positive events • doing well on test, winning match, nice visit with a friend…

15. Sources of Stress

16. Sources of Stress • Quiz 15-1

17. Sources of Stress Application Activity • Select a day and keep a log of your daily hassles and uplifts. • At the end of the day analyze your general mood – were you in a bad or good mood? • Did your hassles out number your uplifts? • Briefly outline a strategy by which you pay more attention to uplifts and brighten your mood.

18. Sources of Stress Application Activity Date: December 9th, 2014 Hassles • Lost keys • Spilt coffee • Broke a nail • Stubbed toe Uplifts • Door held open for me • Coffee brought to me Mood I was in an okay mood, this morning I was tired and a bit cranky. Strategies I’m going to buy a key holder! Wake up earlier so I’m not in a rush, won’t spill coffee.

19. Reactions to Stress • How do people react? • (Physical, behavioral, psychological)

20. Reactions to Stress • Hans Selye – identified 3 stages in the body’s stress reaction General Adaptation Syndrome • Alarm – fight or flight, heartrate & breathing faster, more alert, muscles tense, pupils dilate • Resistance – find means of coping with stressor, may develop psychosomatic symptoms (real physical symptoms caused by stress & tension) • Exhaustion – adrenaline depleted, disorientation, delusions

22. Reactions to Stress • Types of reactions?? • Emotional • Cognitive (mental processes, “memory, thinking, problem solving”) • Behavioral • Physical

23. Reactions to Stress • Emotional: • Anxiety – vague, generalized apprehension or feeling of danger (most common response to sudden & powerful stressor) • Anger – irate reaction to frustration • Fear – real or imagined danger • Overreacting to minor irritations, self doubt, tension, short temper

24. Reactions to Stress • Cognitive: • Difficulty concentrating, thinking • Recurring thoughts, worry • Poor decision making • Unjustified suspicion, distrust • Continued frustration - burnout

25. Reactions to Stress • Physical: • Psychosomatic - real physical symptoms caused by stress and tension?? • (headaches, stomachaches, muscle pain, insomnia, migraines, sweating, dry mouth) • (urinary / bowel trouble, ulcers, hypertension, arthritis, asthma, heart disease) • (indirect contribution to illness - tampers with immune system)

26. Reactions to Stress • Behavioral: • Nervous habits (pacing, trembling) • Smoke, drink, take drugs • Become lethargic, aggressive • Lose interest in eating, grooming • Escape, unemployment

27. Reactions to Stress • What factors influence individual reactions? • Personality • Type A – irritable, impatient, hostile, extremely competitive, eat/move fast – impact on health?? • (constant adrenaline flow, coronary artery disease, heart attacks) • Type B – relaxed, patient, better coronary health • Emotional expressiveness (don’t express – cancer risk) • Perceived control • Social support

28. Application Activity • Measure a friend’s heart rate. • Then have the person think of a terrifying situation. • Did the heart rate increase? • Then have a person think of a peaceful, calming situation. • Did the heart rate decrease? Summarize your findings?

29. Finish up hassles and uplifts • Section Quiz 15-2 • December 10th, 2014 Journal Entry #13: Think of a stressful situation that you have recently experienced. How did you cope with it? 

30. Coping with Stress • How do we decide how to cope with stressors? • Ex. rose garden/weeds/2 types of people. • cognitive appraisal: interpretation of even that helps determine its stress impact. • Ex. Exam

31. Coping with Stress • If threatened, how might we cope? • Defensive coping strategies ?? • 3 groups see gruesome film, one told nothing • one told events not real – denial = decide event isn’t a stressor • one told film is educational, importance of safety – intellectualization = emotionally detached viewpoint, block out feelings • control group had higher stress levels

32. Coping with Stress • If challenged, how might we cope? • Active coping strategies ?? • hardiness = belief we can control out situation, commitment to establish and pursue goals, and view situation as a challenge • control – escape, withdraw, manage timing • problem solving – rational analysis • explanatory style – style of thinking: • Optimist = puts best face on any set of events • Pessimist = always sees the dark side

33. Coping with Stress • progressive relaxation • meditation • biofeedback • humor to release pent up feelings and maintain perspective • exercise • support groups, professional help • training • improving interpersonal skills

34. Stress in Your Life • Adjusting to college, work force • College shock – people from diverse backgrounds, challenges high school identity • Autonomy = taking care of yourself & making decisions • Developmental friendships = close relationships that force friends to reexamine ideas and beliefs (Madison – this & student culture have more impact than professors) • Resynthesis = combining old ideas with new ones, reorganizing feelings, renew identity • Comparable worth = concept that men & women should receive equal pay for jobs with comparable skill and responsibility • Work satisfaction – coworker relationships, challenge, comfort