Stress and Coping

1. Stress and Coping Made by Aušrinė Adomaitytė Psbns9-01

2. Content: • The phenomenon of stress • Good and bad stress • Stressors • The high cost of stress • Consequences of stress • Coping with stress • Learned helplessness • Coping styles • Keep stress under control

3. What is stress? • Stress : a person’s response toevents that are threatening or challenging. • Stressors : circumstances and events that produce threats to our well-being.

4. Good stress and bad stress • Paper on exam deadline • A family problem • Bungee jumping • Planning a party • Treat of a terrorist attack • Death of a loved one

5. Categorizing stressors • Cataclysmic events: strong stressors that occur suddenly, affecting many people at once (e.g., natural disasters) • Personal stressors: Major life events, such as the death of a family member, that have immediate negative consequences that generally fade with time. • Background stressors (“daily hassles”): Everyday annoyances, such as being stuck in traffic, that causes minor irritations and may have long term ill effects if they continue or are compounded by other stressful event.

6. The high cost of stress • Biological consequences: • rise in hormone secretions by the adrenal glands • an increase in heart rate and blood pressure • changes in how well skin conducts electrical impulses • and many other • Psychological consequences: • stress prevent people from coping with life • the view of the environment can become clouded • people can become less able to deal with new stressors

7. Hans Selye General adaptation syndrome (GAS): A theory that a person’s response to a stressor consists of three stages. Stages: • Alarm and mobilization – people become aware of the presence of a stressor. • Resistance – body prepares to fight the stressor. • Exhaustion – person’s ability to adapt to the stressor declines to the point where negative consequences of stress appear.

8. Consequences of stress • Direct physiological effects • Elevate blood pressure • Decreases in immune system functioning • Increase hormonal activity • Psychophysiological conditions • Harmful behaviors • Increased smoking, alcohol use • Decreased nutrition • Decreased sleep • Increased drug use • Indirect health-related behaviors • Decreased compliance with medical advice • Increased in delays in seeking medical advice • Decreased in likelihood of seeking medical advice

9. Coping with stress • Emotion-focused coping. People try to manage their emotions inthe face of stress, seeking to change the way they feel about or perceive a problem. • Problem-focused coping. Attempts to modify the stressful problem orsource of stress. These strategies lead to changes in behavior or to the development of a plan of action to deal with stress.

10. Other forms of coping with stress • Avoid coping: a person may use wishful thinking to reduce stress or use more direct escape routes, such as drug use, alcohol use, and overeating. • Defense mechanisms: unconscious strategies that people use to reduce anxiety by concealing the source from themselves or others. • Emotional insulation: a person stops experiencing any emotions at all, thereby remaining unaffected and unmoved by both positive and negative experiences.

11. Learned helplessness • Learned helplessness: a state in which people conclude that unpleasant or aversive stimuli cannot be controlled – a view of the world that becomes so ingrained that they ceases trying to remedy be averse circumstances, even if they actually can exert some influence.

12. Coping styles Hardiness: a personality characteristic associated with a lower rate of stress-related illness, consisting of three components: • Commitment is a tendency to throw ourselves into whatever we are doing with a sense that our activities are important and meaningful. • Challenge. Hardy people believe that change, rather than stability, is the standard condition of life. To them, the anticipation of change serves as an incentive rather than threat to their security. • Control. Hardiness is marked by a sense of control-the perception that people can influence the events in their lives.

13. Keep stress under control • Take a stand against overscheduling • Be realistic • Get a good night’s sleep • Learn to relax • Treat your body well • Watch what you are thinking • Solve the little problems

14. Conclusion Stress is unavoidable part of life, whether it is a positive or negative stress, everyone has to face it. It is important to learn coping techniques and keep stress under control.

15. References: Information was taken on September 19th • Robert Feldman. “Understanding Psychology”, New York (N.Y.) : McGraw-Hill, 2008 • http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/emotions/stress.html# • http://www.cmha.ca/english/coping_with_stress/

16. Picture references: Pictures were picked on September 23th: • http://ofwnow.com/ • http://www.examiner.com/healthy-trends-in-atlanta/don-t-let-the-tax-deadline-stress-out-your-health • http://istudyathes.com/tag/exams/ • http://shanghaiist.com/2009/07/28/bungee_jumping_coming_to_the_huangp.php • http://www.mirror.co.uk/life-style/real-life/2009/04/21/are-stressed-mums-the-new-binge-drinkers-115875-21293105/ • http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=443037&showcomments=true • http://www.topnews.in/healthcare/content/-21014resistance-aerobic-exercises-combo-boosts-obese-older-adults-health • http://www.healthylegacy.org/consumer_food.cfm • http://www.rednoise.org/pdal/index.php?n=Main.Questions

17. Thank you for your attention.Any questions?