Chapter 10 Health and Stress

1. Chapter 10Health and Stress

2. Sources of Stress • Stress: physiological and psychological response to a condition that threatens or challenges a person and requires some sort of adaptation • Lazarus: process in which we appraise and cope with environmental threats and challenges WHAT CAUSES YOU STRESS?????

3. Stress cont… • Stressors • Stimuli or events that can produce physical or emotional stress • Stress Reaction • Psychological and physical manifestations of stress • Stress is associated with the fight or flight response • Response in which the nervous system and endocrine glands prepare the body to fight or flee

4. Figure 2.5 The Autonomic Nervous System ©2009 Pearson Education, Inc

5. Stress’s impact on your body Heart and Cardiovascular System Digestive System Starting and stopping of parasympathetic nervous system can lead to digestive illnesses such as: Ulcers Colitis, Krohn’s disease • Fight/flight response causes a surge of • Epinephrine • Norepinephrine • Cortisols • Glucocorticoids • Increased levels, when not used, accelerate buildup of plaque on artery walls

6. Stress’s impact on your body Immune System Nervous System Increased levels of stress hormones (cortisols) correlated with Anxiety Depression Neuron death PTSD study • When sympathetic n.s. is activated, lymphocyte production is suppressed. • Can lead to increases in: • Bacterial infections • Viral infections • Cancer?

7. SRRS—Social Readjustment Rating Scale (page 319) • Developed by Holmes and Rahe • Life events that produce the greatest life changes are considered the most stressful • Whether the changes are positive or negative • Scale assigns point values to 43 life events • Death of a spouse: 100 • Getting fired at work: 47 • Beginning or ending school: 26 • Vacation: 13

8. Life Changes cont… • SRRS scores are correlated with a variety of health indicators • Scores over 300 • 80% chance of major health problems within two years • Scores of 150-300 • 50% chance of major health problems within two years • Main criticism of SRRS • It assigns point values to life events without taking into account how an individual perceives or copes with each stressor

9. Daily Hassles • According to Richard Lazarus, hassles cause more stress than major life events • Hassles are little stressors encountered in daily life • Research has found that hassles are significantly related to health problems • But uplifts may neutralize the effects of hassles

10. Predictability and control • Feel less stress when a stressor is predictable than when it is unpredictable and when they have a sense of control over a situation • Nursing home study • Loud noises study • Rat study

11. Catastrophic Events • Most people cope well with catastrophic events • But some develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) • A prolonged, severe stress reaction, often characterized by flashbacks or nightmares • PTSD is associated with increased risk of suicide, depression, and alcohol abuse • Veteran study

12. The General Adaptation Syndrome • Hans Selye • A predictable sequence of reactions that organisms show in response to stressors • It consists of three stages • Alarm stage • Resistance stage • Exhaustion stage

13. The General Adaptation Syndrome cont… • Alarm stage • Adrenal cortex releases glucocorticoids • Increased heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar energize body for fight or flight • Resistance stage • Intense physiological efforts made to resist or adapt to stressor • Exhaustion stage • Occurs if organism fails to resist or adapt to stressor • Stores of energy are depleted, resulting in exhaustion and eventually death

14. Lazarus’s Cognitive Theory of Stress • Proposed that stress results from a person’s perception of stressors, and not from the stressors themselves • Involves primary and secondary appraisals of the situation

15. Lazarus’s Cognitive Theory of Stress cont… • Primary appraisal • Cognitive evaluation of a potentially stressful situation to determine if its effect is positive, negative, or irrelevant • Secondary appraisal • Cognitive evaluation of available resources and options for dealing with a stressful situation • Level of perceived stress is largely based on whether one’s resources are perceived as adequate for dealing with the stressor

16. Figure 10.4 Lazarus and Folkman’s Psychological Model of Stress

17. Coping Strategies • Problem-focused coping • A direct response aimed at reducing, modifying, or eliminating a source of stress • Emotion-focused coping • A response involving reappraisal of a stressor to reduce its emotional impact • A combination of these strategies is probably the best stress-management technique

18. Two Approaches to Health and Illness • Biomedical model • A perspective that explains illness solely in terms of biological factors • The predominant view in medicine for many decades • Biopsychosocial model • A perspective that views health and illness as determined by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors • Growing acceptance of this model has given rise to the field of health psychology

19. Coronary Heart Disease—Friedman and Rosenman • Type A behavior pattern • Time urgency, impatience, competitiveness, hostility, and anger • Type B behavior pattern • Relaxed, easygoing approach to life, without time urgency, competitiveness, and hostility • Type D behavior pattern • Emotional distress combined with tendency to suppress negative emotions

20. Coronary Heart Disease cont… • Type A and Type D behavior patterns are associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease • Type B behavior pattern is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease

21. The Immune System and Stress • High levels of stress weaken the immune system • Stress decreases levels of B and T lymphocytes • Stress caused by school exams, poor marital relationships, sleep deprivation, and depression is correlated with increased symptoms of many infectious diseases • Colds • Flu • Mononucleosis • Oral and genital herpes

22. Reducing the Impact of Stress and Illness • Research has identified several psychological factors that can improve quality of life and reduce distress in cancer patients • Maintaining an optimistic outlook • Accepting the reality of the situation • Keeping a sense of humor • Social support • Coping strategies that increase distress include • Denial • Social withdrawal

23. Reducing the Impact of Stress and Illness cont… • Optimism • Optimists are more stress-resistant than pessimists, and had lower death rates in a long-term study in Finland • Hardiness • Combination of commitment, control, and challenge • Hardy individuals tend to remain healthy despite high levels of stress

24. Reducing the Impact of Stress and Illness cont… • Religious faith • Religious involvement is associated with lower rates of cancer, heart disease, and stroke • Social Support • Tangible and/or emotional support provided by family members, friends, and others • People with high levels of social support • Are less likely to catch colds • Have lower levels of depression when suffering from chronic illnesses • Recover faster from illness • Have higher probability of surviving a heart attack