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LP 11B reactions to stress 1 08/07/18

Physical Reactions to Stress


General Adaptation Syndrome

Prolonged stress produced enlarged adrenal cortex, shrinking of the thymus and lymph glands and ulceration of the stomach.


Physical effects of stress

The effects of stress and health are subtle, which may make it difficult for us to perceive the effects.


Physical Reactions to Stress The fight-or-flight response is an emotional and physiological reaction to an emergency that increases readiness for action in response to a threatening event. When this occurs, the HPA axis becomes activated


Stress Effects on the Immune Response Stressors can cause stress hormones (e.g. cortisol) to be released which damage the immune system making you more susceptible to illness. Those who were under stress were more likely to

• Have flare-ups of herpes simplex

• Worsen periodontal disease

• Reduce the effectiveness of vaccinations

• Have wounds heal more slowly

• Suffer colds


Stress and Cardiovascular Health

The heart and circulatory system are vulnerable to stress. Chronic stress changes the body that will increase the vulnerability to disease in the future (page 589). As stress-activated arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, blood pressure goes up and stays up and slowly damages blood vessels. These damaged vessels accumulate plaque and increases the likelihood of coronary heart disease. (page 589).


Stress and Cardiovascular Health Type A Behavior Pattern

Type A consists of a cluster of three characteristics

• An exaggerated sense of time urgency, often trying to do more in less time,

• intense ambition and competitiveness and

• a general sense of hostility, frequently displaying anger and irritation.

Type B

• More relaxed and laid back

Self-Evaluation: Which type do you tend to be?

Type A Type B

• Very competitive • Noncompetitive

• Always on the go • Relaxed, in control

• Hard driving • Easygoing

• Demands perfection • Understanding, forgiving

• Ambitious, wants quick promotions • Confident and happy in job

• Is a “workaholic”—even at play • Enjoys leisure and weekends


Stress and Cardiovascular Health Type A Behavior Pattern

Type A personalities virtually guarantees that they will encounter many stressful situations such as time pressures of their own making and barriers that anger them. What does the research in health psychology show with respect to differences in personality type (Type A versus Type B)?

• When 3,000 middle aged men were tracked for 8 years, those with a Type A personality were twice as likely to develop heart disease than Type B, even taking into account such risk factors as smoking, high blood pressure, and elevated levels of cholesterol.

Type A people with high levels of competitiveness and ambition can foster aggressive behavior and hostility when things get in their way. However… Researchers found that even within the Type A, there were differences. It was not the time urgency and being competitive that was a factor—it was the hostility.


Type A and Hostility Hostility dimension: Hostility refers to the tendency to feel anger, annoyance, resentment and contempt and to hold negative beliefs about human nature in general.

• A cynical hostility marked by suspiciousness, resentment, frequent anger, distrust and antagonism seem important in the relation between personality and stress.

• Hostile people are also prone to believing that the disagreeable behavior of others is intentionally directed at them. Thus hostile people tend to be suspicious, mistrustful, cynical and pessimistic. (page 567, 568, Hockenbury)

• Type A and Hostile personalities tend to alienate others and produce interpersonal stress and conflict which reduces the amount of social support the person has.

• Because of their attitudes, they also create more stress in their life (a self-fulfilling prophecy, and perhaps a learned behavior). The experience more frequent and more severe, negative life events and daily hassles.


People are out to get

me

When people are treated badly, they treat

me suspiciously, are cautious and hesitate

around

I will be suspicious of others and respond

harshly if they are out to get me


Hostility and Health Hostile men were five times as likely to develop heart disease and seven times as likely to die by age 50 compared to non-hostile men. Why does hostility predispose people to heart disease?

• Type A personalities tend to react more intensely to a stressor than other people do and take more time to recover. o They experience greater increases in blood pressure, heart rate and the

production of stress related hormones.

Less Hostile More Hostile


Emotion focused coping Other books may not talk about repressive coping, but something close called emotion-focused coping. Emotion-focused coping: Strategies attempt to manage the emotional response that result from stress.

• Denial—I didn’t get fired.

• Escape-avoidance—Getting fired sucks, so I am not going to think about it (getting drunk, spending money, taking a vacation etc.)

Emotion-focused coping strategies that involved avoiding feelings or taking things out on other people such as ( _________ ) predicted depression and poorer adjustment.

• Emotion focus coping may be more useful for stressors you CANNOT control.

• Emotion focused coping may be useful in the short-term, but not the long-term

• Across many different types of stressors, emotion-focused strategies that involve avoidance, denial, and wishful thinking appear to be related with less effective adaptive behavior.


• However, strategies such as identifying and changing irrational and negative thinking and learning relaxation skills to control arousal, thus can reduce the effects of stress without avoiding or distorting reality can be effective in dealing with stress.


Emotion Focused Coping and Performance Stress can create physiological arousal of the body. If the task or activity you are trying to accomplish is difficult (taking tests, new skills, etc.) stress and arousal can impair performance.


Emotion-focused coping, body management can help reduce arousal levels that will allow you to be successful. Practice can make difficult tasks easier so arousal won’t impair your performance as much.


Problem Focused Coping Problem focused coping: Strategies attempt to confront and directly deal with the demands of the situation or to change the situation so that it is no longer stressful

• Planning—I’ll fill for unemployment and start looking in the newspaper check out the employment department

• Assertive confrontation—I know that being unemployed displeases my parents, but I’ll tell them my side of the story and I don’t want them to get on my case because that will just make me angry and less efficient in finding a new job.

Problem-focused coping may not be adaptive to cope with a stressor in situations that we cannot influence or modify. In these cases, problem-solving strategies can do more harm than good ( _______-_______ can develop). Since we cannot change the situation, we may be able to change our emotional response to the situation.

• A student had to go in for some medical tests. The results would not be known for several days. To reduce the stress, he would exercise more, play games with his children and distract himself from thinking about the outcome of these medical tests.


• However, reliance on emotional-focused coping can be maladaptive if it keeps us from changing situation is which we actually do have control over.

• If we don’t understand a problem or take the effort to understand the world around us, we may rely more on repressive coping because we don’t know how to deal with the problem and engage in rational coping.

In general, problem-focused coping and seeking social support are more often associated with favorable adjustment when dealing with stress. No coping strategy or technique is equally effective in all situations (page 480). People are likely to adapt well to the stresses of life if they have the skills to use a variety of coping techniques and know how and when to apply them most effectively.


Positive Reappraisal Instead of avoiding a stressor or rationally dealing with it, we can change the way that you think about the stressor is one way to cope.


Positive Reappraisal For the first time, Remo notices that Chun wears glasses to watch television

Remo Williams: Ha!! You can’t see Chun: I can see fine Remo Williams: Then why do you wear glasses Chun (confidently) I wear glasses so that I may see more


Other stress reducing and stress managing measures

• Engage in regular exercise

• Eat a balanced diet and get enough sleep

• Use caffeine in moderation

• Don’t expect perfection from yourself or from others

• Recognize and accept your limits

• Make time for relaxation and activities you enjoy

• Strike a balance of work, school, family friends, hobbies, etc.

• Learn patience: Slow down. If you suffer from “hurry sickness,” slow down

• Seek social support. Social support can moderate the effects of stress

• Write about your feelings, especially if you don’t have someone you can talk about stressful events

• Don’t respond to stress with behaviors that will increase stress in the long run, such as overeating, drinking or using drugs

• Organize your life (remember chapter 6: Memory). It can help reduce stress, and you can practice these skills to help improve memory)

• Be proactive


Personality and Health: Hardiness

When Suzanne Kobasa looked at stress-resistant business executives who reported high levels of stressful events, and had relatively few illnesses, she identified three traits that made them hardy. Hardiness (as defined by Suzanne Kobasa), comprises of three beliefs that makes them more resilient to psychological distress and physical illness in the face of stress.

• Commitment—hardy individuals are committed to their work and families. They believe that what they are doing is important

• Control—They perceive themselves as having control over their outcomes instead of feeling powerless to influence events (see Learned Helplessness)

• Challenge—They view the demands of the situation as a challenge or opportunity instead of a threat. As a result, the situation is seen as less stressful and provided an opportunity to excel.

These hardy people had relatively exceptional coping skills. In hardiness training, participants were encouraged to examine their stressors, develop action plans for dealing with stress, explore their bodily reactions to stress, and find ways to compensate for unchangeable situations without falling into self-pity.


Perceived Control over Stressful Events

Stressors challenge you to do something to eliminate or overcome the stressor. Events are more stressful when there is nothing to do—no way to deal with the challenge. If you perceive control over stressful events, it can reduce the stress of the event.


Perceived Control over Stressful Events Having a sense of control over a stressful situation reduces the impact of stressor and decreases the feelings of anxiety and depression.

• Your sense of control had to be realistic to be adaptive. Unrealistic perceptions of control over debilitating diseases can add to the stress. Sometimes the control needs to be refocused. o Well-adjusted cancer patients accepted that they could not control the disease,

but they could control the consequences.


Perceived Control over Stressful Events

When residents of a nursing home were involved in the decision making process (e.g. deciding daily activities, where they received visitors, when they would attend a movie screening, etc), they were more active, alert, sociable, healthier and lived longer compared to residents where the decisions were made for them.

Nursing Home “Engaged” Nursing Home “Disengaged” Involved in deciding

• daily activities

• Where they received visitors

• When they would attend movie screenings

Not involved in deciding

• daily activities

• Where they received visitors

• When they would attend movie screenings

The decisions were made with the input of the residents More active, alert, sociable, healthier, and lived longer lives

These decisions were made for them Less active, alert, sociable, healthier, lived shorter lives

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