Stress, Anxiety and Coping Stratigies
Stress, Anxiety and Coping Stratigies
Stress, Anxiety and Coping Stratigies
• Can
Mind– psychological
Body stress cause
physical illness?
ENDURING ISSUES
• To what extent do
Diversity– people respond
Universality differently to
severe stress?
What Is Stress?
Stressor
• Any environmental demand that creates
state of tension or threat (stress) and
requires change or adaptation (adjustment)
Types Of Stress
• Eustress
Stress that is helpful.
Hans Selye (1980) referred that eustress is healthy, useful and
necessary to keep us alert.
• Harmful Stress
This stress is intense or prolonged stress can overtax adjusting
capacities affect our moods, impair our ability to experience
pleasure and harm the body
• Daily Hassles
Notable daily conditions and experiences that are threatening or
harmful to a person’s well-being.
Types of Daily Hassles
• Household hassles
• Health hassles
• Time-pressure hassles
• Inner concern hassles
• Environmental hassles
• Financial responsibility hassles
• Work hassles
• Future security hassles
• Uplifts
Notable pleasant daily conditions and experiences.
• Holmes and Rahe (1967) found that people who earned 300
or more on the life-change units with in a year according to
their scale they are more likely to have health problems.
Nature of Stress
• Stress is a very personal thing i.e. for one
person stressful event might not be stressful
for other one.
• The interpretation of events are to an
extent responsible for stress e.g. if a person
doesn't get a job and he thinks that is because of his inability,
incompetence or poor academic career.
• But if he attributes it to other factors un related to his self esteem,
such as the job place was prefilled or destiny has planned something
better fro him etc. The experience of not getting a job may create no
stress at all.
SOURCES OF STRESS
• Personal stressors
Major life events, such as death of a family member that have
immediate consequences that generally fade with time.
• Background Stressors
Everyday annoyances, such as being struck in traffic that causes minor
irritations and mood swings can have long term ill effects if they
continue or are compounded by other stressful events.
Change
Losses
Lack of
Failure
resources
Sources of
Delays Discrimination
Frustration
Conflict
Conflict
• Simultaneous existence of
incompatible demands, opportunities,
needs, or goals.
Conflict
Being torn in different directions by opposing
motives. Feeling produced by being in conflict
can be said to a stress
• approach/approach
• avoidance/avoidance
• approach/avoidance
➢ Approach-Approach conflict
A type of conflict in which the goals that produce opposing
motives are positive and within reach.
➢ Avoidance-Avoidance conflict
A type of conflict in which the goals are negative, but
avoidance of one requires approaching the other.
➢ Approach-avoidance conflict
A type of conflict in which the same goal produces approach
avoidance motives.
Self-Imposed Stress
Internal External
locus of locus of
control control
• See self as • More likely
able to to appraise
affect their events
situations negatively
Stress and Individual Differences
Optimists
• Appraise events as challenges
rather than threats
• Cope better with stressful
events
Pessimists
• Appraise events as threats
• Are more likely to dwell on
failure
Stress and Individual Differences
Direct coping
Types
of
Defense
Mechanisms
Regression
Intellectualization
Reaction formation
Displacement
Sublimation
Socioeconomic, Cultural, and Gender
Differences in Coping with Stress
Cultural
Background
Low-
Influences
Income
Groups
Socioeconomic, Cultural, and Gender
Differences in Coping with Stress
Gender Difference
• Experiencing stress
• Using different coping strategies
• Turning to alcohol
• Ruminating and revisiting negative
emotions and events
HOW STRESS AFFECTS HEALTH
Health Psychology
• Subfield of psychology
• Concerned with relationship between
psychological factors and physical health and
illness
• Relationship between acute or chronic stress
and various diseases
• Stress management and disease prevention
Stress and Fear
Alarm Stage
o People become aware of the presence of stressor.
o At biological level sympathetic nervous system becomes
energized helping a person cope initially with the stressor.
Resistance Stage
o During this stage body prepares to fight the stressor.
o People use different means to cope up with the stressor.
Exhaustion Stage
o If the resistance is inadequate person enters into this stage if
2nd stage is in adequate that is exhaustion.
Stress and Heart Disease
Heart Disease
Stress is major
contributing factor in Type A behavior Type D behavior
coronary heart patterns patterns
disease (CHD)
Stress and Heart Disease
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
Social support
Religious practices
Extreme stress
markedly changes
individual’s life and full
recovery is difficult
Sources of Extreme Stress
Unemployment
Catastrophes
• psychological disorder
• caused by severely
stressful events
Posttraumatic • characterized by
Stress episodes of anxiety,
sleeplessness, and
Disorder nightmares
(PTSD) • exposure to severe
trauma and incidence
of development of
PTSD
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• particularly stable
individuals experience a
positive form of personal
growth
• emerges largely from an
individual’s struggle to
Posttraumatic reconcile their loss through
religious or existential
Growth (PTG) understanding
• related to personality,
psychological well-being,
and effective cognitive
coping strategies
• more likely found in young
adults than in older people
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Related to amount of
Beliefs Consequences
Activating Event
Personality Types And Stress
• On the basis of stress personality can be divided into two
types.
❖ Type A personality
▪ They are highly driven, competitive,
impatient and aggressive.
▪ They feel rushed and under pressure all
the time and keep one eye firmly on the clock.
❖ Type B personality
▪ They are relax more readily and focus more on the quality of
life.
▪ They are less ambitious and less impatient while doing any
work.
Disorders Caused By Stress
• Psychophysiological Disorders
✓ Medical problems influenced by an
✓ interaction of psychological, emotional
✓ and physical difficulties.
✓ Stress is a cause for Psychophysiological disorders like high
blood pressure, headaches, backaches etc.
Phobic Disorder
An intense, irrational fear of a specific
object or situation.
Panic Disorder
Anxiety disorder that takes the form of panic attacks lasting form a
few seconds to as long as several hours.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The experience of long-term, persistence anxiety and worry.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
A disorder characterized by
obsessions and compulsions.
Obsession
A persistent unwanted thought
or idea that keeps on reoccurring.
Compulsion
An irresistible urge to repeatedly carry
out same act that seem strange and unreasonable.