Stress& Coping (UPdated) MRO

Stress & Coping
What is stress?
• Stress is people’s response to
events that threaten or challenge
them.
• Stress can be defined as any type

of change that causes physical,
emotional or psychological strain.
• Stress is your body's response to

anything that requires attention
or action. Everyone experiences
stress to some degree.
What is stress?
• Whether it is a paper or an exam deadline,
a family problem, or even the ongoing
threat of a terrorist attack, life is full of
circumstances and events known as
stressors.
• Stress is a very personal thing. Although

certain kinds of events, such as the death
of a loved one or participation in military
combat, are universally stressful, other
situations may or may not be stressful to a
specific person.
The two sides of stress: distress and eustress
Categorizing Stressors
• Cataclysmic events are strong stressors that occur suddenly and
typically affect many people simultaneously.
• Disasters such as tornadoes and plane crashes, terrorist
attacks are examples of cataclysmic events that can affect
hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously.
• Although it might seem that cataclysmic events would produce
potent, lingering stress, in many cases they do not.
• Once those are over, people can look to the future knowing that
the worst is behind them.
• Moreover, there are others who also experienced the disaster
share the stress induced by cataclysmic events.
• Such sharing permits brings another social support and a
firsthand understanding of the difficulties.
• The second major category of stressor is
the personal stressor.
• Personal stressors include major life

events such as the death of a parent or
spouse, the loss of one’s job, a major
personal failure, or even something
positive such as getting married.
• Typically, personal stressors produce an

immediate major reaction that soon tapers
off (people begin to feel less stress and are
better able to cope with the loss after the
passage of time).
Background stressors, or more commonly, daily hassles, are
the third major category of stressors.
• Standing in a long line at a bank and getting stuck in a traffic

jam, daily hassles are the minor irritations of life that we all
face time and time again.
• Another type of background stressor is a long-term, chronic

problem, such as experiencing dissatisfaction with school or a
job, being in an unhappy relationship etc.
Impact of severe stress: PTSD
• Some victims of major catastrophes and severe personal
stressors experience post traumatic stress disorder, or
PTSD.
• In PTSD a person has experienced a significantly stressful

event that has long-lasting effects that may include
re-experiencing the event in vivid flashbacks or dreams.
• An episode of PTSD may be triggered by an otherwise

innocent stimulus, such as the sound of a honking horn, that
leads a person to re-experience a past event that produced
considerable stress.
Impact of severe stress experience: PTSD
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health
condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either
experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include
flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as
uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
• Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder also include
emotional numbing, sleep difficulties, interpersonal
problems, alcohol and drug abuse, and in some cases
suicide.
• For instance, the suicide rate for military veterans, many

of whom participated in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is
twice as high as for nonveterans.
PTSD
• Around 16% of soldiers returning from Iraq show symptoms
of PTSD.
• Those who have experienced child abuse or rape, rescue

workers facing overwhelming situations, and victims of
sudden natural disasters or accidents that produce
feelings of helplessness and shock.
• Terrorist attacks produce high incidences of PTSD.
• But the responses varied significantly with a resident’s

proximity to the attacks.
• People who live nearer to the incidents get more affected.
The High Cost of Stress
• Stress can produce both biological and psychological
consequences.
• Often the most immediate reaction to stress is biological.

• Exposure to stressors generates a rise in hormone secretions by the
adrenal glands, an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
• Continued exposure to stress results in a decline in the body’s

overall level of biological functioning because of the constant
secretion of stress-related hormones.
• Over time, stressful reactions can promote deterioration of body

tissues such as blood vessels and the heart.
• We become more susceptible to disease as our ability to fight off

The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Model: The Course of Stress
• General adaptation syndrome (GAS), suggests that the physiological response to

stress follows the same set pattern regardless of the cause of stress.
• GAS mentions stress has three phases.

• The first stage—Alarm and mobilization- When people become aware of the
presence of a stressor. On a biological level, the sympathetic nervous system
becomes energized, which helps a person cope initially with the stressor.
• If the stressor persists, people move into the second response stage: resistance-
• The body is actively fighting the stressor on a biological level.
• During resistance, people use a variety of means to cope with the stressor—
• Sometimes successfully but at a cost of some degree of physical or psychological
well-being.
The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Model: The Course of Stress
• second response stage: resistance-

• After the initial shock of a stressful event and having a fight-or-flight response, the
body begins to repair itself.
• It releases a lower amount of cortisol, and your heart rate and blood pressure begin
to normalize.
• Although your body enters this recovery phase, it remains on high alert for a while.
• If you overcome stress and the situation is no longer an issue, your body continues
to repair itself until your hormone levels, heart rate, and blood pressure reach a
pre-stress state.
• If resistance is inadequate, people enter the last stage of the GAS: exhaustion.
The General Adaptation Syndrome Model: The Course Of Stress
Third stage: Exhaustion
• This stage is the result of prolonged or

chronic stress.
• Struggling with stress for long periods can
drain your physical, emotional, and mental
resources to the point where your body no
longer has strength to fight stress.
• You may give up or feel your situation is
hopeless.
The General Adaptation Syndrome Model: The Course Of Stress
Third stage: Exhaustion

• During the exhaustion stage, a person’s ability to fight the
stressor declines to the point where negative consequences of
stress appear:
• fatigue
• burnout
• depression
• anxiety
• decreased stress tolerance
• weaken your immune system
Moreover- physical illness and psychological symptoms in the form
of an inability to concentrate, heightened irritability, or, in severe
cases, disorientation and a loss of touch with reality.
Why is stress so damaging to the immune system?
• One reason is that stress may overstimulate body.

• Rather than fighting invading bacteria, viruses, and other foreign
invaders, it may begin to attack the body itself and damage healthy
tissue.
• Stress can also decrease the immune system response, permitting

germs that produce colds to reproduce more easily or allowing cancer
cells to spread more rapidly.
Coping with stress effectively
• Stress is a normal part of life—and not necessarily a completely bad part.

• For example, without stress, we might not be sufficiently motivated to
complete the activities we need to accomplish.
• However, too much stress can take a toll on physical and psychological
health.
• Positive ways of coping with stress, which fall into two main categories
:
• 1.Emotion-focused coping. In emotion-focused coping, people try to

manage their emotions when they are stressful by changing the way they
feel about or perceive a problem.
Coping with stress
• 2. Problem-focused coping. Problem-focused coping attempts to

modify the stressful problem or source of stress. Problem-focused
strategies lead to changes in behavior or to the development of a plan
of action to deal with stress.
• People often employ several types of coping strategies simultaneously.

• They use emotion-focused strategies more frequently when they
perceive circumstances as being unchangeable and problem-focused
strategies more often in situations they see as relatively modifiable.
Coping with stress
• 3. Social support:
• Our relationships with others also help us cope with stress.
• Researchers have found that social support, the knowledge that we are
part of a mutual network of caring, enables us to experience lower
levels of stress and better cope with the stress we do undergo.
• Again, people with high levels of social support seem to be more
resilient in the face of stressful situations.
• They also have a lower perception of stress in general and have less of
a physiological response to life's stressors.

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Stress & Coping

• Stress can be defined as any type

• Stress is your body's response to

• Stress is a very personal thing. Although

• Personal stressors include major life

• Typically, personal stressors produce an

• Standing in a long line at a bank and getting stuck in a traffic

• Another type of background stressor is a long-term, chronic

• In PTSD a person has experienced a significantly stressful

• An episode of PTSD may be triggered by an otherwise

• For instance, the suicide rate for military veterans, many

• Those who have experienced child abuse or rape, rescue

• But the responses varied significantly with a resident’s

• Often the most immediate reaction to stress is biological.

• Continued exposure to stress results in a decline in the body’s

• Over time, stressful reactions can promote deterioration of body

• We become more susceptible to disease as our ability to fight off

• General adaptation syndrome (GAS), suggests that the physiological response to

• GAS mentions stress has three phases.

• second response stage: resistance-

Third stage: Exhaustion

• This stage is the result of prolonged or

Third stage: Exhaustion

• One reason is that stress may overstimulate body.

• Stress can also decrease the immune system response, permitting

• Stress is a normal part of life—and not necessarily a completely bad part.

• 1.Emotion-focused coping. In emotion-focused coping, people try to

• 2. Problem-focused coping. Problem-focused coping attempts to

• People often employ several types of coping strategies simultaneously.

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