Stress and Coping

Stress – Nonspecific response of the body to any demand made on it; the arousal, both physical and mental, to situations or events that we perceive as threatening or challenging. Can be positive (eustress) or negative (distress).

Stressor – a stressful stimulus, a condition demanding adaptation

Burnout – A syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment

Hassles – Small, everyday problems that accumulate to become a major source of stress

Frustration: unpleasant tension resulting from a blocked goal

Conflict: forced choice between two or more incompatible goals or impulses

--Approach-Approach: forced choice between two or more desirable alternatives
--Avoidance-Avoidance: forced choice between two or more undesirable alternatives
--Approach-Avoidance: forced choice between two or more alternatives both having desirable & undesirable results

Social Readjustment Ratings Scale – A psychological rating scale designed to measure stress levels by means of values attached to common life changes (see Life Changes in your notes)

Acute stress – A temporary pattern of arousal caused by a stressor with a clear onset and offset

Chronic stress – A continuous state of stressful arousal persisting over time (and the parasympathetic nervous system cannot activate the relaxation response)

General adaptation syndrome (GAS) – A pattern of general physical responses that takes essentially the same form in responding to any serious chronic stressor


Psychoneuroimmunology – Multidisciplinary field that studies the influence of mental states on the immune system

Immunosuppression – Diminished effectiveness of the immune system caused by impairment (suppression) of the immune response

Type A – behavior pattern characterized by intense, angry, competitive, or perfectionistic responses to challenging situations



Type B –behavior pattern characterized by a relaxed, unstressed approach to life

Learned helplessness – Pattern of not responding to noxious stimuli after an organism learns that its behavior has no effect


Cognitive hardiness – Mental quality of resistance to stress, based on a sense of challenge, commitment, and control

Resilience – Capacity to adapt, achieve well-being, and cope with stress, in spite of serious threats to development

Emotion-focused coping – Responding to stress by controlling one’s emotional responses

Problem-focused coping – Responding to stress by identifying, reducing, and eliminating the stressor

Social support – Resources others provide to help an individual cope with stress

• Tangible
• Informational
• Support groups
  

Optimistic style of thinking – pattern of thinking that interprets stressors as external in origin, temporary, and specific in their effects

Health psychology – Psychological specialty devoted to understanding how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when ill

Stress quiz

Rotter's Internal and External Locus of Control

Locus of Control Quiz