Chapter 12

Problem-focused coping

Attempting to alleviate stress directly, by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor.

Compare and contrast problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.

Contrast problem-focused coping is the attempt to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor. It's the idea of learning to cope with the stress in our life, alleviating it with emotional, cognitive or behavioral methods. An example would be if you were to have a fight with your family, you go to that family member directly to work out your situation. This type is used when you feel you have a sense of control over the situation and think you can either change it or change how you deal with it. Emotion-focused coping is when you attempt to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one's stress reaction. This is when you reach out to friends for support with dealing with an issue rather than confronting the stressor directly.

Coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is a resulted from the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart's muscles. Hypertension, family history and behavioral factors are all aspects of the risk to this type of heart disease. It's the leading cause of death in many developed countries.

Biofeedback

A technique used that involves visual or auditory feedback to gain control over involuntary bodily functions. Things such as heart rate, muscle tension, blood flow, pain perception or blood pressure are all examples of things you're trying to gain voluntary control over.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is a sustained, oxygen consuming type of physical activity that increases heart rate, lung fitness and may even alleviate depression and anxiety. Examples of this type of exercise would be jogging, swimming or biking.

General adaptation syndrome

Also known as (GAS) is Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases: alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

Which of the following have a greater negative impact on one's overall health: catastrophes, significant life changes, daily hassles. Why?

Largely scaled catastrophic events can increase the levels of depression and anxiety in one's life which in result can cause problems with concentrating and sleeping. Significant life changes on a personal level in one's life such as the loss or death of a loved one, diverse, losing a job or even changes such as marriage, leaving home may leave a person vulnerable to disease. Daily hassles such as the continuing series of small, everyday experiences that bring stress to one's life are the most significant source of stress for most people and can cause monumental damage to a person's health. It's the idea that these daily hassles are continuous and on going everyday, after awhile of encountering these issues, it's bound to have an effect on one's life.

Psychophysiological illness

Literally meaning "mind-body" illness. It's any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches.

Discuss the advantages of aerobic exercise as a technique for managing stress and fostering well-being.

Many studies have revealed that aerobic exercises can reduce stress, depression and anxiety in a human. People who do participate in this type of exercise at least three times a week manage stress better, exhibit more self confidence, feel more vigor and feel less depressed and fatigue than those are inactive. Stress and depressed people exercise less. Some studies believe that exercise is as effective as drugs but it better prevents symptoms reoccurrence. When exploring why aerobic exercise alleviates negative emotions, researchers found that exercise in some ways work like an antidepressant drug. Exercise increase arousal, thus counteracting depressions low arousal state.

Discuss the findings between stress and coronary heart disease.

Stress is a slippery concept. It's the process of appraising and responding to a threatening or challenging event. Stress is something that arises less from events themselves but more of how we appraise them. Some short-lived stressors can actually have a positive effect. It's the momentary presence that mobilizes the immune system for fending off infections and healing wounds. Extreme or prolonged stress can actually harm us. In correlation to coronary heart disease, stress can actually be a leading factor of it. The link between the two is focused around the idea of hypertension, family history and behavioral factors.

Emotion-focused coping

The attempt to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor in your life and attending to emotional needs related to one's stress reaction. When a person cannot or believe he or she cannot change a situation we may search for relief from stress by confiding in friends and reach our for support and comfort.

Explain obesity from a biopsychosocial perspective.

The biopsychosocial perspective shows that social, psychological and biological factors interact to affect our health. Obesity is an excess of body weight. It is difficult to define when a person's body weight is excessive. Many factors can lead to this disease relating to weight. Some psychologists attribute it to a strong response to external cues. Others attribute it to a set point for fat, and there is also evidence for a genetic influence on weight.

Stress

The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging.