Ch.13 Stress, Coping, and Health

Summarize the link between emotional reactions, depression, and heart disease. Can depression lead to cardiac disease?

A depressive state of mind can induce depression and heart disease by changing the actual chemistry of the body and yes there is a correlation.

What is acquired immune deficiency syndrome? Summarize the link between behavior and AIDS. (Be sure to address how HIV is transmitted, and how one can minimize the risk of developing AIDS.)

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a disorder in which the immune system is gradually weakened and eventually disabled by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The HIV virus is transmitted through person-to-person contact involving the exchange of bodily fluids, primarily semen and blood. One can minimize the risk of developing AIDS is by noncausal contact like kissing, hugging, and sharing food with infected individuals.

Distinguish between the following types of conflict: approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, and approach-avoidance.

Approach-approach conflict, a choice must be made between two attractive goals. Avoidance-avoidance conflict, a choice must be made between two unattractive goals. Approach-avoidance conflict, a choice must be made about whether to pursue a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects.

Summarize the importance of relaxation, exercise, and sleep to one's health.

By keeping one's body in a constant state of stress is not good for the body and therefore relaxation under the effects of stress and promotes a calmer mindset.

Analyze the adaptive value of using humor, releasing pent-up emotions, and forgiving others.

By using humor, releasing pent-up emotions, and forgiving others are all cathartic and reduce stress and promote happiness.

Define catastrophic thinking. Summarize Albert Ellis's ideas about controlling one's emotions.

Catastrophic thinking involves unrealistically pessimistic appraisals of stress that exaggerate the magnitude of one's problems. Albert Ellis believed that people become very self critical when dealing the failings of stress.

What is constructive coping? Describe the four features of constructive coping.

Constructive coping to refer to relatively healthful efforts that people make to deal with stressful event. Constructive coping involves confronting problems directly. Constructive coping is based on reasonably realistic appraisals of your stress and coping resources. Constructive coping often involves reappraising stressful events in less threatening ways. And constructive coping includes making efforts to ensure that your body is not especially vulnerable to the potentially damaging effects of stress.

Define coping and learned helplessness. Summarize the link between stress and (a) giving up, and (b) blaming oneself.

Coping refers to efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress. Learned helplessness is passive behavior produced by exposure to unavoidable aversive events. For giving up, research suggests that when people struggle to pursue goals that turn out to be unattainable. For blaming oneself, the tendency to become highly self-critical in response to stress has been noted by a number of influential theorists.

Define defense mechanisms. What do they defend against? How do defense mechanisms work? Are defense mechanisms healthy?

Defense mechanism are largely unconscious reactions that protects a person from unpleasant emotions, such as anxiety and guilt. The main purpose of defense mechanisms is to shield individuals from the unpleasant emotions so often elicited by stress. Defense mechanism work at varying levels of awareness although they're largely unconscious. No they are not healthy they lay the foundation for triggers of upsetting emotional responses later in life.

Summarize positive effects of stress.

For the positive effects of stress, sometimes people develop new skills in receive a sense of accomplishment in doing a job well done.

Define the following: frustration and conflict.

Frustration is experienced whenever the pursuit of some goal is thwarted. Conflict occurs when two or more incompatible motivations or behavioral impulses compete for expression.

State how health is affected by smoking, alcohol & drug use, and a lack of exercise.

Health is affected by smoking by how smoking increases the likelihood of developing a surprisingly large range of diseases that include lung cancer, heart diseases, oral, bladder, and kidney cancer, also cancer of the larynx, esophagus, and pancreas; for arteriosclerosis, hypertension, stroke, and other cardiovascular disease; and for bronchitis, emphysema, and other pulmonary diseases. For alcohol and drug use to lead to an rise for infectious diseases; respiratory, pulmonary, and cardiovascular diseases; liver disease; gastrointestinal problems; cancer; neurological disorders; and pregnancy complications. And the lack of exercise can lead to enhance cardiovascular fitness and reduce cardiovascular problems, exercise can indirectly reduce one's risk for a variety of obesity-related problems, exercise can help diminish chronic inflammation, and exercise can serve as a buffer that reduces the damaging physical effects of stress.

What is optimism? Summarize the link between stress and optimism. Also, summarize the link between stress and conscientiousness. Distinguish between the stress-is-debilitating-mindset from the stress-is-enhancing mindset.

Optimism is as a general tendency to expect good outcomes. Usually people that optimistic tend to show lower stress levels. Some people display adverse effects of stress while others thrive under the conditions it all depends on the person. Stress-is-debilitating-mindset is when most people assume stress is generally harmful. Stress-is-enhancing mindset, some people view stress as an invigorating challenge and opportunity for growth.

What are psychosomatic diseases? What is coronary heart disease? Also, distinguish between Type A and Type B personalities. Which specific component(s) of Type A personality is/are most related to coronary heart disease?

Psychosomatic diseases was believed that stress contributed to the development of only a few physical diseases, such as high blood pressure, ulcers, and asthma. Coronary heart disease involves a reduction in blood flow in the coronary arteries, which supply the heart with blood. Type A personality includes three elements: (1) a strong competitive orientation, (2) impatience and time urgency, and (3) anger and hostility. Type B personality is marked by relatively relaxed, patient, easygoing, amicable behavior. Anger and hostility is a specific component of Type A personality for coronary heart disease.

What is social support? Summarize the link between stress and social support.

Social support refers to various types of aid and emotional sustenance by members of one's social network. The link between stress and social support is that it is usually when social support is present stress decreases.

Summarize the many factors that affect adherence to medical advice.

Some of the problems that people might affect adherence to medical advice is that patients may not understand medical advice and patients may not take prescribed medication.

Define stress. Distinguish between primary and secondary appraisal.

Stress as any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one's well-being and tax one's coping abilities. Primary appraisal is an initial evaluation if whether an event is (1) irrelevant to you, (2) relevant but not threatening, or (3) stressful. Secondary appraisal, which is an evaluation of your coping resources and options for dealing with the stress.

What is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale? Does research suggest that change is inherently stressful? Is pressure more strongly related to measures of mental health (such as the SRRS) and other measures of stress?

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale is use to identifying major stressful life events. Each one of the 43 stressful life events was awarded a Life Change Unit depending on how traumatic it was felt to be by a large sample of participants. And yes pressure is more strongly related to measures of mental health and other measures of stress.

What is the biopsychosocial model?

The biopsychosocial model holds that physical illness is caused by a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Summarize the effects of emotional arousal to stress. What is the inverted-U hypothesis?

The effect of emotional arousal to stress is the product of the physiological arousal and the cognition regarding the state of arousal. Thus, cognition determines how the physical response is labeled; for example, as "anger", "joy", or "fear." The inverted-U hypothesis is the relationship between changes in arousal and motivation is often expressed as an inverted-U function.

What is the endocrine system? Discuss, in detail, the two brain-body pathways in stress. What is neurogenesis? Does stress impact it?

The endocrine system consists of glands located at various sites in the body that secrete chemicals called hormones. The first pathway is routed through the autonomic nervous system, your hypothalamus activates the sympathetic division of the ANS and it a key part of this activation involves stimulating the central part of the adrenal glands (adrenal medulla) to release large amount of catecholamines into the bloodstream. These hormones radiate throughout your body, producing a number of physiological changes, the net result of catecholamine elevation is that your body is mobilized for action. The second pathway involves more direct communication between the brain and the endocrine system, the hypothalamus sends signals to the so-called master gland of the endocrine system, the pituitary gland. The pituitary secretes a hormone (ACTH) that stimulates the outer part of the adrenal glands (adrenal cortex) to release another important set of hormones-corticosteroids. These hormones stimulate the release of chemicals that help increase your energy and help inhibit tissue inflammation in case of injury. Neurogenesis is the formation of new neurons. Research indicates that these appraisal processes originate in brain systems that also control physiological stress reactions in the body. Separate lines of research in health psychology and behavioral medicine indicate that these physiological stress reactions confer risk for physical disease.

What is the general adaptation syndrome (GAS), and who proposed it? (Be sure to discuss the three stages of the GAS).

The general adaptation syndrome (GAS) is a model of the body's stress response, contains the three steps: Alarm, Resistance, Exhaustion responses. Han Selye proposed the general adaptation syndrome.

Provide an overview of the stress response (pgs. 462-463). Which emotions are commonly elicited through stressful events? What is the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions?

The human response to stress is complex and multidimensional. Stress affects the individual at several levels. When people are under stress, they often react emotionally, studies that have tracked stress and mood on a daily basis have found intimate relationship between the two. A person's reactions to stress at three levels: (1) emotional responses, (2) physiological responses, and (3) behavioral responses. Common emotional responses to stress include (1) annoyance, anger and rage; (2) apprehension, anxiety, and fear; and (3) dejection, sadness, and grief. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions can shed light into an alter people's mindsets, broadening their scope of attention and increasing their creativity and flexibility in problem solving. And can undo the lingering effects of negative emotions, and thus short-circuit the potentially damaging physiological responses to stress.

Summarize the major problems in deciding to seek medical treatments, and describe some barriers to effective patient-provider communication.

The is a communication gap usually between healthcare provider and patient therefore the patient will not effective follow instructions.

Summarize the important considerations in evaluating health statistics and making health decisions. Be sure to address the issues of correlation, statistical significance, and base rates.

When a person makes the correct health decisions not only early but consistently they deal with upcoming issues before they are too large to handle. Sometimes people believe that corrections exist when they really do not. SS do not provide proof but rather results. A base rate is important because it tells you if any change is significant or not.

Summarize items associated with systematic thinking about health decisions. Include in your summary how one should seek information to reduce uncertainty, make risk-benefit assessments, and seeking alternative courses of action.

A person should always effectively and cautiously evaluate any situation and weigh they risks against the reward when pursuing a course of action.

Define aggression. What is "catharsis"? Can behaving aggressively release pent-up emotions, and thus be cathartic?

Aggression is any behavior that is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally. Catharsis to refer to this release of emotional tension. It is possible but it may not be effective.

Define change (life changes) and pressure.

Life changes are any substantial alterations in one's living circumstances that require readjustment. Pressure involves expectations or demands that one behave in a certain way.

Summarize the link between stress and self-indulgence. What is "internet addiction"?

Over exposure to stress can lead a person to validate over indulging in pleasure to counter the emotional effects of stress. Internet addiction is the tendency to immerse oneself in the online world of the Internet.

What is the immune response? Summarize the link between stress, immune functioning, and illness. Also, what is the strength of the relationship between stress and health?

The immune response is the body's defensive reaction to invasion by bacteria, viral agents, or other foreign substances. Stress can decrease immunity by how long-term stress can promote inflammation. Increased stress correlates with decreased with health.