Stress

response to a stressor (stimulus in the environment), strains our ability to cope

Trauma

stressor so severe it can cause long-term psychological or health consequences

Stressors as Stimuli

Identifying different types of stressful events

Stress as a Transaction

how people interpret and cope with stressful events

Primary appraisal

decide if an event is harmful

Secondary appraisal

perceive how well we can cope with it

Stress as a Response

psychological and physical reactions to stressful events

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

measures stressfulness of major life events

Hassles Scale

measures how small annoyances to major daily pressures affect our adjustment

Interview

in-depth pictures of life stress over self-report measures

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA)

gauge how stress and coping unfold in everyday life (out of the lab, in real time)

Selye’s General adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Stress response pattern with 3 stages

Alarm

Fight-or-flight response, stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol

Resistance

adapts to stressors and finds a way to cope, rationalization

Exhaustion

resistance breaks down, causing our levels of activation to bottom out

Tend and befriend

befriending or turning to others for support

Oxytocin

love and bonding hormone, counters stress and promotes trust

Eustress

good stress, events that are challenging but not overwhelming (distress=bad stress)

Posttraumatic stress disorder

Following extremely stressful life events, vivid flashbacks

Behavioural Control

Step up and do something to reduce impact of stressful situations

Cognitive Control

Cognitively restructure or think differently about negative emotions

Decisional Control

Choose among alternative courses of action

Informational Control

Acquire information about a stressful event, anticipate, minimize

Emotional Control

Suppress and express emotions

Problem-focused

do something to reduce stress

Emotion-focused

navigate emotions to adjust to stress

Proactive

anticipate stressful events, take steps to minimize or prevent them

Avoidant-orientated

avoiding action to solve our problems, giving up hope

Acceptance-based

accepting circumstances, feelings we can’t change

Meaning-focused

finding meaning and purpose in everyday activities

Ruminating

focusing on how bad we feel, repetitive negative thoughts

Catharsis

expressing and releasing strong emotions, painful feelings

Hardiness

sense of control over events, commitment to life and work, courage and motivation

Optimism

don’t dwell on the bad, better at handling frustration and stress

Spirituality

search for the sacred, fosters purpose, social support, and self-control

Psychoneuroimmunology

study of the relationship between the immune system and central nervous system (emotions and reactions to environment)

people exposed to colds are more likely to get sick

Stress impairs immune defense

Psychophysiological illnesses

emotions and stress contributed illnesses (asthma, ulcers)

Biopsychosocial perspective

most medical conditions are neither all physical nor all psychological, product of biological, psychological, and social factors

Coronary heart disease

blockage of arteries that provide oxygen to the heart

Type A personality

competitive, ambitious and hostile (most predictive of heart disease)

Health psychologist

integrates behavioral sciences with the practice of medicine

Personal inertia

to try something new (difficult to overcome new things)

Misestimating risk

underestimate certain risks and overestimate others

Feel powerless

just the way it's always been, helpless

Alternative medicine

health care practices and products replacing conventional medicine

Complementary medicine

products and practices used together with conventional medicine

CAM treatments are

no more effective than placebos