health, stress, and coping
TRANSCRIPT
Health, Stress, and Coping
Reporters:Paul Symon Alonzo
Joseph Hector GalangGeanne Flores
February 26, 2013
Main Reference: General Psychology for Filipino College Students
Edited by Lota A. Teh and Ma. Elizabeth J. Macapagal
Health and Psychology Health Psychology Biopsychosocial model of health Focus: AIDS in the Philippines
Stress and stressors. General Adaptation Syndrome
Coping with Stress
Overview:
Health psychology
As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is “the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.”
Health
The branch of psychology concerned with individual’s behaviors and lifestyles affecting a person’s health and illness.
Uses psychological processes to help improve the physical outcomes of individuals.
In general, health psychology is concerned with the role of cognitive, affective, behavior, and social factors affecting health illness.
Health Psychology
Central to linking the mind (realm of psychology) and the body (realm of biology) in understanding illness.
The shift to Biopsychosocial model of Health
Focus: AIDS in the Philippines
As of December 2012:Source: Philippine National AIDS Council
http://www.pnac.org.ph/uploads/documents/publications/NEC_HIV_Dec-AIDSreg2012.pdf
Social factors: Thriving commercial sex industry Failure to use condoms especially in paid sex.
Sexual cultural norms “Embarrassment, from a social psychological perspective (e.g.,
Dahl, Gorn& Weinberg, 1998), can occur when a situation poses a dilemma between a publicly observable behavior (e.g., buying condoms at a drugstore) and apprehension about negative social evaluation by others (e.g., disapproving judgments by others, like people in line at the counter or even imaginedothers not physically present like one’s parents). ”(Manalastas, 2009)
Focus: AIDS in the Philippines
Increase in casual sex among the youth.
Methamphetamine use was strongly associated with behavioral risk factors for HIV infection. (US Center for Disease Control)
Focus: AIDS in the Philippines
Stress and Stressors
Stress
Term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging.
Stressors
Stress-causing events May come from within a person or
from an external source, and ranges from mild to severe.
Kinds of stressors
Distress Eustress
External events that can cause stress
CatastrophesAcute Stress Disorder and Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder Major Life Changes Hassles
Measuring Stress Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
Measuring Stress
College Undergraduate Stress Scale
Psychological Factors
Pressure Uncontrollability Frustration Conflict
Pressure
Happens when…There are urgent demands for a
person’s behavior coming from an outside source.
Uncontrollabillity
Depends on the degree pf control a person has over a situationThe lesser the control, the greater the
stress.
Frustration
Occurs when people are blocked or prevented from achieving a desired goal or fulfilling a perceived need.External FrustrationInternal/Personal Frustration
Frustration
Responses to frustrationPersistence
• Continuation of efforts to get around whatever is causing the frustration.
Aggression• Actions meant to harm or destroy
• Displaced aggression
Frustration
Occurs when people are blocked or prevented from achieving a desired goal or fulfilling a perceived need.External FrustrationInternal/Personal Frustration
Conflict
Approach-Approach ConflictInvolves choosing between two
desirable goals. Also a “win-win” situation.
Avoidance-Avoidance ConflictInvolves choosing between two or
more unpleasant goals.
Conflict
Approach-Avoidance ConflictInvolves only one goal or event, which
may have both positive and negative aspects
Multiple Approach-Avoidance ConflictInvolves multiple goals that have both
positive and negative elements.
General Adaptation Syndrome
The General Adaptation Syndrome (or GAS) describes the body's short and long-term emotional and physical effects of stress.
What is the General Adaptation Syndrome?
Introduced by Hans Selye in 1936. Hans Selye is considered as the founding father of stress research.
He conducted a research involving rats in which he injected various extracts from the glands of the body.
The rats exhibited the same symptoms. He believed at first that he discovered a new
hormone.
GAS: A Brief History
However, after further tests using other substances and methods such as injecting formaldehyde, cutting the rats’ spinal cord, exposure to cold and forced exercise, the results were still the same.
The predictable sequence he observed on the rats is now what we call the General Adaptation Syndrome.
GAS: A Brief History
• Alarm phase
• Stage of resistance
• Exhaustion stage.
Three Stage Reaction
In the alarm phase you enter a heightened psychological and physiological arousal, known as the fight or flight response.
Stress hormones are released into the bloodstream. Adrenaline increases muscle tension, heart rate, and
causes a number of other physical effects of stress. You are now immediately equipped with enough
energy to handle it. You are more focused and alert!
The alarm phase of the general adaptation syndrome
The mind and the body attempt to adapt to the cause of stress.
Also known as the adaptation phase. Homeostasis begins restoring balance and a period of
recovery for repair and renewal takes place. Body remains alert (at a lower level) but continues
the normal functions. Stress hormone levels may return to normal but you
may have reduced defenses and adaptive energy left.
The resistance phase of the general adaptation syndrome
Exhaustion sets in. Stress has generally occurred for some time
and at this point, resistance can drop off and the activity returns to the point before the emergency.
Characterized by issues such as burnout and exhaustion.
Body’s immune system that fights off disease and infection is weakened.
The exhaustion phase of the general adaptation syndrome
Chronic stress can damage nerve cells in tissues and organs. Particularly vulnerable is the hippocampus section of the brain. Thinking and memory are likely to become impaired, with tendency toward anxiety and depression.
The exhaustion phase of the general adaptation syndrome
Coping
Coping
“The process of managing external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person.” By Lazarus and Folkman (1984)
Basically…
Coping is anything we do to deal with stress!
Coping is divided into two basic types:
• Problem-focused Coping
• Emotion-focused Coping
Problem-Focused Coping
Problem-Focused strategies includes:Defining the problem.Generating the alternative
solutions.Weighing those solutions.Implementing the selected
alternative.
Emotion-Focused Coping
- Means concentrating on alleviating the emotions associated with the stressful situatione.
- Especially when the situation is beyond one’s control.
This involves cognitive strategies, some behavioral strategies to cope with negative feelings are exercise, use of alcohol, drugs, releasing anger and seeking emotional support from friends.(Atkinson et al., 1996)
Defense Mechanism
1. Repression2. Rationalization3. Projection4. Intelectualization5. Denial6. Displacement
Positive Thinking
Religion
Stress Management Programs
Culture related to Stress and coping
What people find stressful and how they respond to stress is partly patterned by culture (Western,1996)
1. Cultural context shapes the types of stressors we experience.
2. Culture may affect how we appraise the stressfulness of a given event.
3. Culture affects our individual choice of coping strategy.
4. Culture provide different institutional mechanisms for coping with stress.