Stress

• a person’s biological and psychological reactions to adjustive demands

• a response to the demands for adjustment (usually in the environment)

  • may be internal or external

Types of Stress

• Eustress: positive situation

  • getting into the Dean’s List

• Distress: negative situation

  • failing on a major subject

Categories of Stressors

• Frustration: occurs when a person’s strivings toward a goal are blocked or by the absence of an appropriate goal

  • happens because you want something; goal is blocked or inappropriate

• Conflict: presence of 2 or more incompatible needs

  • Types of Conflict:

    • Approach-Avoidance Conflict

      • strong tendencies to approach and to avoid the same goal

    • Double Approach Conflict

      • choice between 2 or more desirable goals

    • Double Avoidance Conflict

      • choice between undesirable alternatives

• Pressure: a force that requires one to speed up, intensify effort, or change the direction of goal-oriented behavior

  • may be internal or external

What Makes Something Stressful?

Factors Predisposing an Individual to Stress

• Nature of Stressor: EXTERNAL

  • Importance: level of importance or how important it is to you

  • Duration: “How long does the stressor lasts?”

  • Cumulative Effect: stressors pile up; daily hassles

  • Multiplicity: stressors occur all at once

  • Imminence: imminent (very close); the closer the stressor is, the more impactful

  • Involvement: how involved you are = the amount of stress you feel

  • Degree of Control: high sense of control over the stressor = the less stressed you are

• Perception of Threat and Stress Tolerance: INTERNAL

  • Stress Tolerance: ability to withstand stress without becoming seriously impaired

    • something that you build up

    • better to be exposed to low level stress

  • “How tolerant am I of stress?”

  • If you perceive something as a threat, you are going to be stressed → fight or flight response

• External Resources and Social Support: EXTERNAL

  • Social Support: buffer for possible development of mental disorder

Coping Strategies

• Coping: efforts to deal with stress

• Levels of Coping with Stress

  • Biological: immunological defenses and damage-repair mechanisms

  • Psychological: learned coping patterns, defenses, social support

  • Sociocultural: group resources

• Basic Coping Strategies

  • Task-Oriented Coping: directed primarily at dealing with the requirements of the stressor

    • problem solving

    • “active way of coping”

    • addressing the problem head on

    • “Reducing Time Together"“: reducing but not completely cutting off

  • Defense-Oriented Coping: directed primarily at protecting the self from hurt and disorganization

    • psychological damage-repair mechanisms

    • ego-defense mechanisms

    • not directly dealing with it

    • emotional or psychological damage control

    • “passive way of coping”

    • “Ghosting”: possible that the person would continue to contact you

• Decompensation: process of lowering of adaptive functioning in biological and psychological levels

• General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): a model proposed by Hans Selye that explains the course of biological and psychological decompensation under excessive stress

  • 3 Major Phases of GAS

    • Alarm Reaction: a person’s resources for coping with stress are alerted and mobilized

      • fight or flight response

      • Biological: obvious physiological signs

    • Resistance: maximum level of adaptation in the use of biological and psychological resources

    • Exhaustion: adaptive resources are depicted and the coping patterns for resistance began to fail

      • when all resources and adaptation are stopped or depicted and resistance starts to fail

      • you need to take a break and replenish yourself

• Burnout can happen if it’s prolonged (may manifest in resistance and/or exhaustion stage)