stress psychology
TRANSCRIPT
A C U T E A N D C H R O N I C S T R E S S O R S – F I G H T O R F L I G H T ?
Body’s response to stressors
Acute Stressors – Sympathomeduallary pathway – Short term
Hypothalamus
Activates
ANS – automatic nervous system
Causes
Accelerates heartbeatSNS – sympathetic nervous system
Dilating pupils
Relaxes Bladder
Stimulates the glucose realise
Atthe
sametime
SAM system –sympathetic adrenal medulla
ReleasesAdrenaline
Prepares the body for fight or flight
Adrenaline
Noradrenaline
Releases
Increases effects of SNS
PNS – Parasympathetic nervous system
Kicks in
Chronic stressors – Pituitary adrenal
system – Long term
Hypothalamus
Signals
Pituitary gland
ACTH (Adrenocorticotrophic hormone) into the bloodstream targeted at the adrenal glands
Releases
Of chemical CRF (cortico-releasing factor)
production
StimulatesAdrenal cortex
Corticosteroids
Releases
Cortisol causes the stress effects in the body
Evaluation
Strengths:
Baxter- People who did not have adrenal glands cannot produce enough cortisol and need to be given extra to survive
Objective measure – not everyone's body responds the same as this
Weaknesses:
Individual differences – everyone reacts differently to stress
Reductionist – Persons response depends on certain factors
Assumes that people are passive in there stress response
T H E I M M U N E S Y S T E M , P S Y C H I A T R I C A N D
C A R D I O V A S C U L A R D I S O R D E R S
Stress related illness
The immune system
Kiecolt-Glaser et al
Carried out a natural experiment using medical students
Took a blood test one month before stress (low stress) and another test during exam season (high stress)
Immune system functions were measured by using NK cell activity
NK cell activity was reduced in the blood test where there was low stress
Short term stress causes changes in the immune system
Evans et al
Looked at activity of the antibody – sLgA
Arranged for students to give talks to other students (mild levels of stress)
Students showed high levels sLgA during the talks but these levels decreased when it came to exam season
Proposed that stress may have two effects on the immune system up-regulation for short-term stress and down-regulation for chronic stressors
Cardiovascular disorders
Williams:
13,000 people completed a 10 question anger scale, none of these suffered from heart disease
6 years later participants health was checked again, 256 had experienced a heart attack
Those who scored high on the anger scale were 2 and ½ times more likely to get a heart attack
People who scored moderate in the anger scale were 35% more likely to experience a coronary event
Anger may lead to a cardiovascular disease
Sheps et al:
Research was based on 173 men and women all who had ischemia (reduced blood flow to the heart)
They were all given a variety of tests including a public speaking one
Blood pressure increased in half of the participants during these tests
44% of those who showed erratic heartbeat died within 3-4 years
Psychiatric disorders
Brown and Harris:
Found that if women had 3 or more children and were unemployed then they were more likely to develop depression
Working class women were also more likely to develop depression compared to middle class women because of the stress of having to leave home to work
Melchior et al:
Carried out a survey over a year with 1000 people from New Zealand aged 32 in a variety of occupations
15% of those who were in high stress jobs developed an episode of clinical depression or anxiety
8% of those who were in low stress jobs developed an episode of clinical depression or anxiety
Women tended to be affected worse than men
L I F E C H A N G E S , D A I L Y U P L I F T S A N D D A I L Y H A S S L E S
Stress in everyday life
Life changes
Holmes and Rahe
43 life events were taken from 5000 patient records
Scores for individual life events were averaged to produce a list
E.g.:
1) Death of spouse (100)
2) Divorce (73)
3) Jail term (63)
4) Personal injury (53)
Rahe
Tested Holmes and Rahe’s hypothesis
Gave 2700 men on a US cruise ship a questionnaire on the past 6 months of their lives
They combined the number of illnesses + type of illness + Severity of illness which equalled an illness score
They found a positive correlation of +0.118 which is not particularly strong of a correlation however considering the number of participants, it is significant
Life changes
Michael and Ben-Zur
Studied 130 men and women half of whom had already been divorced and the other half who had recently widowed
They looked at levels of life satisfaction
In the widowed group levels were lower after they became widowed
In the divorced it was the opposite, they had higher satisfaction levels after they got divorced
The reason for this could be because the divorced half could start dating or living with someone who they preferred making it a positive life change
Daily hassles
Bouteyre et al
Looked into the relationship between daily hassles and mental health of students during transition from school to uni
They used first year psychology students in France
Completed the hassles section of a questionnaire to measure symptoms of depression
41% of students suffered from the depression symptoms
The daily hassle of moving to uni from school can be considered as a risk factor for depression
De longis et al
Studied 75 married couples
Positive correlation of +0.59 between daily hassles and next day health problems
No relationship between life events and health
Daily uplifts
Gervais
Asked nurses to keep a diary for one month recording daily hassles and to rate their performance each day
Daily hassles were found to increase job strain and decrease job performance
Sometimes the nurses wrote that the positive compliments from the patients out weighed the daily hassles and improved nurses performance
General evaluation
Daily hassles accumulate over the day and provide a more significant source of stress
Severe life events may make patients more susceptible to daily hassles
Participants may not correctly remember the hassles the had in one day
Research is correlational meaning there is no clear cause and effect
W O R D L O A D A N D C O N T R O L
Workplace stress
Workplace stress
Johansson et al 14 ‘finishers’ in a saw mill were compared to 10 cleaners in the same
mill Urine samples were taken of all participants on work days and rest
days The ‘finishers’ secreted more stress hormones (adrenaline and
Noradrenaline) on a work day compared to a rest day The ‘finishers’ generally secreted more stress hormones than the
cleaners on work and rest days The ‘finishers’ showed higher levels of stress-related illness such as
headaches Evaluation The study does not identify which stressors were more stressful Individual differences Cannot be generalised – Swedish experiment using 14 people High ecological validity – natural observation
Marmot et al 7372 British participants aged between 35-55 were part of a 5 year
longidtutional study All participants were sent a questionnaire and took part in a screening
exam for cardiovascular disease Employment grades were split into 3 categories; admissive executive
and clerical/support staff Participants in the lowest grade (clerical/support staff) were 3 times
more likely to develop chronic heart disorder (CHD) Found no link between workload and stress-related illness and
determined the job demand was no a factor
T Y P E A P E R S O N A L I T Y A N D T H E H A R D Y P E R S O N A L I T Y
Personality factors and stress
Type A personality
Friedman and Rosenman
Investigated the links between Type A behaviour patterns and cardiovascular disease
3200 men from California between the ages of 39-59 were categorised as type A, B or X
Behaviour in interviews were assessed
All men were perfectly healthy at the start of the study
At the end of the study after 8 ½ years, 257 men developed CHD of which 70% were type A
This proves that being a type A personality has a risk factor of getting heart disease
Evaluation
Interview bias
Demand characteristics
Andocentric
All from California
Ragland and Brand carried out a follow up study
After doing the same process, 22 years later 214 of the men had died
This study showed other risk factors as more important such as age, smoking and blood pressure finding little link between being a Type A and CHD
The hardy personality
The hardiness personality had 3 main factors:
Control – Hardy people see themselves as being in charge of their life not being controlled by outside factors
Commitment – Hardy people are involved in the world around them and have a sense of purpose
Challenge – Hardy people see challenges as problems to overcome rather than stressors
Kobasa
Studied 800 American Businessmen
According the Holmes and Rahes stress scale, 150 of the men were classified as high stress
Among the 150 men, some had low illness records despite having high stress levels
This suggested that something else was modifying the effects of stress
Kobasa suggested that therefore ‘hardy’ people encourage resilience
B I O L O G I C A L A N D P S Y C H O L O G I C A L M E T H O D S O F
S T R E S S M A N A G E M E N T
Coping with stress
Coping with stress (Problem and emotional)
Problem-focused coping
The use of strategies designed directly to alleviate the stressful situation
Common problem-focused coping strategies are:
Taking control of a stressful situation (e.g- finding out as much as possible about a disease and taking steps to deal with it)
Evaluating the pros and cons of a situation (e.g- choosing whether or not to have surgery)
Suppressing competing activities (e.g- avoiding the temptations of surgery due to work commitments)
Emotion-focused coping
The use of strategies that deal only with the emotional distress associated with stressful events
Common emotion-focused coping strategies are:
Denial – going on as if nothing had happened; just not thinking about it
Focusing – venting emotions by crying or becoming angry
Wishful thinking – Dwelling on what might have been if this hadn’t happened
Coping with stress (Problem and emotional)
Research
Health:
Penley et al – studied nursing students and found that problem-focused coping was positively correlated with overall health outcomes whereas emotion-focused coping was associated with poor overall health outcomes
Exam stress:
Folkman and Lazarus – Looked into how students coped with dealing with stress in the run up to exam season and during the waiting for results. They found that both emotion and problem-focused coping were used in both stages but emotion-focused coping was used more during the waiting for results stage and problem-focused coping was used more in the run up to exam season.
Threat:
Rukholm and Viverais examined the relationship between stress, threat and coping. They found that if a person has a lot of stress produced from one stressor then they may have to deal with the anxiety through emotion-focused coping first before considering problem-focused.
Coping with stress (Problem and emotional)
Evaluation:
Some items in the common ways of coping with stress are not appropriate for all different stressors.
¾ of the items were inappropriate for health problems
Lazarus suggests that emotion-focused coping may be unhelpful when experiencing serious symptoms of ill health as it delays the person receiving proper help
Biological stress managment
Benzodiazepines
Slow down activity in the central nervous system (CNS)
GABA bines to the sites
Allows more chloride ions to enter making it resistant to excitation
Leads to a general calming effect
Reduces activity of serotonin
Strengths Weaknesses
Kahn et al – 250 participants over 8 weeks. Bz’s significantly better than the placebo
Side effects – Increased aggressiveness, impairment of memory
Hildago – Meta analysis – Bz’s were more effective than other drugs such as anti-depressants
Treating the symptoms ratherthan the problem
Addictive
Biological stress managment
Beta-Blockers
Reduce activity of adrenaline and Noradrenaline which reduce stress
Bind-receptors on the cells in the heart
Reverse effects of stress hormones causing the heart to beat slowly with less force
Fall in blood pressure equals less stress
Strengths Weaknesses
Lau et al – Meta analysis found that BB’s were effective in reducing blood pressure
NICE report – BB’s carry a risk of you getting type 2 diabetes
Immediate effect Does not address the cause of the problem
Ease of use
Psychological stress management
Stress inoculation training
Conceptualisation phase – Therapist gets a client to relive a stress phase. The therapist then gets the client to learn how to handle this phase in a better way
Skills acquisition phase – Coping skills are taught and put to practise that are tailored to a persons situation
Application phase – Clients are encouraged to use these skills throughout their life and therapist monitors the failure or success of the training
Strengths Weaknesses
More effective than other types of therapy
Time consuming
Sheehy and Haran – found that SIT decreased stress and improved grades in first year law students
Too complex- its more beneficial to talk positively and relax
Tailored to each individual Requires a lot of motivation
Psychological stress management
Hardiness training
Focusing – Client is taught the biological signs of stress and how to acquire new skills for coping
Relieving stress – Think about stressful events -> analysed by a therapist -> Insight into coping strategies
Self-improvement – Therapist suggest new forms of coping strategies
Strengths Weaknesses
Effective – current Olympic swimmers are using this
Attempts to change personality so is slow to take effect
Utah Valley state collage offers this training to all ‘at risk’students
Generalzability - Kobasas study only uses white middle-class businessmen
Requires motivation