Biological Psych: Stress

Biological Psych: Stress

1. The Body's response to stress

   • Stress is experience when a person's perceived environmental, social and physical demands exceed their perceived ability to cope.
   • ACUTE response: The sympathomedullary pathway
     • Immediate (acute) stressors arouse the autonomic nervous system: ANS. The ANS is divided into the sympathetic ANS and the parasympathetic ANS. The SNS arouses an animal ready for 'fight or flight'. The PNS returns the animal back to a state of relaxation. The SNS and SAM create the sympathomedullary pathway.
     • Increase heart rate/blood pressure, metabolic changes and cardiac output.
     • The adrenal medulla: neurons of the SNS travel to the medulla so that when activated it releases adrenaline into the bloodstream. It has a widespread effect on the body, such as digestion.
   • CHRONIC response: Pituitary-adrenal system
     • The hypothalamus identifies when stressors are perceived, and sends CRF to the Pituitary gland which then releases ACTH to the adrenal cortex. Cortisol is released.
     • The adrenal cortex: cortisol is released by the adrenal cortex, is responsible for several stress-related effects in the body.

2. Approaches to coping with stress

   • Problem focused coping
     • Deals with problem itself; active rather than passive. Taking control- suppressing competing activities.
     • Folkman and Lazarus: found that students dealt with exams using problem focused
     • Males more likely to use problem focused coping
   • Emotion focused coping
     • Folkman and Lazarus: students used emotion focused whilst waiting for exam results.
     • Deals with emotions caused by stress- not the problem.
   • SIT (stress inoculation training)- Meichenbaum. It prepares person for stress now and in the future. Steps in therspy: conceptualisation, skills acquisition and rehearsal, application phases.
   • Although time consuming, it is long lasting and useful for other problems.
   • Hardiness training- Kobasa: people more resistant to stress. Maddi: hardiness institute, increase self-confidence and sense of control.

3. Life changes

   • Holmes and Rahe created the SRRS.
   • Rahe tested naval men over 6 months. +ve correlation between ill health and LCUs (0.018)
   • Daily hassles may matter more- Delongis found less of a link between life events and health.
   • Individual differences for life events.
   • Memory for life events may be poor.

4. Daily hassles

   • Delongis: HSUP.
   • Bouteyre: +ve correlation between HSUP and depression in undergraduates.
   • Gervias: qualitative analysis of nurses, uplifts counteracted hassles.
   • Effect may be due to accumulation of hassles over the day.

5. Workplace stress

   • Marmot: low job control and lack of social support linked to stress in civil service study.

6. Personality factors

   • Type A: respond to stress with impatience, hostile and competitive. Friedman and Rosenman- conducted structured interviews to establish type. 8 1/2 years later 2x as many type As had died from heart attacks.
   • Ragland and Brand didnt find a link between type A and mortality.
   • Hardy personality: Kobasa and Maddi- 'hardy' people cope because of commitment, control and challenge. Kobasa: US executives had different illness records if they were hardy.

7. Physiological methods of stress management