Stress

Stress

Acute Stress: short term stress that requires quick reactions. Acute Stressors activate the Autonomic nervous system
1. Sympathetic nervous system: Fight or flight, Parasympathetic Branch: a state of relaxation
  1. Sympathetic adrenal meduallary system :SNS. SNS +SAM= Sympathomeduallary pathway
    1. SNS sends a message to all the organs and that releases noradrenaline
      1. this increases heart rate, blood pressure and pupil size.
      2. Metabolic changes: fats and glycogen into bloodstream
    2. SAM and SNS activate at the same time, SAM is regulated by Adrenal medualla, releasing adrenaline preparing for Fight or flight
      1. Adrenaline: oxygen and glucose to the brain + muscles, surpresses the non-ugrent bodily functions
workplace Stress
1. Marmot: Workload and low job control contribute to workplace stress.
  1. He suggested the high grade civil servants would experience high workload whilst low grade civil servants would experience stress too
2. Johansson focused on Saw workers because of the repetitve jobs they have to do at an unrelenting pace.
  1. those sawing suffered from the pressure of the whole company, and would be responsible if the whole company fell behind
    1. It was found that those responsible for sawing had more adrenaline in their body (so more stress) than maintenance
3. Control
  1. those with more control reported more social support, those with low grade and had little control, reported little support
4. Role conflict
  1. when experience at work interferes with life outside work
  2. Pomaki: found lower peformance and health when there for role conflict.
    1. links this to emotional exhaustion, depressive symptoms, somantic complaints
Stress and Illness
1. Under-vigilance: infection enters and not dealt with properly. Over-vigilance: Starts killing ordinary cells
2. Barrier preventing antigens entering
  1. Detecting and eliminating antigens (before reproduction)
    1. Eliminating Antigens after reproduction
3. Relationships: kiecolt 2005 (conflict dicussions and supportive discussions), Kiecolt 1987 (seperated women and married women).
  1. Marlarkey (newlyweds and nora/adrenaline)
4. Acute Stress: Kiecolt Glaser ( blood samples month and 3 days before exams), Marucha (punch biopsies month and 3 days before exam. 40%)
5. Eval.Lazarus: 1. Other factors. 2. Health is slow to change. 3. long periods of experiments, time consuming and expensive
Stress and life changes
1. Holmes and Rahe SRRS
  1. 43 life changes, 400 people asked to number them.
    1. Marriage was 50 life units used as a base
2. Testing SRRS Rahe
  1. 2700 Navy men complete SRRS and note life events in last 6 months
    1. Illness in correlation with life changes was +0.118 (positive)
3. Michael and Ben-sur
  1. 130 people (half widowed, half separated) and look at life satisfaction
    1. separated were happier because they were with a new partner, have positive views on negative life changes
4. Evaluation
  1. correlational data: people who are ill more likely to report life changes
    1. Positive or negative: is it the event or the quality of the event
      1. Individual differences: worse? sudden death or long term illness
        Daily hassles: is it a life change or a daily hassle?
        Validity: retrospective recall
Daily hassles: stressors that occur on a day to day basis
1. Uplifts by Delongis were found to offset some daily hassles (compliments)
  1. Accumulation: persistent irritation or frustration from the daily hassle
    1. Amplification effect: having daily hassles alongside life changes
2. Retrospective recall: may forget over time between the hassle and the recalling later
  1. Cause and Effect: Other factors may be involved
    1. Diary method: miss out details
3. Gervais: Nurses and the diarys, found hassles decreased work performance and Uplifts helped
  1. Flett: 320 peoples, amount support given when there was a daily hassle/ life change. Lige change got more support.
Chronic stress: Ongoing long term stress, Unlike Acute stress
1. Pituitary Adrenal System (PAS) controls the level of cortisol
  1. Messages are sent to the Hypothalamus part of the Paraventricular Nucleus (PVN) releasing Corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF)
    1. CRF reaches the Adrenal Gland releasing Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH)
      1. The adrenal Cortex is reached by the ACTH which causes the release of Cortisol
        lower pain sensitivity, burst of energy
        Impaired cognitive performance, higher blood pressure, lowered immune system
        It takes 20 mins to take into effect. Cortisol is regulated by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland
Personality factors and Stress- Type A
1. Type A; -Impatience, competitiveness, Hostility
  1. Type B: easy going, relaxed and patient
    1. Friedman and Rosenman: Ppts were examined for CHD and personality type, they found a link between the two
      1. Myrtek- did meta analysis of 35 studies and found a link between hostility and CHD, but no link to type A
2. Hardy 3C's
  1. Control, Commitment and Challenges
    1. Lifton: Looked at Hardiness and completing degree's, he found that those with the 3 C's, were more likely to finish their degree
      1. Kobasa: made 150 approx ppts do the SRRS and had the illness records, hardy personality has high levels of stress but low illness records
  2. Negativity Affectivity: Watson and Clark found those low on NA had the same characteristics as Hardy personality.
    1. Self reporting questionnaires, may have adressed the issue of awkward wording butcan show low internal validity for the challenge component of hardy
Psychological methods
1. Michenbaum: Change the way we think about stress (cognitive behavioural therapy)
  1. SIT: 3 stages
    1. Conceptualisation: identifying the source of the stress
      1. Skills acquistion: rehearsing methods of reducing stress and relaxing
        Applicaiton: Putting the skills you learnt in step to into a real life situation
        Positive: Challenges instead of dealing with stressors, can be applied to many situations, more effective then desensitisation, increased performance
        Negative: commitment and money needed, no available for everyone
2. Hardiness training: 3 steps
  1. Focusing: recognising signs of stress
    1. Relieving stress encounters
      1. Self Improvements
        Positive: targets perception and coping, Provides ability to cope
        Negative: commitment and money, takes money
Physiological Methods
1. Benzodiazephines (BZs)
  1. GABA: natural calming neurotransmitter
  2. BZs bind to the GABA sites and allow for more chloride ions, making the person more relaxed
    1. Serotonin:BZs reduce the serotonin which causes anxiety
2. Beta-Blockers (BBs)
  1. Reduce sympathetic activity by binding to receptors on heart and other parts of the body usually aroused by adrenaline
    1. BBs cause the reverse effect of stress, causing relaxation
3. Positive: BZs superior to placebos, BB found to help musicians with stage fright, Easy to use
  1. Negative: Addiction, Side effects, only treats symptoms not the problem

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	Created by Verity Spinks about 11 years ago