Transcript Introduction to Psychology

Stress and Health
What Is Stress?
Stimulus or Response? Or interaction?
Stressor — events, pressures, or
situations that place demands & trigger
coping adjustments
Stress reaction – How one responds to
stress
Stress as process – interaction between
event, perception, and reaction
Stressors and reactions
Four groups discussion
A. Discuss your stressors
B. How do you know when you are
stressed? What are your
“symptoms?”
Sources of Stress
Types of Stressors
 1. Common hassles
 School demands
 Noise – residents near airports have higher BP
& stress
Relationship issues
 Sleep deprivation
 Job stress
 Etc…
Sources of Stress
Stressors (continued)
 2. Major life events (e.g., ending a
relationship, moves, serious illness)
 3. Catastrophes (9/11, Katrina, etc.)
• Increased incidence of stress-related
ailments
• Rates of depression, anxiety, and other
psychological disorders increase
How does a potential stressor
lead to stress?
Perceiving Stress
Many situations are not inherently stressful…
depends on interpretation:
• Primary appraisal — Is this stressful?
• Secondary appraisal — Can I handle it?
(e.g., can I control it or cope with it?)
Cognitive appraisals are extremely susceptible
to one’s current state of mood, health,
motivation
Perception and stress
“I have had a great many
troubles in my life…
And most never happened…”
Mark Twain
We’ll come back to this in
discussion of coping
Reactions to Stress
Emotional
Behavioral
Cognitive
Physiological
Pulse Demo
15 Seconds
What happened?
Physiologically
Psychologically
The Physiology of Stress
Walter Cannon
(1929)
 Fight-or-flight reaction
 Outpouring of substances that prepare an
organism to defend against a threat
 Adaptive for our ancestors (but contributes to
stress-related illnesses in modern times)
Stress Pathways
HPA Axis
epinephrine (adrenalin) and
norepinephrine –
which increase HR, BP, & RR
Measuring stress:
“Overload in Working Mothers”
BCBS workers
Measures:
Urine samples (to look for metabolites of
stress hormones)
Daily mood scale
Results: feel stressed (esp w/ children at home)
 High stress (low perceived control + high demand)
 increased urinary neurohormones
Stress and impact on health
•Impact on psychological and physical health
•PTSD and other mental health effects
•Increases risk for physical illness
•How?
Stress and Illness
Heart
disease
Persistent stressors
and negative
emotions
Unhealthy behaviors
(smoking, drinking,
poor nutrition and sleep)
Release of stress
hormones
Immune
suppression
Autonomic nervous
system effects
(headaches,
hypertension)