Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Managing Life Challenges - Coggle Diagram
Managing Life Challenges
Stress
The term originates from the Latin word 'strictus' or 'stringere' which mean tight and to tighten.
There are two kinds of stress: Eustress and Distress.
• Eustress is the stress that is good for a person. • Distress is the stress that is bad for an individual and causes the body to wear and tear.
Stress is a pattern of responses an organism makes as a response to a stimulus event, which causes a disturbance in the equilibrium and exceeds the individual's ability to cope.
Stressors
Stressors cause our bodies to give the stress response.
Stressors can be external, such as environment, social, or psychological.
The experience and outcome of a stressor are different for every individual.
Stressors result in a stress response across four dimensions:
(1) Psychological:
two-pathway system initiated by hypothalamus releasing catecholamines and cortisol.
(2) Emotional:
feelings of fear, guilt, anger, etc.
(3) Behavioral:
fight or fight response
(4) Cognitive:
individual's perception of the event and the stress
Stressors vary in terms of intensity, duration, complexity, and predictability.
More intense, long-lasting, complex, and unpredictable stressors cause long-term stress.
Hans Selye's Stress Theory
Hans Selye defined stress as the specific response made by an individual's body under any demand.
His theory has been criticized, as every individual acts differently to a stressor and even the conditions make the response vary.
His theory is generalized and specific.
Lazarus's Cognitive Theory of Stress Propounds
Lazarus and his colleagues proposed a dynamic theory of stress.
It follows a two-level appraisal system.
Primary appraisal is the appraisal of the event. An individual may view the appraisal as negative as harm, threat, or challenge.
Secondary appraisal is the appraisal of the individual's coping abilities and resources. An individual is likely to make a secondary appraisal if the primary appraisal is negative.
These appraisals are very subjective and depend on factors such as past experience or predictability.
Signs and Symptoms of Stress
Our responses to stress depend on our cognitive appraisal of the event, our personality, as well as our upbringing and life experiences.
The symptoms of stress can be physical, emotional, and behavioral.
Some signs of stress:
• Lack of concentration
• Low self-esteem
• Poor decision making, long-term planning
• Inconsistency, irregular attendance and timekeeping
• Frantic bursts of energy, extreme mood swings, emotional outbursts
• Worry, anxiety, fear, depression
• Difficulties with sleeping and eating and misuse of substances
• Physical illness
Types of Stress
There are three major types of stress: Environmental, Psychological, and Social.
Environmental stress:
• Physical demands
leading to strain, lack of nutritious diet, injury, or sleep problems.
• Unavoidable stressors
like air pollution, noise pollution, crowding, etc.
• Catastrophic events
like earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.
Social stress:
Results from interaction with others. Death, illness among the family, strained relationships etc.
Psychological stress:
• Personal and unique.
• Conflict:
occurs between two or more incompatible desires
• Frustration: happens when someone or something is blocking your needs
• Social pressures:
the unrealistic expectations people put on an individual
• Internal pressures:
the unrealistic expectations an individual puts on themselves.
Sources of Stress
There are three major sources of stress: Life events, Hassles, and Traumatic Events.
Life events
• Big and small changes that affect our life are life changes.
• Major life events may cause an upheaval. Whether they are planned or unpredictable, life changes can give us stress.
Hassles
• Hassles are personal stresses we endure on a daily basis.
• Examples: Noisy surroundings, quarrelsome neighbors, etc.
•The more stress reported by hassles, the poorer the psychological well-being.
Traumatic events
• A variety of extreme events that an individual is involved in.
• Example: Road accident, robbery, etc.
• Effects occur after some time and persist as symptoms of anxiety, flashbacks, dreams, intrusive thoughts, etc.
Effects of Stress
There are four major effects of stress: Emotional, Physiological, Cognitive, and Behavioral.
Emotional effects
• Stress results in more likelihood of mood swings and erratic behavior as well as alienation from family & friends.
• Starts with decreasing confidence and leads to severe feelings of anxiety and depression, increased physical and psychological tension.
Physiological effects
• Increased production of adrenaline and cortisol.
• This leads to changes in heart rate, blood pressure, metabolism, and physical activity.
• While the change is good for short-term, it has harmful long-term consequences.
Cognitive effects
• Stress can lead to mental overload, which leads to the individual to lose the ability to make sound decisions.
• Other effects include poor concentration and reduced short-term memory capacity.
Behavioral effects
Lack of nutritional food and increased intake of stimulants. Disrupted sleep patterns, increased absenteeism, and reduced work performance.
General Adaptation Syndrome
Selye subjected human beings and animals to stressful situations in his experiment to observe the bodily response of both.
He observed a pattern of bodily responses of patients suffering from major illnesses and he observed a similar pattern of bodily response both in humans and animals. This pattern is called General Adaptation Syndrome(GAS).
There are three stages in the GAS Model.
1. Alarm Reaction Stage:
The presence of noxious stressor leads to activation of the pituitary cortex system and hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released and thus, the body is ready for flight or fight response.
2. Resistance Stage:
Prolonged stress leads to the resistance stage and the parasympathetic nervous system calls for careful use of body resources and, thus, we are able to confront the stressor.
3. Exhaustion Stage:
Too much exposure to prolonged stress leads to an exhaustion stage and the body is drained of its resources to deal with the stressful situation.
Stress and Lifestyle
Lifestyle is defined as the overall pattern of a person’s day-to-day decision making and the way he/she lives a life that determines their health and quality of life.
There is a direct correlation between high levels of stress and an unhealthy lifestyle.
People who are highly stressed have poor nutritional habits, disturbed sleep patterns and no fitness regime to look after their health and well-being.
A proper and healthy lifestyle has the following prerequisites: Positive thinking, nutritious diet, exercise, and social support.
Stress and Immune System
There is a direct correlation between an increase in level of stress and impairment in working of the immune system.
Taking too much stress can hamper the working of the immune system which is responsible for protecting the body from the attackers within the body and outside the body.
Psychoneuroimmunology studies the link between mind, brain, and immune system and the effect stress has on the working of the immune system.
Coping with Stress
Coping is a dynamic situation specific reaction and coping is also relative in nature.
Endler and Parker
Task-oriented strategy
focuses on understanding the problem in a clear manner and coming up with the solution of the same.
Emotion-oriented strategy
lays focus on maintaining emotional stability and proper expression of our emotions.
Avoidance-oriented strategy
is all about minimising the seriousness of the situation by suppressing the stressful thoughts and replacing them with self protecting thoughts.
Lazarus and Folkman
Emotion-focused strategies
focus on psychological changes which help in controlling the emotions, involve venting out feelings of anger and frustration and it is effective when the situation is not under our control.
Problem-focused strategies
focus on reducing the threat which the situation can cause and it helps in increasing a person’s knowledge and self-awareness about the problem.It is effective when the situation is in our control.
Stress and Health
When we are highly stressed, we become physically exhausted, feel tired, less energetic, and feel anxious.
State of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion is called burnout.
Major root cause of High BP, Diabetes, High heart rate is stress.
50-60% of medical visits are because of stress related problems.