Psychology : Semester I : Stress and Mental Illness

Sections:

Introduction  |   Section 1  |  Section 2  |   Section 3 | Section 4

Psychology : Stress and Mental Illness : Section 1 Stress                                                                        Physical science defines stress as a pressure or a force.  In psychology stress is similar.  Stress is looked at as the arousal of one’s mind and body in response to the pressures or forces placed upon them.  The pressures or forces are referred to as stressors.   There are a multitude of stressors and we face many of them every day: driving in busy traffic, screaming kids playing on a playground, music that is too loud, several people talking to you at a loud party are just a few examples. Not all stress is bad. Stress can drive us to do our best. Think about being in a sport’s competition - the stress makes you a better competitor. Consider a time when you had a big project to do - the stress of it can make you do your best. Good stress is referred to as eustress and it the motivation that propels us to do and be our best.                                                                                     The type of stress that we usually think about is the negative stress and it is known as distress.  Because most of the research has been done on distress, we will use the term stress to mean distress or the negative effects of stress. The underlying feeling of stress is called anxiety. Anxiety is defined as a pervasive feeling of dread, apprehension and impending disaster. If you can remember back to the unit on the brain, there is a nervous system, called the parasympathetic nervous system that gets us ready for stress or what is called the” fight or flight response”. Think of a time when you experienced stress and the anxiety that went with it. What were some of the physical responses that your body had? Your sympathetic nervous system kicked in and you may have experienced some of these reactions: pupils dilate, heartbeat accelerates, mouth gets dry, adrenal gland secretes adrenalin and you may tremble and your thoughts speed up.  As stated before the events or situations that cause stress are called stressors.  There are many stressors and what stresses one person may not stress another and what might stress you one day might not stress you another day.  Some common stressors that affect many people are: frustration, life changes, and conflict. We all experience frustration or being blocked from obtaining a goal.  Some types of frustrations are being late for school due to traffic problems, doing the wrong homework assignment, time crunches of trying to get everything done in a day and not enjoying your classes or job. These may appear minor but if additive or not being able to avoid the constant hassle that they render, stress may result.  Life changes, even good ones, bring stress. Two researchers, Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe, devised a Social Readjustment Rating Scale that applies point values for some stressful events that people face. These events range from death of spouse to less minor events such as vacations and Christmas. They assigned point values for these events and the higher a person scores, the more prone they many be to the negative effects of stress. A third source of stress is conflict which is being pulled in two or more directions by opposing forces. Psychology has identified four types of conflict: Types of conflict  Opposing forces  Example Approach-approach All options are good but we have to make a choice Deciding what to order at a restaurant Approach-avoidance One option is good, the other is not; but the bad one needs consideration Going out with friends or helping dad clean the garage (he needs the help and will be more willing to let you have the car on the weekend) Avoidance-avoidance All options are unattractive Getting your tonsils out or enduring the pain Multiple approach-avoidance All alternatives have positive and negative sides Going away to college and going into debt or staying at home and missing out on the college of choice When we are forced to make decisions, there is always some stress. Of course the approach-approach conflict has the least amount of stress since all of the options are positive. The multiple approach-avoidance has the most stress since there is good and bad to all alternatives. Another contributor to how we handle stress is personality types. The first type is the person that cannot relax and appears driven and is extremely hard on themselves. They have been labeled Type A personalities. They are constantly multitasking, become irritable with any delays and are always moving at full speed and will even take work with them on vacation. Type B personalities are the laid back and relaxed personalities. They are not easily irritated and are typically less driven. Research has shown that Type A personalities run a greater risk of health problems due to stress than do type B.                                                                                                                                                                                  Can you guess which is Type A is and which is Type B? The first one is Type B and the second one is type A Drag and Drop Discussion 5-1:  Decide if you are more of a type-A or type-B personality and what do you see as the positive and negative aspects of this type for you?  Post a discussion thread and then respond to another student.  This discussion is worth 10 points, 5 points for your initial post and 5 points for your response to another student.                          Stress researcher, Han Selye (1976) found out that different stress situations produced similar responses by the body.  He called this response the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS).  The GAS has three stages; an alarm stage, a resistance stage and an exhaustion stage.  The first stage is the alarm stage and it is the stage where the person perceives that there is something wrong.  The sympathetic nervous system kicks in and the body prepares itself for “fight or flight”. The body gets ready by producing hormones that make it more alert to the environment.  The main hormones produced are adrenalin, noradrenalin, and corticosteroids and they prepare they body to face the stressors.  The second stage is the resistance stage.  If the person cannot overcome stress in the alarm stage, the resistance stage is entered.  The body tries to regain balance but they still feel some of the effects of the stressors. The final stage is the exhaustion stage and in this stage, the person cannot deal with the stress any longer.  The stress hormone production decreases and heart rate and breathing slow down. At some point, people reach a breaking point and a physical or psychological illness will emerge. Physical responses to stress reduce the functioning of our immune system.  The immune system helps us avoid and fight off germs. When the immune system is compromised as in the case of stress, we are more prone and open to illnesses. Think of the times that you have been stressed and the illnesses that may have resulted. Flu, headaches, and more serious diseases can result as a reaction to prolonged stress.                                                                                                             Stress is unavoidable but ways to cope with it are available. Negative coping or defensive coping is usually using socially unacceptable behaviors. Substance abuse is one of the unfortunate ways that people try to deal with or avoid stress in a negative way. Unfortunately this only adds to the problems and does not reduce the stress. Another negative coping mechanism is aggression.  People under stress have heightened anger and hostility and they may take out this aggression on others in an abusive way. A third negative coping mechanism is withdrawal from friends and family.  This withdrawal can reach its ultimate when the person considers or actually attempts suicide. Sigmund Freud gave us the defense mechanisms (we talked about these in the developmental unit) that are behaviors that help cope with stress. They are negative if they continue and we don’t face the stressors in our lives. They are positive if they are used to give us a short break from stress to regroup, deal with and eliminate the stress.                                   Positive or active coping strategies are behaviors that help reduce the stress in our lives in positive and growth producing ways.  Relaxation, exercise and strong support networks are examples of positive coping strategies.  Assignment 5-1:  Prepare a pamphlet for an incoming freshman on how to deal with the stresses of high school. Make sure that you give the students positive coping strategies that will make their transition to high school much more enjoyable. Explain how the strategies will benefit the student. Rubric for Assignment 5-1 Coping behaviors 2 points each for up to five Support for how the behaviors should help 2 points for each up to five Go on to the next section.

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