Clinician’s Illusion
Because practicing psychologists tend to see only those people who react emotionally to stress - after all, the healthy people don’t seek out help - they probably overestimate most people’s fragility and underestimate their resilience.
Stress
A type of response - consists of the tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a situation, called a stressor, strains our ability to cope effectively.
Stressor
A stimulus in the environment that strains our ability to cope effectively
Traumatic Event
A stressor that’s so severe it can produce long-term psychological or health consequences.
Stressors as Stimuli
An approach that focuses on identifying different types of stressful events, ranging from job loss to combat.
Stress as a Transaction
People’s varied reactions to the same event suggest that we can view stress as a translation between people and their environments. Researchers examine how people interpret and cope with stressful events.
Primary Appraisal
When we first decide whether the event is harmful.
Second Appraisal
About how well we can cope with an event.
Problem-Focused Coping
A coping strategy in which we tackle life’s challenges head on.
Emotion-Focused Coping
A coping strategy in which we try to place a positive spin on our feelings or predicaments and engage in behaviours to reduce painful emotions.
Stress as a Response
They assess people’s psychological and physical reactions to stressful circumstances.
Corticosteroids
Hormones that activate the body and prepare us for stressful circumstances.
Hassels
Minor nuisances as taxing as the monumental events that shake the foundations of our world.
General Adaptation Syndrome and what are the three stages?
Humans are equipped with a sensitive physiology that responds to stressful circumstances by kicking us into high gear. This is the pattern of responding to stress. Alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
Alarm Reaction
Involves the discharge in the stress hormone adrenalin, and physical symptoms of anxiety.
Emotional Brain
The seat of anxiety within the limbic system - includes the amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus.
Flight or Fight Response
A set of physiological and psychological reactions that mobilize us to either confront or leave a threatening situation.
Resistance
After the initial rush of stress hormones, we adapt to the stressor and find ways to cope with it.
Exhaustion
If our personal resources are limited and we lack good coping measures, our resistance may ultimately break down, causing our levels of activation to bottom out.
Eustress
Based on the Greek work eu meaning “good,” to distinguish it from distress or “bad” stress. Events that are challenging, yet not overwhelming, such as competing in an athletic event or giving a speech, can create “positive stress” and provide opportunities for personal growth. Short-term stress that lasts minutes to hours can also trigger a healthy immune response to help us fend off physical ailments.
Tend and Befriend
Describes a common pattern of reacting to stress among females, although some males display it, too. In times of stress, females generally rely on their social contacts and nurturing abilities - they tend to those around them and to themselves - more than males do.
Social Support
Encompasses interpersonal relations with people, groups, and the larger community. Provides us with emotional comfort, financial assistance, and information to make decisions, solve problems, and contend with stressful situations.
Behavioural Control
The ability to step up and do something to reduce the impact of a stressful situation or prevent its recurrence.
Cognitive Control
The ability to cognitively restructure or think differently about negative emotions that arise in response to stress-provoking events.
