Stress: Impact on Health and Coping Mechanisms

Posted on Feb 8, 2025 in Psychology and Sociology

Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Hans Selye studied stress in rats and developed the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), a three-part theory of stress:

• Alarm: A stressor is recognized, triggering a physical reaction.
• Resistance: The body adapts to the stressor.
• Exhaustion: Long-term stress depletes the body’s resources.

The Immune System and Stress

The immune system comprises:

• Lymphocytes (white blood cells)
• Natural killer cells (NK cells)

Immune function is measured by:

• Counting white blood cells in a blood sample.
• Measuring NK cell activity after introducing cancer cells.

Stress significantly impacts health, leading to unhealthy behaviors and increased release of immune-hindering hormones.

Key Studies on Stress and Immunity:

• Bartrop: Demonstrated decreased immune function in response to grief.
• Stone: Showed a connection between life events and antibody levels.
• Visintainer: Found that stress increases the speed of cancer progression.
• Kiecolt-Glaser: Studied the stress of caring for a loved one.

Personality Factors in Stress

• Type A Personality: Competitive, achievement-oriented, time-urgent, and prone to anger and hostility.
• Type B Personality: Low levels of competitiveness, time urgency, and hostility.
• Phony Type B Personality: Appears as Type B but is internally tense, hostile, and troubled.
• Type D Personality: Suppresses emotions to gain approval from others.

Environmental Factors in Stress

• Approach-Approach Conflict: Choosing between two desirable options.
• Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict: Choosing between two undesirable options.
• Approach-Avoidance Conflict: A choice with both positive and negative aspects.

Psychoneuroimmunology and Hardiness

Psychoneuroimmunology is a branch of health psychology focusing on mind-body interactions.

Hardiness is the ability to cope with stress. Hardy individuals view stress as:

• A commitment rather than alienation.
• Controllable rather than powerless.
• A challenge rather than a threat.

Control and Stress Studies:

• Brady: Conducted a study with monkeys and stress (though without random selection).
• Weiss: Found that lack of control over outcomes increases stress in rats.
• Langer and Rodin: Studied stress and control in nursing homes.

Social Support and Stress

Social support (involvement with others) is crucial for managing stress:

• Individuals with non-supportive partners have longer recovery times.
• Strong social connections correlate with longer lifespans.
• Kraut: Found a negative correlation between internet connections and real-world social interaction.
• Liu and Yu: Showed that social support on Facebook is not related to well-being.
• Kross: Found that Facebook use can decrease happiness.
• Loneliness is linked to lower heart bypass survival rates and poorer sleep quality.

Coping with Stress

• Primary Appraisal: Assessing whether a situation is important.
• Secondary Appraisal: Determining how to address the situation (only reached if the primary appraisal is “yes”).
• Problem-Focused Coping: Directly addressing the stressor by solving the problem.
• Emotion-Focused Coping: Managing emotions and calming down.

Coping Techniques:

• Thought suppression: Ineffective.
• Meditation: A beneficial strategy.
• Aerobic exercise: Effective with commitment.
• Thinking positively and optimistically: Generally beneficial and can be learned.

Additional Concepts

• Pessimists: View failure as internal, global, and stable; success as external, temporary, and specific.
• Catharsis: Releasing anger through action or fantasy.
• Anger Diversion Techniques: Waiting, finding healthy distractions or support, and distancing oneself.
• Adaptation-Level Phenomenon: Judging experiences relative to past ones.
• Relative Deprivation: Perceiving oneself as worse off than others.

Psychological Disorders

Psychological disorders involve maladaptive thought and behavior causing significant stress.

• Abnormal: Deviates from the norm.
• Maladaptive: Disruptive behavior.
• Personal Distress: Causes significant personal suffering.

Statistics:

• 1/4 of adults suffer from a disorder each year.
• 20% of children have a disorder in a given year.
• Roughly 50% of all people will experience a disorder at some point.

Approaches to Understanding Disorders:

• Biological Approach: Disorders result from physical dysfunction.
• Psychological Approach: Disorders result from past and present life experiences (psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive).
• Sociocultural Approach: Disorders occur within the context of society.

Gender and Disorders:

• Anxiety and depression are twice as likely in women.
• Substance abuse is twice as likely in men.
• Social anxiety is higher in men; women are taught to show emotion.

Thomas Szasz: Argued that mental illness is a myth (“problems in living”), which is incorrect.

Models of Mental Illness:

• Diathesis-Stress Model: Genetic predisposition increases the likelihood of developing a disorder.
• Biopsychosocial Model: Environmental factors contribute to the development of disorders.

Treating Psychological Disorders

Historical Treatments:

• Trephining: Drilling a hole in the brain.
• Insane Asylums: (e.g., St. Mary’s of Bethlehem). Philippe Pinel improved asylum conditions.

Modern Therapies:

• Biomedical Therapies:
  • Psychosurgery: Removing parts of the brain.
  • Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): “Shock” therapy, effective for depression.
  • Drug Therapies: Medications.
• Psychological Treatments:
  • Psychotherapy: Therapists use learned techniques.
  • Insight Therapies: Exploring the origins of feelings.
  • Behavioral Therapies: Addressing behavioral patterns.
  • Eclectic Therapies: Using multiple techniques.

Specific Therapy Approaches:

• Psychodynamic Therapies:
  • Psychoanalysis: The “talking cure,” aiming for insight (free association, resistance, transference).
  • Modern Psychodynamic Therapies: Shorter, more casual sessions.
• Humanistic Therapies: Focus on self-actualization.
  • Carl Rogers: Emphasized engaged, empathetic therapy (person-centered therapy: empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, active listening).
• Behavioral Therapies:
  • Classical Conditioning Approaches: Counterconditioning (Joseph Wolpe’s systematic desensitization), aversion response.
  • Operant Conditioning: Using reward/punishment (token economies, punishment, flooding).
  • Social (Observational) Learning: Learning from others.
• Cognitive Therapies: Changing distorted thoughts, effective for depression. Behavioral therapies are effective for anxiety.

Classifying Disorders

• DSM-5: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition. A guide to classifying psychological disorders, providing information on over 200 disorders.
  • Criticisms: Reinforces the disease model, views normal behavior as mental problems, overly responsive to political issues, increases the power of labeling.
• Rosehan Study: Normal researchers admitted themselves to mental hospitals to test diagnostic accuracy.
• Research Domain Criteria: An alternative approach focusing on symptoms rather than disorders.

Specific Mood Disorders

• Major Depression:
  • Symptoms: Depressed mood, loss of interest, energy, motivation, appetite, weight changes, feelings of guilt, thoughts of death or suicide.
  • 10x more common today than 50 years ago.
  • Women are more likely to be depressed.
  • 18% of people will be diagnosed with depression at some point.
  • 80% never receive treatment.
  • 15% commit suicide.
• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):
  • Most common in winter.
  • Symptoms: Increased sleep, weight gain, carbohydrate cravings.
  • Treatment: Bright light therapy to reset the internal clock.
  • Phase Shift Hypothesis: Mood depends on the biological clock.
• Bipolar Disorder:
  • Periods of depression and mania.
  • Mania: Irritable mood, hyperactivity, no need for sleep, racing thoughts, reckless behavior, rapid speech.
  • Affects 2.5% of the population; 90% experience recurrence.
  • No gender differences.
• Suicide:
  • One million suicide attempts per year in the US.
  • Over 47,000 suicides per year.
  • Women are 2-3 times more likely to attempt.
  • 80% of completed suicides are by males.
  • Alcohol is often involved.
  • 50% of suicides involve a gun.
  • Suicide Contagion: Highly publicized suicides can lead to cluster increases.
  • China accounts for half of all suicides.

Biological Explanations and Treatments for Depression:

• Genetics: 70% of depression is attributed to genes.
• Neurotransmitters: Abnormalities play a role.
  • Depression: Low levels of serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE).
  • Mania: Low serotonin but high norepinephrine.
• Brain Function: Low levels of left brain function.
  • Robinson: Study on stroke patients.
  • Henriques and Davidson: Conducted a related study.
• Treatments:
  • Antidepressants: MAO inhibitors, tricyclics, SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, fewer side effects), SNRIs (more effective, more side effects).
  • Anti-Maniacs: Lithium (for bipolar disorder), Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), nTMS.

Psychological Explanations and Treatments for Depression:

• Freud: Depression is anger turned inward.
• Behavioral Explanation: Failure to elicit reinforcement from the social world.
  • Lewinsohn’s Reinforcement Theory.
• Cognitive Explanation:
  • Learned Helplessness Model (Seligman and Abramson).
  • Attribution Style: Negative events viewed as internal, global, and stable.
  • Beck’s Cognitive Triad: Negative views about self, world, and future.
  • Cognitive Therapy: Changing thought patterns to address depression.
• Cognitive Treatments:
  • Rational Emotive Therapy (Albert Ellis): Activating event, Belief, Consequences.
  • Beck’s Cognitive Therapy: Supportive approach to changing thought patterns.

Anxiety Disorders

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Persistent, free-floating anxiety.
  • Twice as common in women.
  • Has a genetic component.
• Panic Disorder: Frequent episodes of intense anxiety.
  • Biological Explanation: Genetics and increased activity in the right side of the limbic system.
  • Cognitive Explanation: Misattribution of bodily sensations.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): After-effects of experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.
  • Twice as common in women (often due to sexual assault).
  • Symptoms: Intrusion (recurring thoughts), avoidance, negative mood, changes in arousal.
  • Biological Factors: Genetics and decreased hippocampus size.
• Phobias: Strong, irrational fears.
  • Simple Phobias: The person knows the fear is irrational but cannot control it.
    • Evolutionary Explanation: Fear of threats to survival.
    • Psychodynamic Explanation: Displaced anxiety.
    • Behavioral Explanation: Learned fear.
    • Cognitive Explanation: Exaggerated beliefs about danger.
  • Social Phobias: Fear of public situations (e.g., public speaking).
  • Agoraphobia: Fear of being in public.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Persistent thoughts (obsessions) or actions (compulsions).
  • Rumination: Overthinking problems and their causes.

Treatments for Anxiety Disorders:

• Behavioral Therapies: Systematic desensitization (Joseph Wolpe), social learning, flooding.
• Biological Treatments: Antianxiety drugs (benzodiazepines).
• Cognitive Treatments.

Eating Disorders

• Anorexia Nervosa: Significant weight loss and a negative body image.
  • Binge-Eating/Purging Type: Engaging in binge eating or purging behaviors.
  • Restricting Type: Severely limiting food intake.
  • Causes:
    • Biological: Hypothalamus, CCK, genetics.
    • Psychological.
    • Evolutionary.
• Bulimia Nervosa: Binge eating episodes, normal body weight, and compensatory behaviors (e.g., vomiting).
  • Purging Subtype: Engaging in vomiting or other purging methods.
  • Non-Purging Subtype: Using other compensatory behaviors (e.g., excessive exercise).
• Binge Eating Disorder: Binge eating episodes and overweight.
  • 40% male, 60% female.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness (though it can be acute) characterized by:

• Symptoms: Hallucinations, delusions, incoherent speech.
• Social Drift Hypothesis: 8x more likely in the lowest social class.
• Stress and social class.
• Social class and reluctance to label the illness in higher social classes.

Social Psychology Concepts

Cognitive Dissonance

• Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger and Carlsmith): We align our attitudes with our actions.
• Cognitive Consistency: We are motivated toward consistency.
• Self-Perception Theory: We infer our beliefs from our actions.

Social Perception

• Primacy Effect (Solomon Asch): Initial information influences our perception of others.
  • Schemas: We form schemas based on initial information.
  • Confirmation Bias: We pay attention to information confirming our initial impressions.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Our beliefs influence our behavior, affecting the situation.
• Social Comparison (Leon Festinger): We compare ourselves to others to evaluate our performance.
• Impression Management: Actions taken to gain approval from others (e.g., conformity, flattery).

Attribution

Attribution: Determining the causes of others’ behavior.

• Balance between personality (internal) and situation (external) factors.
• Consensus: Do others act similarly? (High influence on external, low on internal).
• Distinctiveness: Does the behavior occur in many situations? (Low influence on internal, high on external).
• Consistency: How often does the situation occur?
• Fundamental Attribution Error (Correspondence Bias): Overestimating personality and underestimating situational impact.
  • Actor-Observer Effect:
    • Observer: Makes internal attributions.
    • Actor: Makes external attributions for oneself.
• Self-Serving Bias: Attributing success to internal factors and failure to external factors.
• Just-World Hypothesis: Belief that good things happen to good people and bad things to bad people (can lead to victim blaming).

Conformity

Conformity: Aligning behavior with group norms.

• Solomon Asch’s Line Experiment: Individuals conformed to incorrect group answers.
• Factors Affecting Conformity:
  • Group Size: Larger groups increase conformity.
  • Group Cohesiveness: Similarity within the group.
  • Self-Esteem: Lower self-esteem increases conformity.
  • Social Status: Average status individuals conform most.
  • Culture: Collectivist cultures show higher conformity.
  • Appearance of Unanimity: Agreement within the group.

Obedience

Obedience: Modifying behavior in response to a direct command.

• Milgram’s Obedience Study: Over 60% of participants administered shocks.

Compliance

Compliance: Modifying behavior at the request of another person.

• Peripheral vs. Central Route Persuasion: Unintentional vs. planned tactics.
• Tactics Based on Commitment or Consistency:
  • Foot-in-the-Door Technique: Starting with a small request, then a larger one.
  • Low-Ball Technique: Offering a low price, then adding hidden costs.
• Tactics Based on Reciprocity:
  • Door-in-the-Face Technique: Making a large request, then a smaller one.
  • Reciprocity: Obligation to give after receiving something.
  • That’s-Not-All Technique: Adding “extras” to sweeten the deal.
• Tactics Based on Scarcity:
  • Hard-to-Get: Limited supply.
  • Fast-Approaching Deadline: Sale ending soon.

Bystander Effect and Social Norms

• Bystander Effect: Diffusion of responsibility; assuming others will act.
• Social Exchange Theory: Social behavior aims to maximize benefits and minimize costs.
• Reciprocity Norm: Expectation of being helped by those we have helped.
• Social Responsibility Norm: Expectation to help those in need.

Prosocial Behavior

• Altruism: Helping without expecting anything in return (rare, debated existence).
• Reciprocal Altruism: Helping with the expectation of future reciprocation.
• Kin Selection (Evolutionary Theory/Genetic Hypothesis): Protecting relatives by warning them of danger.

Love and Affection

• Factors: Arousal, proximity, reciprocated liking, attractiveness, similarity.
• Types of Love:
  • Passionate Love: Initial stage driven by sexual desire.
  • Companionate Love: Affection, shared goals/interests.
• Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love:
  1. Intimacy (motivational): Sharing feelings.
  2. Passion (emotional).
  3. Commitment (cognitive).

Group Behavior

• Social Facilitation: Improved performance on simple tasks with an audience.
• Social Inhibition: Decreased performance on complex tasks with an audience.
• Social Loafing: Reduced effort in a group setting.
• Deindividuation: Loss of self-awareness in a crowd, leading to atypical behavior (mob mentality).
• Group Polarization: Group discussion strengthens pre-existing inclinations.
• Groupthink: Smart individuals making poor decisions due to group conformity pressure.

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

• Stereotype: Belief about individuals in a particular social group.
  • Heuristics: Mental shortcuts.
  • Confirmation Bias.
• Prejudice: Attitude toward a group (belief + emotion).
  • Social Categorization: Ingroup vs. outgroup (“us vs. them”).
    • Ingroup Bias: Favoring one’s own group.
  • Realistic Conflict Theory: Increased prejudice during tough times.
    • Robber’s Cave Study.
  • Just-World Phenomenon: Belief in a just world where people get what they deserve.
  • Scapegoat Theory: Blaming others for problems.
  • Other-Race Effect: Better recall of faces from one’s own race.

Intergroup Relations

• Mirror-Image Perceptions: Opposing groups holding similar views without realizing it.
• Social Trap: Groups acting in self-interest, harming collective well-being.
• Common problems across groups that people solve together reduce prejudice.
• Contact Hypothesis: Prejudice decreases with intergroup contact.
  • Jigsaw Technique: Mixing diverse groups.