Stress chap 4

• Stressor: any event that causes stress or is perceived as a threat and a challenge to our ability to cope
• Stress: a state of mental, emotional and physiological tension resulting from a stressor
• Stress is a psychobiological process where psychological includes feelings and biological includes physical responses
• Internal stressor: a cause of stress that originates within an individual, can be psychological and biological/pysiological
• External stressor: a cause of stress that originates from outside an individual, such as an event or environmental extreme
• stressors:

  external originates outside

  • Environmental (loud noise, extreme temperatures)
  • Sociocultural (daily hassles, life events, loss of significant relationships and catastrophe)

  internal originates inside

  • Psychological (feeling, expectations and mindset)
  • Biological (pain, illness and sleep deprivation)
• Acute stress: stress that usually occurs because of a sudden threat and only lasts for a short time
• Chronic stress: stress that lasts for a long time
• Fight flight or freeze: an automatic biological response to a perceived stressor that increases our chances of survival in our environment
• Cortisol: a hormone produced by the adrenal glands that regulates a wide range of bodily processes, including metabolism, and is released in response to stress
• Gut-brain axis (GBA): the connection between the central nervous system and the metric nervous system, that enables bidirectional communication between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract
• Biodirectional: gut to brain and brain to gut
• Enteric nervous system (ENS) a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system; it consists of nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract and controls the digestive system
• Vagus nerve: a nerve that connects the brain (central nervous system) to organs within the autonomic nervous system, via nerve fibres that directly link organs such as the lungs, heart, oesophagus and intestinal tract
• Gut: the gastrointestinal tract or long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus
• Gut microbiota: the microbe population found in the gut (digestive system)
• Microbe: a microscopic living thing found in water, soil and the air
• High levels of stress + increased cortisol levels = changes to gut micro biota, associated with anxiety and depression
• General adaption syndrome ( GAS) a biological model of stress that proposes we have a non-specific biological response to stress that occurs in three stages
• alarm reaction stage: the first stage of the general adaption syndrome, in which we become aware of the stressor; it consists of two phases - shock and countershock
• Shock: the first phase of the alarm reaction stage of general adaption syndrome, in which the bodys ability to deal with the stressors falls below normal
• Resistance stage: the second phase of the general adaption syndrome, in which the stressor persists, and the stressor body’s resources are maximised to cope and adapt over time
• exhaustion stage: the third stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the continued depletion of energy stores and high levels of hormones such as cortisol decrease resistance to the stressor and impair the immune system
• SCARE: shock, countershock, alarm reaction, resistance, exhaustion
• Appraisal: the process of categorising an event in the basis of its perceived significance and how it may effect our wellbeing
• Transactional model of stress and coping: a model that suggests a stress response is only elicited if an event is perceived to exceed our ability to cope and is based on our appraisal of the situation
• Primary appraisal: when an individual determines whether a situation is significant to them and stressful or not
• Irrelevant: describes a situation or event that has no implications for an individuals wellbeing because nothing will be gained or lost, or they are not invested in the situation l
• Benign/positive: describes a situation or event that is perceived as having a positive outcome for an individual i.e. it either maintains (benign) or enhances their wellbeing (positive)
• Threat: the anticipated harm/loss in the future because of an event
• Harm/loss: the damage to the individual that has already occurred as a result of a stressor
• Challenge: the perceived potential for personal gain or growth from an event
• Secondary appraisal; when an individual considers the available resources and their own coping strategies, to decide the best way of dealing with a stressor
• Coping resources:

  adequate

  • stress is minimised and managed

  inadequate

  • stress is heightened
• Coping: all the things we do to manage and reduce the stress we experience
• Coping strategy: a method that we use to manage or reduce the stress produced by a stressor
• Coping flexibility: the ability to modify our coping strategies to meet the demands of different stressful situations
• Context-specific effectiveness: when a coping strategy matches or is appropriate to the stressful situation
• Approach strategy: an Effort to confront a stressor and deal directly with it and it’s effects
• Avoidance strategy: an effort to avoid a stressor and not deal directly with it and its effects