Minnesota State University Moorhead



Stress, Coping and Health

Behavioral Medicine

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) claim that half of the deaths in the US are due to people’s lifestyle behaviors (smoking, alcoholism, unprotected sex, insufficient exercise, drugs, and poor nutrition)

Psychologists, physicians and others have thus developed an interdisciplinaryfield of behavioral medicine that integrates behavioral knowledge with medical knowledge.

Health Psychology

Health psychology is concerned with how psychosocial factors related to the promotion and maintenance of health and with the causation, prevention and treatment of illness (text).

Health Psychology Assumptions

Biopsychosocial Model

Biological, psychological, and social/cultural factors interact to affect health and illness

Health Psychology Assumptions

Social and psychological factors can influence health in a number of different ways.

Lifestyle choices and psychological states can play important interactive role in health

Health psychology focuses on cognitive and behavioral factors (beliefs, motivation, rewards)

Personal Control - The belief that we can influence our environment in ways that determine whether we experience positive or negative outcomes.

To promote and maintain health, we need to have a sense of control over our bodies and our lives

Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief that they can master a situation and produce positive outcomes.

Active vs. Passive Role - Each of us can play an active role, rather than a passive or reactive role in becoming healthy and staying healthy.

Adaptive vs. Maladaptive Coping - Our response to stress or health concerns can be adaptive (e.g., planning ahead) or maladaptive (procrastinating).

Health Behaviors - Adaptive and constructive practices that can impact physical well-being including:

• Stress management

• Exercise

• Eating right

• Not smoking

• Drinking in moderation

• Practicing safe sex

Stages of Change Model – a 5 step model that describes the process by which you give up bad habits and adopt healthier lifestyles (Proschask and others, 1992)

• Precontemplation Stage

• Contemplation

• Preparation/Determination

• Action/Willpower

• Maintenance

Health Psychology and Stress

The Health Psychology studies stress-related aspects of disease and asks the following questions:

• How do emotions and personality factors influence the risk of disease?

• What attitudes and behaviors prevent illness and promote health and well-being?

• How do our perceptions determine stress?

• How can we reduce or control stress?

What is stress?

There are many definitions and each is different depending on the perspective that the person takes. (physiological, psychological, behavioral)

Stress is any circumstance that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability (Text)

Hans Selye (1956) defines Systemic stress as "the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it."

Two types: Distress and Eustress

Distress is the response to negative aversive events and situations (flood)

Eustress is the response to positive events (promotion)

General Adaptation Syndrome - The stressed individual goes through three phases.

• Alarm

• Resistance

• Exhaustion

Major Causes of Stress

• Catastrophes – major events that affect many people (Acute stress)

o 911, floods, disasters, war

• Stressful personal life events –

o family and economic changes (divorce, new job, birth, work)

• Daily hassles – Common and short-lived

o Traffic, lines, crowding, delays, noise, weather

Cognitive Appraisal and Stress - Stress is not merely a stimulus or a response. It is a process by which we appraise and cope with environmental threats and challenges.

When short-lived or taken as a challenge, stressors may have positive effects. However, if stress is threatening or prolonged, it can be harmful

Cognitive Model of Stress - Lazarus & Folkman (1984)

Potential stressor (external event - Holidays)

Primary appraisal – is this event positive, neutral or negative; and if negative, how bad?

Secondary appraisal – do I have resources or skills to handle event? If No, then distress.

Emotional/Psychological Responses

• Anxiety, tension, confusion, irritability

• Feelings of frustration, anger, and resentment

• Suppression of feelings, withdrawal, and depression

• Reduced effectiveness in communication

• Feeling of isolation and alienation

• Mental fatigue

• Loss of concentration

• Lowered self-esteem

Physiological Responses

• Sleep pattern changes

• Fatigue

• Digestion changes

• Loss of sexual drive

• Headaches

• Aches and pains

• Infections

• Indigestion

• Dizziness

• Fainting

• Sweating & trembling

• Tingling hands & feet

• Breathlessness

• Palpitations

• Missed heartbeats

Behavioral Responses

Most behavioral responses involve coping

Coping are efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress (text)

Most people develop a style or pattern of coping consistent across situations

Coping responses may be:

• Adaptive and healthy

• Maladaptive and Destructive

Negative Behavioral Responses

• Procrastination, work avoidance, and absenteeism

• Lowered performance and productivity

• Increased alcohol and drug use and abuse

• Overeating as escape, leading to obesity

• Under-eating as withdrawal

• Increased risk-taking behavior

• Deteriorating relationship with family and friends

• Suicide or attempted suicide

Coping with Stress

• Stress management programs

• Sleep

• Social support – getting help from others

• Physical activity and Exercise

• Lifestyle changes (eating, sleeping)

• Problem-focused coping –

• Reducing stress by changing events that cause stress or by changing how we react to stress

Workplace Stress

40% report their job was very or extremely stressful

25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives

3/4th of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago

Job stress is more strongly associated with health complaints than financial or family problems.

Job stress – “the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker.”

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