COPING WITH STRESS

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COPING WITH STRESS

• The term coping strategy refers to the process
  of resolving stressful situations and of finding
  ways of feeling less stressed.
• PROBLEM FOCUSSED COPING involves engaging in
  purposeful action to improve the situation
• EMOTION FOCUSSED COPING
• involves efforts to reduce the negative
  emotions of stress

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COPING

• This refers to the behavioural and psychological
  efforts used to
• reduce, master or tolerate stress
• FOLKMAN defined it as
• thoughts and behaviours used to manage the
  internal and external demands of stressful
  situations

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SKINNERS FAMILIES OF COPING

• POSITIVE STRATEGIES NEGATIVSTRATEGIES
• Problem solving 1. Escape, avoidance
• Support seeking 2. Rumination
• Distraction 3. Helplessness
• Emotional regulation 4. Social withdrawal
• Positive cognitive
• restructuring

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LAZARUS AND FOLKMAN

• Distinguished between
• PROBLEM focussed strategies,
• where a person tackles the problem
• itself (external)
• and
• EMOTION focussed strategies, where a person
  concentrates on reducing the stress response
  (internal)

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PROBLEM FOCUSSED COPING

• This refers to practical efforts to actively
  confront the stressor and reduce its impact. It
  might involve
• systematic planning,
• e.g. revision timetable
• before an exam
• Using your social network
• for informational and
• practical support

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EMOTION FOCUSSED COPING

• This refers to thoughts or actions which relieve
  the impact of stress.
• It can involve
• Denial, such as refusing to believe the severity
  of ones illness
• Distraction, such as watching a
• film when we are feeling upset
• Becoming angry and seeking
• the opinion of friends and family

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THE MAIN EFFECTS HYPOTHESIS

• This proposes that problem focussed strategies
  will reduce the main effects of the stressor IF
  they are controllable

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THE GOODNESS OF FIT HYPOTHESIS

• It is preferable to use problem focussed coping
  when the stressor is perceived as controllable,
  e.g. homework, exams, applying for UCAS, and
• emotion focussed coping when the stressor is not
  controllable e.g. illness, relationships,
  bereavement

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RESEARCH EVIDENCE AND COPING STRATEGIES

• Folkman found that planned problem focussed
  strategies led to satisfactory outcomes more than
  emotion focussed ones
• Wu found that doctors who
• accepted responsibility
• for their mistakes made
• constructive changes but
• experienced more distress.

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EVIDENCE FOR MAIN EFFECTS HYPOTHESIS

• Penley et al found that problem focussed coping
  (which deals with the main effects) correlated
  positively with physically and psychologically
  healthy outcomes
• Emotion focussed coping (avoidance, wishful
  thinking) correlated negatively

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EVIDENCE FOR THE GOODNESS-OF-FIT HYPOTHESIS

• Zakowski found that Ps used problem solving when
  stressor was controllable and emotion-focussed
  when it was not.
• Also, emotion focussed coping was more effective
  with an uncontrollable stressor
• So it is best to alter the strategy depending on
  the stressor (goodness of fit)

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HYPOTHESIS 1

• Hardy people will have a lower stress response
  when faced with a problem than non-hardy people
• DESIGN independent measures (one group of people
  who score high on hardiness and one group who
  score low)
• IV hardy score
• DV time taken to solve arithmetic problem under
  stress before giving up
• Variables to control for mathematical ability,
  age, gender, time of day, noise

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HYPOTHESIS 1 contd

• 20 year 9 grammar school students taken from a
  target population of able 14-15 year olds in
  Bucks
• Procedure assess maths ability by asking their
  maths teacher. Eliminate top and bottom
  students. Give each student some mental
  arithmetic to do verbally. Speed up as you go
  along. Time how long they answer before they
  give up
• Findings and conclusions Compare the results of
  the hardy vs the non hardy Ps. If the hardy Ps
  last significantly longer at the task, we can
  conclude that
• Hardiness alters a persons ability to respond in
  a problem focussed situation

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HYPOTHESIS 2

• Now do something similar for hypothesis 2, which
  is testing the STRATEGY rather than the type of
  person!

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STRESS MANAGEMENT

• PHYSICAL METHODS
• These include 1. Biofeedback
• 2. Anti-anxiety drugs
• 3. Physical exercise
• PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS
• 1. Cognitive behaviour therapy,
  
• e.g. stress
  inoculation
• 2. Social support

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BIOFEEDBACK

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BIOFEEDBACK

• This transforms aspects of our physiology, e.g.
  heart beat, into signals.(see p.144/172)
• A person is attached to a machine which transmits
  an auditory or visual signal to indicate heart
  rate.

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BIOFEEDBACK

• The person has been trained in relaxation
  technique, e.g. breathing
• The key feature of biofeedback - muscles under
  involuntary control of the ANS are brought under
  voluntary control

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THE 3 STAGES

• DEVELOP AWARENESS of a physiological body
  response, e.g. breathing, heart rate
• LEARN RELAXATION TECHNIQUE how to quieten the
  body Indian yogis are good at this, as are
  Buddhist monks
• TRANSFER THE CONTROL to everyday life situation

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SCOLIOSIS IN TEENAGERS

• Dworkin attached teenagers
• with curvature of the spine to
• a biofeedback machine.
• They learnt how to control
• their spinal muscles and
• improve their posture

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HEADACHES

• TENSION HEADACHES have been reduced by
  biofeedback, and has also been successful with
  asthma and high blood pressure.

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EVALUATION OF BIOFEEDBACK 2

• Biofeedback may work because it gives the person
  a sense of control, rather than the biofeedback
  itself working
• More successful with children
• than adults
• See case study p.174 new book

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ANTI-ANXIETY DRUGS

• When the body is under stress, it produces
  hormones which create anxiety. Drugs which
  control these mechanisms are
• BETA BLOCKERS (or barbiturates) which block the
  activity of the sympathetic nervous system
• BENZODIAZAPINES which control the release of
  neurotransmitters (serotonin) at the synapse and
  reduce anxiety
• BUSPIRONE, a more modern drug which regulates
  serotonin

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BENZODIAZAPINES

• Valium and librium are examples. They increase
  the activity of a neurotransmitter
• GABA serotonin
  reduces
• activity
  arousal

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PROBLEMS WITH BENZODIAZAPINES

• They have unwanted side effects
• Make you drowsy
• Can cause cognitive and auditory impairment
• Can lead to depression
• Interact unpredictably with alcohol
• You can become dependent on them
• People become more accident prone

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BUSPIRONE

• This is a more recent drug with fewer side
  effects. It facilitates the action of serotonin
  and does not cause drowsiness

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BUSPIRONE

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BETA BLOCKERS

• These decrease heart rate and lower blood
  pressure. They therefore reduce the risk of
  heart disease in stressed individuals
• TAYLOR found them
• effective for public
• speakers and musicians.
• They are not addictive,
• but their effect is only temporary

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EVALUATION OF ANTI-ANXIETY DRUGS

• Reduce intense feelings of stress ()
• They dont address the problem (-)
• Can have side effects (-)
• Benzodiazepines can only be used for up to 4
  weeks (-)
• It can take years to come off benzodiazepines(-)

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PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS OF COPING WITH STRESS

• STRESS INOCULATION
• HARDINESS TRAINING
• SOCIAL SUPPORT

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COGNITIVE THERAPIES

• These aim to replace negative, irrational
  thoughts with
• positive, rational ones
• Maladaptive cognitions
• are restructured into
• adaptive ones.
• This in itself can
• sometimes eliminate stress

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STRESS INOCULATION

• Meichenbaum argued
• that if you prepare a
• person to cope with
• stress, they will be
• ready when it arrives

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3 STAGES OF TRAINING

• ASSESSMENT therapist discusses the nature of
  the problem with the client
• STRESS REDUCTION TECHNIQUE client learns ways
  to cope with stress, e.g. relaxation, coping
  self-statements,
• APPLICATION AND FOLLOW-THROUGH client learns to
  use these techniques in difficult situations, and
  practices with the use of role play

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RESEARCH SUPPORT

• MEICHENBAUM compared stress inoculation with
  desensitisation. (Patients gradually lose their
  fear by working through a hierarchy of fearful
  situations with therapist)
• He treated patients who had 2 phobias rat and
  snake. He only treated one phobia.
• 1 group received desensitisation, the other
  stress inoculation
• They both improved the phobia, but stress
  inoculation had also helped the non-treated
  phobia

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EVALUATION OF STRESS INOCULATION

• It is fairly effective for
• moderate levels of stress
• It is not as successful for
• high levels of stress
• Individuals respond
• differently
• to making coping self
• statements
• See p.150/177

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HARDINESS TRAINING

• Kobasa aimed to increase hardiness in stressed
  individuals. This involves
• FOCUSSING on the physical signs of stress and
  become aware when they are starting
• RECONSTRUCTING STRESS SITUATIONS think about
  recent stress situations and evaluate how it
  could have turned out better
• COMPENSATING THROUGH SELF IMPROVEMENT if a
  stressor cannot be changed, learn to accept and
  master it

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HARDINESS

• It works better in conjunction with social support

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EVALUATION OF HARDI-TRAINING

• SARAFINO reported that people who had undergone
  this training scored higher on hardiness tests
  and had lowered blood pressure
• FISCHMAN found it increased job satisfaction and
  reduced headaches in executives

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SOCIAL SUPPORT

• This provides protection against stress
• Keicolt-Glaser found that students who had more
  social support suffered less reduction in their
  immune system before exams

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SOCIAL SUPPORT

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2 MEANINGS OF SOCIAL SUPPORT

• SOCIAL NETWORK Number of people available to
  provide it. It is unrelated to wellbeing.
• PERCEIVED SUPPORT the strength of useful support
  given by individuals. This is positively related
  to wellbeing

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STUDIES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

• BROWN AND HARRIS found that 61 of severely
  depressed women had experienced a very stressful
  life event in the previous 9 months, compared
  with 25 of non-depressed women.
• Women who had had a serious life event
• 37 without a friend depressed
• 10 with a friend depressed

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PREGNANT WOMEN

• These were found to
• have more medical
• complications if they
• had low
• psychosocial assets.
• E.g. social support

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MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

• Selye et al found that divorced, widowed and
  separated adults had higher rates of cancer than
  married adults (but cause and effect cannot be
  established)

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INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

• People have different coping strategies.
• TASK ORIENTED dealing with the situation
  itself, e.g. doing some revision, planning a
  revision timetable, extra lessons
• EMOTION ORIENTED getting some counselling,
  talking about it
• AVOIDANCE ORIENTED minimise the situation,
  decide exams are not important

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EFFECTIVENESS OF STRATEGY

• Highly anxious people are more likely to use
  emotion- and avoidance strategies
• Type As use task oriented strategies
• Task oriented strategies are effective when the
  person has the resources to change the situation
• Emotion oriented strategies are effective when
  the situation cannot be changed
• Individual differences are important, but so is
  the situation