Title: Stress YouTube - stress monsters
1StressYouTube - stress monsters
- Causes (3)
- Measurements (3)
- Management (3)
2Stress is a biological response to an external
stressor/s
- Biological response to the fight or flight
mechanism - The bodies stress response causes an increase in
blood pressure, reduction in blood flow to the
peripheral blood vessels (hand and feet) and an
increase in adrenaline, noradrenalin and
corticosteroids to be released into the blood
stream. Over a long period of time this stress
response causes the bodys immune systems to
eventually break down.
3Why is understanding stress useful
- 1. Causes psychological problems like anxiety and
depression. - 2. Causes everyday physical illness like cough
and colds by lowering the effectiveness of the
immune system. - 3. Can cause heart disease and stroke by
increasing build up of cholesterol. - 4. May lead to illnesses like cancer
- 5. Causes millions of lost sick days from work
- 6. Causes accidents and injuries at work due to
loss of concentration
4Evidence to show different factors which cause
stress
- Life event scales were devised to demonstrate how
major life events such as death, divorce,
unemployment and severe illness can be used to
calculate levels of stress and consequently to
predict illness (Holmes and Rahe 1967). However
even when we do not have extreme stressors like
these we still end up feeling stressed! - Kanner 1981 - Minor stressors can combine to
become large stressors
5Psychological Measures (psychometric tests)
- (i) Holmes and Rahe (1967) Social Readjustment
Rating Scale (SRRS). - HR defined stress in terms of the change caused
to a persons life (change can be positive,
negative or neutral but would still be stressful
by their definition). HR argued that whenever an
individual had to make a substantial adjustment
to the environment, the likelihood of stress is
high. - Holmes Rahe first examined the medical records
of around 5000 people. They found that, in many
cases, significant life changes occurred in the
months preceding the onset of illness. They
selected 43 of these life events and asked a
sample of 394 people to rate the degree of
social readjustment required for each event
(death of spouse was given the arbitrary value of
100 and marriage the arbitrary value of 50).
Based on these results, they constructed the
SRRS. - Each life event was ranked and assigned a number
of life change units (LCUs) from 100 to 11. A
persons stress score is the sum of all the life
change units for events they have experienced
within a period of 12 months.
6Examples of top rank events
- The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
- RANK
- 1. Death of spouse
- 2. Divorce
- 3. Marital separation
- 4. Jail term
- 5. Death of close family member
- 6. Personal injury or illness
- 7. Fired at work
- 8. Retirement
- 9. Change in health of family member
- 10. Pregnancy
- 11. Sex difficulties
- 12. Gain of new family member
7Kanner Hassles and Uplifts
- Kanner used hassles as a predictor of stress and
illness. The standard life events (SRRS) which
had been popular previously to predict stress,
was compared with relatively minor events,
namely, the hassles and uplifts of everyday life.
Hassles and Uplifts Scales were administered once
a month for 10 consecutive months to a community
sample of 100 middle-aged adults in California. - A longitudinal study with repeated measures
design was used as participants filled out both
the Life Events Scale as well as the Hassles and
Uplifts Scale. They then had their
psychological symptoms of stress assessed using
the Hopkins Symptom checklist and the Bradburn
Morale scale. (Nine subjects dropped out) - It was found that the Hassles Scale was a better
predictor of psychological and physiological
symptoms than were the life events scores.
Hassles also seemed to be consistent month on
month. Hassles and symptoms of stress were
significantly correlated. The more hassles the
participant reported the more symptoms they
reported. Uplifts were positively related to
reduced symptoms for women but not for men. - It was concluded that the assessment of daily
hassles and uplifts may be a better approach to
the prediction of stress and ill health than the
life events approach.
8Hassles and Uplifts - Kanner
Daily Hassles Daily Uplifts
1 Concerns about weight 1 Relating well to spouse or partner
2 Health of a family member 2 Relating well to friends
3 Rising price of common goods 3 Completing a task
4 Home maintenance 4 Feeling healthy
5 Too many things to do 5 Getting enough sleep
6 Misplacing or losing things 6 Eating out
7 Outside home maintenance 7 Meeting your responsibilities
8 Property, investment or taxes 8 Visiting, phoning or writing to someone
9 Crime 9 Spending time with the family
10 Physical appearance 10 Finding your home a pleasant environment
9Work has also been shown to produce stress!
- What jobs or types of work would you think might
be the most stressful?
10Johansson Swedish Saw Mill
- Aim to investigate whether work stressors such
as repetitiveness, machine-regulated pace of work
and high levels of responsibility increase
stress-related physiological arousal and stress
related illness - Procedures The researchers identified a
high-risk group of 14 finishers in a Swedish
sawmill. Their job was to finish off the wood at
the last stage of processing timber. The work was
machine-paced, isolated, very repetitive yet
highly skilled, and the finishers productivity
determined the wage rates for the entire factory - The 14 finishers were compared with a low-risk
group of 10 cleaners, whose work was more varied,
largely self-paced, and allowed more socialising
with other workers - Levels of stress-related hormones (adrenaline and
noradrenaline) in the urine were measured on work
days and rest days - Records were kept of stress-related illness and
absenteeism - Findings The high-risk group of 14 finishers
secreted more stress hormones (adrenaline and
noradrenaline) on work days than on rest days,
and higher levels than the control group. The
high-risk group of finishers also showed
significantly higher levels of stress-related
illness such as headaches and higher levels of
absenteeism than the low-risk group of cleaners. - Conclusions A combination of work stressors-
especially repetitiveness, machine-pacing of work
and high levels of responsibility lead to
chronic (long-term) physiological arousal. This
in turn leads to stress-related illness and
absenteeism. - If employers want to reduce illness and
absenteeism in their workforce, they need to find
ways of reducing these work stressors, for
example by introducing variety into employees
work and by allowing them to experience some
sense of control over the pace of their work.
11Johansson Swedish Saw Mill measures
- Each participant had to give a urine sample four
times a day so that their adrenal levels could be
measured. - Their body temperature was recorded at the same
time as this can give an indication of how alert
a person is. - These two physiological measures were combined
with self report where each participant had to
say how much caffeine and nicotine they had
consumed since the last urine test. They also
had to report on a range of emotions and feelings
as well as sleepiness, well-being, calmness,
irritation and efficiency etc. They had to
scale these feelings on a continuum from minimum
to maximum using a scale with millimetres. The
score was how many millimetres from the base
point the participants had marked themselves to
be feeling. - This combined approach gave both qualitative and
quantitative measurements enabling Johannson to
compare the two groups of workers and understand
the impact of higher stress levels on the
participants.
12Stress on the job
- Numerous studies show that job stress is far and
away the major source of stress for American
adults and that it has escalated progressively
over the past few decades. Increased levels of
job stress as assessed by the perception of
having little control but lots of demands have
been demonstrated to be associated with increased
rates of heart attack, hypertension and other
disorders. In New York, Los Angeles and other
municipalities, the relationship between job
stress and heart attacks is so well acknowledged,
that any police officer who suffers a coronary
event on or off the job is assumed to have a work
related injury and is compensated accordingly
(including a heart attack sustained while fishing
on vacation or gambling in Las Vegas).
13Geer and Meisel Stress and control
- Aim To see if perceived control or actual
control can reduce stress reactions to averse
stimuli. - Method Laboratory experiment in which
participants were shown photographs of dead car
crash victims and their stress levels were
measured by GSR (Galvanic skin response) and
heart rate through ECG monitoring. - Participants 60 undergraduates enrolled in a
psychology course at a New York university. - Design Independent measures with participants
randomly assigned to three conditions. - Group 1 were given control over how long they
looked at the images for. They could press a
button to terminate the image and were told a
tone would precede each new image. - Group 2 Were warned the photos would be 60
seconds apart they would see the picture for 35
seconds and a 10 second warning tone would
precede each photo. The group had no control but
did know what was happening. - Group 3 were told that from time to time they
would see photos and hear tones but were not
given timings or any control. - Procedure each participant was seated in a sound
proofed room and wired up to the GSR and ECG
machines. The machine was calibrated for 5
minutes while the participant relaxed and a
baseline measurement was then taken.
Instructions were read over an intercom. Each
photo was precede with a 10 second tone and then
flashed up for 35 seconds (only the one group
could terminate the photo and move on). The GSR
was taken at the onset of the tone and during the
second half of the tone and in response to the
picture. - Results ECG recordings were discarded as they
appeared inaccurate. - Group 2 showed most stress. Group 1 showed least
stress. - Conclusions that having control over your
environment can reduce stress responses.
14Causes of stress and supporting evidence
- Work as a cause of stress Johansson 1978 Swedish
Sawmill, repetitiveness, machine pacing and
responsibility. - Hassles and Life Events as a cause of stress
Kanner 1981. - Lack of control as a cause of stress Geer and
Meilsel 1973 lab experiment with car crash victims
15How can we measure stress levels?
- Physiological
- Blood pressure
- Steroid levels in urine and saliva (Reicher and
Haslam). - Galvanic skin response and heart rate (Geer and
Meisel).
- Advantages scientific
- Disadvantages
- quantitative
16Self Report
- We have already considered how stress can be
measured when looking at causes of stress - by
looking at Holmes and Rahe and Kanner with their
Life Events and Hassles and Uplifts Scales. - Advantages qualitative and quantitative,
detailed, personal. - Disadvantages time consuming, difficulty in
analysing, experimenter bias
17Combined Approach to measuring stress
- Johansson measured stress using biological
measures and self report. - This is a useful conclusion section when
describing measurements as it involved both
qualitative and quantitative data in the same
measurements and reliability of the self report
can be checked against the biological tests.
18Methods of measuring stress and supporting
evidence
- 1. Geer and Meisel 1973 physiological -GSR
(galvanic skins response) and heart rate, body
temperature.YouTube - Stress Monitor - 2. Kanner self report of hassles and uplifts.
Holmes and Rahe self report of major life
events. - 3. Johansson 1978 combined approach using
physiological - urine tests and self report.
19Validity and measurements
- It is possible that a question could arise which
is entirely about validity the most common way
in which this is usually addressed is when the
area specifically looks at measurements as
validity obviously means are we measuring what we
say we are measuring! - Discuss the validity of measurements of stress
(15)
20Techniques of stress management
- Learning Objectives
- Understand and evaluate behavioural and
cognitive techniques to stress management. - Explain the use of stress management techniques
21What techniques can be used to manage stress
- Cognitive techniques
- (SIT) Stress Inoculation Therapy can be used
to help people learn to identify when they will
become stressed and use positive thoughts to try
and reduce future stress responses during
sessions of cognitive therapy. - Michenbaum (1975)YouTube - Stress Reduction 1 of
6 - http//www.youtube.com/watch?vUGaRyLN9gb8
22RET Rational emotive therapyPage 162
- Developed by Ellis 1962.
- Ellis believed that faulty or irrational ways of
thinking affect stress appraisal processes
increase the appraisal of threat or harm. - RET A-B-C-D-E framework whereby the therapist
bluntly/aggressively challenges the client to
examine their belief systems to realise how
irrational and damaging they are. - Copy table 2 into your notes!
- Once completed summarise the evaluation in your
own words.
23Meichenbaum Stress Inoculation Therapy - Cognitive
- Standard behavioural measures have tried to help
people become desensitised to stress.
Meichenbaum compared these standard behavioural
methods with cognitive ones. Cognitive therapy
sessions aimed at enabling people to identify
their stressors and change their mental processes
when under stress rather than just their
behaviours. - 21 students ages 17 25 responded to an advert
about treatment of test anxiety. It was a field
experiment with participants put into three
groups, SIT, standard desensitisation and a
control group. Each participant was tested using
a test anxiety questionnaire. - The SIT group received 8 therapy sessions giving
them insight into their thoughts before tests.
They were then given some positive statements to
say and relaxation techniques to use in test
situations. - The systematic desensitisation groups were also
given 8 therapy sessions with only progressive
relaxation training whilst imaging stressful
situations. - The control group were told they were on a
waiting list for treatment. - Findings performance in tests in the SIT group
improved the most although both therapy groups
showed improvement over the control groups. - Conclusions that SIT is an effective way of
reducing anxiety in students who are prone to
anxiety in test situations and more effective
than simply behavioural techniques when a
cognitive component is added in.
24Past Exam Question
- Discuss the cognitive approach to managing
stress. Refer to one other approach in your
answer. 12 marks
25Behavioural techniques biofeedback
- Allowing people to monitor their own health and
gain feedback about the effects of certain
behaviours allows them to modify behaviour
through positive reinforcement. - Budzynski (1973)YouTube - Stress Management and
Temperature Bio Feedback http//www.youtube.com/wa
tch?vZBY1YdwEfNQ - YouTube - How to Use Biofeedback for Stress
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vkn1RHEcmrNI - YouTube - breathing techniques for stress,
anxiety and panic
26Behavioural techniques Biofeedback - Budzinski
- Aim to see if biofeedback techniques work and
help reduce tension headaches or whether the
effect is due to the placebo effect. The placebo
effect is a positive psychological effect that
can occur even when there is no actual treatment. - Method Experimental method with patients trained
in the laboratory. Data was collected using
muscle tension measurements (EMG) with an
electromyography, a machine which gives feedback
by a graph by applying electrodes to the muscles.
Patients were also given a psychometric test for
depression (MMPI) and asked to complete
questionnaires on their headaches. It was an
independent measures design with participants
randomly assigned to one of three groups. - Participants 18 replied to a newspaper advert in
the USA. They were screened by telephone and
then had psychiatric and medical examinations to
ensure there were no other reasons for their
headaches. There were 2 males and 16 females
aged 22-44 with a mean age of 36. - Group A had real biofeedback training with
relaxation using the EMG - Group B had biofeedback training but with false
(pseudo) feedback - Group C were used as a control group
- Procedure all groups kept a diary of their
headaches for two weeks, rating them from 0 mild
to 5 severe. Groups A and B were told to
practice relaxation after the training for 15
20 mins each day. - Results After 3 months group As muscle tension
was significantly lower than the other two
groups. Reporting of headaches in group A also
fell significantly compared to their base line
which it did not in the other two groups. - Conclusions biofeedback is an effective way to
reduce stress levels by reducing tension.
27Social approaches
- Many researchers have found out that social
support helps reduce stress. Loneliness and
isolation increase stress. - Waxler- Morrison (2006) found women with strong
social relationships were more likely to survive
breast cancer!
28Waxler-Morrison Social Support
- Aim to look at how a womans social
relationships influence her response to breast
cancer and survival. - Method a quasi experiment with woman who were
diagnosed with breast cancer. The information
was gathered using questionnaires and 18
interviews plus examination of medical records.
Women were fitted into categories based on their
social support network. - Participants 133 women under 55 yrs
(pre-menopausal) who had been referred with
breast cancer in Canada. - Design Independent measures design with women of
different pre existing levels of social support. - Procedure women were sent a questionnaire to
fill in about their social support including
questions on education and family
responsibilities, friends, their perception of
their support from others, marital status and
church memberships etc. Their diagnoses were
taken from medical records which were again
checked 4 years later. - Findings and conclusions qualitative data from
questionnaires showed that practical help given
by others for cleaning, child care, cooking etc
was essential for support. Jobs were seen as
important for support and most survivors reported
supportive husbands although problems were often
reported with children who may also need support.
There was a significant relationship between
the amount of support reported and survival rates.
29Techniques for managing stress and supporting
research
- 1. Cognitive techniques Michenbaum 1975
- 2. Behavioural techniques biofeedback
Budzynski 1973 - 3. Social support Waxler-Morrison 2006
30Problems and usefulness
- Due to the high rate of illness and days off work
sick combined with an increasingly stressful
society it is really useful to learn how to
manage our stress and avoid long term ill health.
We have already seen how lack of control causes
stress (Geer and Meisel) so by giving back
control through cognitive or behavioural measures
it can only help reduce stress - However stress management needs trained
counsellors, resources, commitment, time, money,
and possibly a level of understanding that not
everyone will be able to show. Some strategies
are also more appropriate for long term stress
rather than short term. For example if
bereavement causes stress then cognitive therapy
is not the answer social support might be most
appropriate if there is a longer term problem
social support may be a good first option
followed by cognitive or behaviour therapy etc.
31Exam questions For Home Work!!Due 24/11/10
- Outline one technique for managing stress (10)
- Describe and evaluate the role of social support
in mediating responses to stress. Refer to
evidence in your answer.(12)