UNDERSTANDING RESPONSES TO STRESS

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UNDERSTANDING RESPONSES TO STRESS

• Chapter 11

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Stress

• A broad class of experiences in which a demanding
  situation taxes a persons resources, or coping
  capabilities, causing a negative effect

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Early Stress-Response Theories

• Walter Cannon
• Fight-or-flight response
• Body prepares for situation that individual
  perceives as threat to survival
• New research indicates that men and women have
  different neural responses to stress

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Early Stress-Response TheoriesContinued

• Hans Selye
• General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
• Three stages
• Alarm or acute stress stage
• Resistance or adaptation stage
• Exhaustion stage
• Psychological reactions (Lazarus)
• Distress
• Eustress

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Neurotransmitter Stress Responses

• Serotonin synthesis more active
• May impair serotonin receptor sights and brains
  ability to use serotonin

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Immune Stress Responses

• Interaction between nervous system and immune
  system during alarm phase of GAS
• Negatively affects bodys ability to produce
  protective factors

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Types of Conflict

• Approach-Avoidance
• Avoidance-Avoidance
• Vacillation

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Mediators of the Stress Response

• Stressors
• Perception
• Personality
• Social support

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Mediators of the Stress Response Continued

• Self-help groups
• Low- and high-quality support
• Culture
• Spirituality and religious beliefs

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Nursing Management of Stress Responses

• Measuring stress
• Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes and
  Rahe 1967, 1978, 1997)
• Measures level of positive and negative stressful
  life events over a 1-year period
• Assessing coping styles

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Coping Strategies

• Seeking comfort
• Relying on self-discipline
• Intense expression of feeling
• Avoidance and withdrawal
• Talking it out
• Privately thinking it through
• Working it off

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Coping Strategies - continued

• Engaging in self-healing and mind/body practices
• Spirituality and prayer
• Symbolic substitutes
• Somatizing

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Behavior Stress-Management Techniques

• Bensons relaxation techniques
• Meditation
• Guided imagery
• Breathing exercises

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Behavior Stress-Management Techniques Continued

• Physical exercise
• Progressive muscle relaxation
• Biofeedback

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Cognitive Approaches to Stress Management

• Cognitive reframing
• Mindfulness
• Journaling
• Humor