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Background - defining stress

The definition of stress depends on the approach that psychologists take. In simple terms stress just means 'effort, demand upon energy'. Almost anything can create this stress situation, a loud noise, a deadline, revision, a late bus, getting up in the morning! But there are three ways of approaching a definition of stress: 1. Stress can be defined in terms of all people responding in the same biological way, to the same stimulus. This is the stimulus based model, i.e. the stimulus causes the stress but our response is the same physiologically. Any perception of a stress stimulus triggers the body's physiological response. This is universal both across time (every time we encounter a stressor) and cultures. We speak of being 'under stress; the external event causes the stress. Managing stress comes down to avoiding the stressor. 2. Stress can be defined as dependent upon the person's response to the stressor. This is a more negative way of looking at stress. The person is described as 'suffering from stress', 'feeling stressed'. The individual is seen as having inadequate coping mechanisms. This internal reaction may also be down to different personality type or cultural influence, but the management of stress is seen as coming from internal change. 3. The most accepted way of looking at stress nowadays, is to use an interactionist approach. That is, we may all be faced with the same external stressor (stimulus) but, the stress response that we show, will depend on our individual differences or gender or culture. In other words, the phrase 'exam' is the same stimulus, but some of you will be feeling very worked up about the exam, others will be more 'laid back'. The internal and behavioural response will be different for each of us. Psychologists try to find out the factors affecting this interaction and stress management depends on the perceived interaction and response. Note: Stress is not necessarily always negative. Some people are motivated by the stress response and actively seek further challenges. Others find stress debilitating and it can lead to illness.

The Bodily Response to Stress

This is based on the work of Selye and you need to know biological detail to gain full marks. You would use this material when the exam questions look like this: Describe the General Adaptation Syndrome Describe the bodily response to stressors. Give two criticisms of the General Adaptation Syndrome. Outline one strength and one weakness of the General Adaptation Syndrome. When you are preparing to write description, it must be detailed and accurate. When asked to give or outline criticisms, again, detail is required but DO NOT evaluate, simply state in a detailed and accurate way, the facts. You may be asked to evaluate the GAS but this will probably be part of a wider question about responding to stress.

The General Adaptation Syndrome

Stage One - Alarm Reaction This is triggered by the perception and evaluation of a stimulus as a stressor. The body must prepare for action - fight or flight. Teacher asks for your overdue homework: *Initial shock phase - the body responds by a drop in blood pressure and muscle tension you feel tense *Countershock phase - response to threat or injury you prepare to react *The alarm stage if triggered by the hypothalamus and regulated by the sympathetic autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system. (See table below) Stage Two - The Resistance Stage The body is beginning to cope. Endocrine and sympathetic activities decrease slightly. you calm a little and begin to think up some good excuses. If the stressor can be adequately dealt with or terminated psychological damage is unlikely. However, physically, much is still happening: *corticosteroids aggravate the natural inflammatory reaction and the immune system is less responsive. *replacement of cells is inhibited (immunosuppression) *and the body's resources are being depleted faster than they can be replaced. If the teacher accepts your excuses you are unlikely to suffer long term stress, or if the

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teacher understands your difficulty and helps you to plan a more realistic deadline for example, you are more likely to recover from this stage. Stage Three - Exhaustion. ACTH and corticosteroids in the blood stream prevent further release of ACTH (negative feedback). If the stressor was removed during the resistance phase blood sugar will gradually return to normal. If the stressor was not dealt with this prolonged exposure means that higher brain centres will override the negative feedback and maintain the pituitary-adrenal excitation. This leads to wear and tear on the tissues, fatigued muscles and damage to the endocrine glands and kidneys. Selye referred to these as diseases of adaptation or stress related illness. (See stress and physical illness for evidence). There is no point trying to avoid your teacher! Admit defeat and explore ways of discussing an extension if possible! Summary evaluation of GAS *It is a good and thorough explanation of the physiology of stress. You need to use the findings of Selyes' work to back this point up. *The non-specific nature of the responses has been questioned - in other words, do we all respond in exactly the same way as the three stages suggest? Some of you will be un-phased by a teacher requesting work, others will be really worried. You can use the evidence of stress modifiers to back up this claim. (See individual differences and stress modification) *The psychological effects and response to the stressor have not been accounted for in the GAS model. Psychological effects are poor cognitive skills, negative emotional states and poor coping mechanisms, based of maladaptive experiential learning for example. You can use the individual differences evidence for the effects of stressors and the stress management evidence to support the claim that some people can respond differently through employing techniques. (See stress management).

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Anything can cause the stress response if it is perceived and evaluated as a stressor

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You must include the biological facts to support a good answer:

Hypothalamic-Pituitary Axis (Slow)

Hypothalamus releases corticotrophic releasing hormones Stimulates the pituitary gland, releases ACTH (adrenocorticoprophic hormone) ACTH acts upon adrenal cortex releases corticosteroids and adrenaline Fight/flight response

Adrenomedullary Autonomic Axes (Fast)

Hypothalamus stimulates the Autonomic Nervous system (ANS) Triggers adrenal medulla and adrenaline and noradrenaline are released Fight/flight response By the time the nervous system has finished, hormone system kicks in and prolongs the stress response.

Stress and Illness

Technically, when we say stress causes illness we are not quite right. Stress can only indirectly cause illness by: *repetitive exposure to stressors means that the bodily response (GAS) reduces the ability to fight illness. In other words, people who are stressed are more likely to become ill. *a secondary way of stress indirectly causing illness is through inappropriate coping mechanisms. For example, stressed people may smoke or drink more alcohol, which all cause wear and tear on the body in various ways However, there is clear evidence that stressed people are MORE likely to become ill than less stressed people and it is this relationship that psychologists are interested in, i.e. there seems to be a positive correlation between stress and illness. You need to be aware of the biology behind illness, namely that the immune system, which is responsible for fighting disease, is affected by stress and becomes less efficient, (is suppressed). A suppressed immune system also plays a role in making us more vulnerable to the effects of foreign bodies and healing takes longer. You need to think of the way in which psychologists are measuring stress in the research that we have. When they are looking at stress and physical illness they may
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use indirect methods such as questionnaires (to ask about illness and stress), or direct methods such as taking blood samples to measure the reduction in T cells, evidence of coronary heart disease or cancer Thinking about the methods used, gives you an automatic line of thinking for evaluation (see research methods, advantages and disadvantages of methods used). Most examination questions will require you to know ONE study in detail to show the relationship between stress and a named illness, either cardiovascular disorders (CHD or coronary heart disease) or effects on the immune system (vulnerability to colds etc.). The examiners can ask you to: *Give any 2 of the following: aims, procedure, findings, conclusion and implications of one study researching the effects of stress on the cardiovascular system. Use Friedman and Rosenman (see key studies) *Give any 2 of the following: aims, procedure, findings, conclusion and implications of one study researching the effects of stress on the immune system. Use Kiecolt and Glaser (see key studies). Examiners may vary the request between any combination, e.g. give aims and findings, give procedure and conclusion, give aims and implication. Remember that there will be 3 marks fro each so you will to be accurate, identify the answer clearly and elaborate. For a part C question DO NOT simply regurgitate the aims etc. - read the question and write in essay style to answer the question, e.g. One study that researched the relationship between stress and cardiovascular disorders was Friedman and Rosenmans study on........., at the end of the detail refer back to the question....'they found that they was a definite relationship between Type A people and cardiovascular disorders'. This answering of the question set, as opposed to just jotting down the correct content is the discriminator between E, D, C, B and A grade candidates. Read the question carefully and respond appropriately. In addition to the two key studies related to this area, it is useful to have at least two more findings, to use in a longer essay section or for evaluation.
Examples of other findings: Sweeney (1995) found that stressed groups with injuries did not heal as quickly, therefore remaining 'ill' longer. Kiecolt-Glaser (1995) found that highly stressed Alzheimer carers took 9 days longer to heal after injury, again, remaining 'ill' longer than less stressed people.

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Brady's monkeys could be used for any stress and illness question which does not specify the illness as cardiovascular or immune. Increased stress hormones caused ulcers and death. Remember that Weiner's study on army recruits validates Brady's findings on animals

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