Chapter Resources

CHAPTER RESOURCES

Page

Chapter Outline 82

Expanded Learning Outcomes 83

Chapter Summary/Lecture Organizer 84

Teaching Resources 87

Lecture Lead-Ins 88

Lecture Extenders 89

Key Terms 91

Discussion Questions 93

Web Sites 94

Effects of Stress

Applying Psychology to Student Life: Why You Shouldn’t Procrastinate

Module 3.2 Stress and Illness

Cancer

Cardiovascular Disorders

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Gastric Ulcers

Module 3.3 Health Psychology in Action

Applying Psychology to Work: Would You Like to be a Health Psychologist?

Tobacco

Alcohol

Chronic Pain

Module 3.4 Living Psychology – Health and Stress Management

Emotion- and Problem-Focused Forms of Coping

Resources for Healthy Living

Applying Psychology to Work: Is My Job Stressful?

Expanded Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of CHAPTER 3, the student should be able to:

Textbook Core LO: What is stress and what are its major sources and effects?

Differentiate between stress and stressors, eustress and distress (p. 94-95).
Describe research findings related to Holmes and Rahe’s Social Readjustment Rating Scale, chronic stressors, daily hassles, frustrations, and burnout (pp. 95-97)
Contrast the three basic conflicts (p. 97-98).
Describe the physiological effects of stress (pp. 99-101).

Textbook Core LO: How is stress related to serious illness?

Describe how stress is related to cancer (pp. 102-103).
Explain the relationship between stress and heart disease (p. 103).
Contrast Type A and Type B personalities and describe the research and treatment regarding them (p. 104).
Describe hardiness and state how it is related to stress (p. 105).
Describe how stress is related to PTSD and gastric ulcers (pp. 105-107).

Textbook Core LO: How is health psychology involved with tobacco, alcohol, and chronic pain?

Define health psychology and identify major occupational options for health psychologists (p.108).
Describe factors that lead to smoking, its consequences, preventions, and how to quit (pp. 108-111).
Discuss binge drinking on college campuses and around the world (pp. 111-112).
Describe the role of psychologists in helping people deal with chronic pain (p. 113)
Describe biofeedback and relaxation therapy for chronic pain (pp. 113-114).

Textbook Core LO: What techniques and resources are available to help people stay healthy and cope with stress?

Contrast emotion-focused and problem-focused forms of coping with stress (pp. 115-116).
List coping resources and techniques, and describe how each improves coping (pp. 116-118).

/ Chapter Summary/Lecture Organizer

MODULE 3.1 UNDERSTANDING STRESS – Understanding Stress, examines the causes and effects of stress. Stress is the body's nonspecific response to any demand made on it. Any stimulus that causes stress is called a stressor. There are both beneficial (eustress) and non-beneficial (distress) types of stress.

A. Sources of Stress - The major causes of stress are life changes, chronic stressors,

hassles, frustration, and conflicts. Frustrations have to do with blocked goals. The College Life Stress Inventory at the beginning of the chapter is based on an earlier inventory of Holmes and Rahe (1967) – the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). The SRRS measures stress related to changes brought about by major life events and is presented in Table 3.1 in the text. In recent years constantly changing technology has increased the hassles and frustrations of day-to-day living. Conflicts may be of three types: approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, and approach-avoidance.

B. Effects of Stress - When stressed, the body undergoes physiological changes. The

sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system is activated, increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and hormone levels. This sympathetic activation is beneficial if people need to fight or flee (“fight or flight response”), but it can have negative consequences to health. A second stress response system - The HPA Axis (Hypothalamus, Pituitary Gland and Adrenal Cortex System) reacts more slowly. Prolonged stress can suppress the immune system and render the body susceptible to many diseases, from colds and flu to cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Psychoneuroimmunology studies the effects of psychological factors, the nervous and endocrine systems, and the immune system.

Hans Selye described a generalized physiological reaction to severe stressors, which he called the general adaptation syndrome. The general adaptation syndrome has three phases: the alarm reaction, the resistance phase, and the exhaustion phase.

C. Applying Psychology to Student Life: Why You Shouldn’t Procrastinate –

Tice and Baumeister (1997) found that procrastinators suffered significantly

more stress and developed more health problems than nonprocrastinators.

Students are cautioned to space out work rather than procrastinate to

minimize the detrimental effects of procrastination on stress level and heath.

MODULE 3.2 - STRESS AND ILLNESS – Stress and Illness, explores the role stress plays in serious illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease.

A. Cancer - Cancer can be caused by environmental factors, such as cigarette smoke or asbestos, or by changes in body chemistry that affect how certain cells within the body replicate. During times of stress, the body may be less able to check cancerous cell changes because the immune system is suppressed.

B. Cardiovascular Disorders - The leading cause of death in the United States is

cardiovascular disease. Heart disease includes all illnesses that affect the heart muscle and lead to heart failure. One major cause of heart disease is the blockage of coronary arteries. Risk factors in heart disease include smoking, stress, Type A personality traits, obesity, a high-fat diet, and lack of exercise. Personality traits can play a major role in the effects of stress. The two main approaches to modifying Type A behavior are the shotgun approach and the target behavior approach. Psychological hardy personality types are more resistant to the effects of stress. Reducing stress, increasing exercise, and maintaining a low-fat diet can help minimize the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries and the risk for cardiovascular disease.

C. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the result of a life-threatening or extreme event which includes feeling of terror and helplessness. The primary symptoms are highlighted.

D. Gastric Ulcers – Recent research evidence suggests that even though most ulcer

patients have the H. pylori bacterium in their stomachs, stress creates a compromising

environment in the stomach and leaves it more vulnerable to the attack by the

bacteria.

MODULE 3.3 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION – Health Psychology in Action, addresses how the field of health psychology can help with problems related to tobacco, alcohol and chronic pain. Health psychology is the study of the relationship between psychological behavior and physical health and illness.

A. Tobacco - Because smoking is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in

the United States, prevention and cessation of smoking are of primary importance to

all health practitioners, including health psychologists. Smoking prevention programs

involve educating the public about short and long-term consequences of smoking,

trying to make smoking less socially acceptable, and helping nonsmokers resist social

pressures to smoke. Approaches to help people quit smoking include cognitive and

behavioral techniques to aid smokers in their withdrawal from nicotine; and techniques

for dealing with social pressures.

B. Alcohol - Since binge drinking is fairly common, especially among college aged

individuals, and a potentially dangerous habit it is also a target of prevention programs.

The focus of these programs is to reduce or remove the social reinforcers that encourage

binge drinking.

C. Chronic Pain - Health psychologists help chronic pain patients by teaching them to

cope with their pain through operant conditioning, biofeedback, and relaxation

techniques.

D. Applying Psychology to Work: Would You Like to be a Health Psychologist? – Health psychology is the study of the relationship between psychological behavior and physical health and illness. “Wellness” and the prevention of illness are emphasized and the many areas of careers in health psychology are highlighted.

MODULE 3.4 HEALTH AND STRESS MANAGEMENT - The two major forms of coping with stress are emotion-focused and problem-focused approaches.

A. Emotion- and Problem-Focused Forms of Coping Emotion-focused forms of coping are emotional or cognitive strategies that change how we view stressful situations, such as, reappraising and the use of defense mechanisms. Problem-Focused Forms of Coping with stress deal directly with the situation or causative factors so as to decrease or eliminate the problems.

B. Resources for Healthy Living- The ability to cope with a stressor also depends on the

resources available to a person. Resources include health and energy, positive beliefs, s

social skills, social support, material resources and personal control.

C. Applying Psychology to Work: Is My Job Stressful? Four factors are presented that

research shows are conducive to increased job satisfaction and reduced stress:

supportive colleagues, supportive working conditions, mentally challenging work, and

equitable rewards (Robbins, 1996).

Teaching Resources

MODULE 3.1 UNDERSTANDING STRESS

Expanded Learning Outcomes #’s 1-4

Lecture Lead-In's #’s 1, 2

Discussion Questions #’s 2, 5

Active Learning Activities #’s 3.1, 3.2

Brain-Based Learning #'s 3.1, 3.2

Critical Thinking Exercise #'s 3.1, 3.2

MODULE 3.2 STRESS AND ILLNESS

Expanded Learning Outcomes #’s 5-9

Lecture Extender #1

Discussion Questions # 4

Active Learning Activities # 3.4

MODULE 3.3 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION

Expanded Learning Outcomes #’s 10-14

Discussion Questions # 1

Active Learning Activities # 3.3

MODULE 3.4 LIVING PSYCHOLOGY – HEALTH AND STRESS MANAGEMENT

Expanded Learning Outcomes #'s 15-16

Lecture Lead-Ins # 1

Discussion Questions #’s 2, 3

Active Learning Activities #’s 3.3, 3.5

Brain-Based Learning #'s 3.1- 3.3

Critical Thinking Exercise # 3.3

/ Lecture Lead-Ins

1. In Billings, Montana, at 3:30 a.m., a man walks into an all night casino, pulls out a gun, and shoots the manager and two customers to death. He then turns and walks out to where police are waiting; he points the gun at the officers and they shoot him dead. What has caused this tragedy? When interviewed by the local radio station, the man's mother said that her son had been a loner and recluse since returning from Saudi Arabia and had "never been quite the same." Ask the students what has happened to this individual. There will be many different answers but someone should discover the Saudi Arabia connection. Explain that this incident could be explained in terms of stress from the war experience. This illness is called posttraumatic stress syndrome. Ask students if they believe this disorder is real or just an attempt by psychologists to explain behaviors they cannot otherwise explain. Ask them if they know any individuals who might have this problem. Ask for students to volunteer their experiences in stressful war situations; you are likely to have a Vietnam or Gulf War veteran in your class. This can be an excellent start to your lectures on stress.

2. Ask why anyone would willingly undergo dangerous, stressful situations? The stress can be at a maximum and yet individuals do this for recreation. Very good examples are mountain biking, skiing, hang gliding, and white water sports. They all are stress-inducing behaviors. Ask individual volunteers why they do these sports. Can this type of behavior be stress-reducing? Use this discussion for a lead-in for your stress lectures.

/ Lecture Extenders

1. Hypertension

A common disorder that has been suspected of having psychological roots is hypertension. The logic for relating stress and hypertension is the known relationship between a "threat" to the person, either physical or psychological, and the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system plays an important role in the constriction of the blood vessels which has an immediate effect upon blood pressure. Since many cases of hypertension occur without any known etiologic factor, investigators have hypothesized that chronic tension and repressed anger are the villains. Within the last few years the medical profession has become aware of the differential rates in hypertension between African Americans and white Americans with the former group suffering the most from this disorder. The issue of psychological versus physiological factors in the demographics of the disorder was summarized by Daniel Goleman in The New York Times (April 24, 1990). The discussion below is based upon this material.

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Hypertension is twice as common among African American as white Americans, amounting to what some refer to as an epidemic among African Americans and contributing to a higher rate of death from heart problems, kidney disease, and stroke. Seeking to explain this differential, investigators have focused on two explanations: repressed anger and rage which is accentuated through racial prejudice, and racial genetic differences which make the African American person more susceptible to hypertension. Dr. Elijah Saunders, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical School and co-author of a leading textbook, Hypertension in African Americans, contends that the rage which comes from the prevailing racism in American society is the important factor that sets up the African American for more hypertension. He does not dispute that there may be some genetic differences, but he feels it is the additional stress that creates such a disparity between the two groups. Support for this position has come mainly from anecdotal accounts from physicians and psychotherapists who have had an opportunity to talk with African Americans and to observe their reactions to racial injustice. Presumably, one of the important factors in this rage reaction is that the African American person feels he or she has to repress the felt rage because of fear of retaliation.

In general, it has been difficult to obtain empirical data for this type of approach; however, a recently published study in Health Psychology provides some empirical data in support of the position. Twenty-seven African American college students were shown scenes from movies portraying three different types of scenes: a neutral one, an anger-provoking scene, and a racial incident scene. Measures of blood pressure indicated that the racially disturbing scene led to a rise of three points in diastolic pressure while the other emotional scene was followed by a rise of only one point. Advocates of the stress position say that even though this is a small increment, it can accumulate, and over the years, push a person into hypertension.