Cognitive-Relational Theory Of Stress

1. Stress Theory

Cognitive-relational theory defines stress as a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984b, p. 19). Appraisals are determined simultaneously by perceiving environmental demands and personal resources. They can change over time due to coping effectiveness, altered requirements, or improvements in personal abilities.

The cognitive-relational theory of stress emphasizes the continuous, reciprocal nature of the interaction between the person and the environment. Since its first publication (Lazarus, 1966), it has not only been further developed and refined, but it
In terms of feeling, a low sense of self-efficacy is associated with depression, anxiety, and helplessness. Such individuals also have low self-esteem and harbor pessimistic thoughts about their accomplishments and personal development. In terms of thinking, a strong sense of competence facilitates cognitive processes and academic performance. Self-efficacy levels can enhance or impede the motivation to act. Individuals with high self-efficacy choose to perform more challenging tasks. They set themselves higher goals and stick to them (Locke & Latham, 1990). Actions are preshaped in thought, and people anticipate either optimistic or pessimistic scenarios in line with their level of self-efficacy. Once an action has been taken, high self-efficacious persons invest more effort and persist longer than those with low self-efficacy. When setbacks occur, the former recover more quickly and maintain the commitment to their goals. Self-efficacy also allows people to select challenging settings, explore their environments, or create new situations. A sense of competence can be acquired by mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, or physiological feedback (Bandura, 1992). Self-efficacy, however, is not the same as positive illusions or unrealistic optimism, since it is based on experience and does not lead to unreasonable risk taking. Instead, it leads to venturesome behaviour that is within reach
Patients with high efficacy beliefs are better able to control pain than those with low self-efficacy (Altmaier, Russell, Kao, Lehmann, & Weinstein, 1993; Litt, 1988; Manning & Wright, 1983). Self-efficacy has been shown to affect blood pressure, heart rate and serum catecholamine levels in coping with challenging or threatening situations (Bandura, Cioffi, Taylor, & Brouillard, 1988; Bandura, Reese, & Adams, 1982; Bandura, Taylor, Williams, Mefford, & Barchas, 1985). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis enhanced their efficacy beliefs, reduced pain and joint inflammation, and improved psychosocial functioning (Holman & Lorig, 1992; O 'Leary, Shoor, Lorig, & Holman, 1988; Smith, Dobbins, & Wallston, 1991; Smith & Wallston, 1992). Optimistic self-beliefs have turned out to be influential in the rehabilitation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients (Kaplan, Atkins, & Reinsch, 1984; Toshima, Kaplan, & Ries, 1992). Recovery of cardiovascular function in postcoronary patients is similarly enhanced by beliefs in one 's physical and cardiac efficacy (Ewart, 1992; Taylor, Bandura, Ewart, Miller, & DeBusk, 1985). Obviously, perceived self-efficacy predicts the degree of therapeutic change in a variety of settings (Bandura, 1992,