Stress Adaptation and the Psycho-Physiological Effects on the Body
Stress Adaptation and the Psycho-physiological Effects on the Body
73132 Psychology of Stress
Assignment One
The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
1732 words
Stress Adaptation and the Psycho-physiological Effects on the Body
‘Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.’ So says the Chinese proverb, (The Quote Garden, 2010) and in this writer’s opinion, the phrase is accurate, in a very broad sense. Tension, or stress can be defined as the ‘arousal of the mind and body in response to demands made on them’ (Schafer, 2000). Schafer emphasises repeatedly in his definitions of stress that it is the person’s response to these demands, rather than the demands themselves which can influence stress. Stress depends very much on a person’s interpretation of an event (Burton, Weston & Kowalski, 2009), and as a result of this interpretation, the adaptive responses that the body and mind activate to cope. The purpose of this essay is to explain the body’s physiological processes for adapting to stress, and also to look at psychosocial sources of stress and possible defence mechanisms used for coping. These discussions will be illustrated by the use of the following case study.
In this case study, a woman who is sharing a car pool is often suffering from minor illnesses and has recently been diagnosed as having a stress related illness. As stress itself is not necessarily a negative impact, it would be reasonable to presume that the woman’s arousal level is either too high or too low, causing her stress to become distress (Schafer, 2000). We are exposed to stress daily and in a multitude of ways that may at first seem meaningless, such hearing someone begin to speak or seeing a movement in our peripheral vision. Although these events may seem mundane, our body reacts to even these small events by setting in motion the stress response. Schafer (2000) states that even while talking a person’s blood
73132 Psychology of Stress
Assignment One
The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
1732 words
Stress Adaptation and the Psycho-physiological Effects on the Body
‘Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.’ So says the Chinese proverb, (The Quote Garden, 2010) and in this writer’s opinion, the phrase is accurate, in a very broad sense. Tension, or stress can be defined as the ‘arousal of the mind and body in response to demands made on them’ (Schafer, 2000). Schafer emphasises repeatedly in his definitions of stress that it is the person’s response to these demands, rather than the demands themselves which can influence stress. Stress depends very much on a person’s interpretation of an event (Burton, Weston & Kowalski, 2009), and as a result of this interpretation, the adaptive responses that the body and mind activate to cope. The purpose of this essay is to explain the body’s physiological processes for adapting to stress, and also to look at psychosocial sources of stress and possible defence mechanisms used for coping. These discussions will be illustrated by the use of the following case study.
In this case study, a woman who is sharing a car pool is often suffering from minor illnesses and has recently been diagnosed as having a stress related illness. As stress itself is not necessarily a negative impact, it would be reasonable to presume that the woman’s arousal level is either too high or too low, causing her stress to become distress (Schafer, 2000). We are exposed to stress daily and in a multitude of ways that may at first seem meaningless, such hearing someone begin to speak or seeing a movement in our peripheral vision. Although these events may seem mundane, our body reacts to even these small events by setting in motion the stress response. Schafer (2000) states that even while talking a person’s blood
References: Brannon, L., & Feist, J. (2004). Health psychology: An Introduction to behaviour and health (5th ed., pp. 97-125). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Burton, L., Westen, D., & Kowalski, R. (2009). Psychology: Australian and New Zealand edition (2nd ed). Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons Australia. Kunert, M. P. (2005). Stress and adaptation. In C. M. Porth (Ed.), Pathophysiology: Concepts of altered health states (7th ed., pp. 187-200). Philadelphia, MA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Morris, C. G., & Maisto, A. A. (2005). Stress and health psychology. In Psychology: An introduction (12th ed., pp. 450-483). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Rice, K. G., & Van Arsdale, A. C. (2010). Perfectionism, perceived stress, drinking to cope, and alcohol-related problems among college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(4), 439-450. Schafer, Walt. (2000). Stress management for wellness (4th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.