Coping with Stress Within Our Lives Essay Example

and effect, Selye used the term stressor to describe the event involved (Sheridan & Radmacher, 1992, p. 149). While many events have the prospective to be considered stressful, uncontrollable, unpredictable, and ambiguous events are more likely to cause stress (Taylor, 1999, p.

177). In 1977, Lazarus and Cohen categorized stressors into three separate groups. The first group was called Cataclysmic stressors. These events affected larger groups of people at the same time and are considered unpredictable occurrences with an influential impact.

Some examples include wars or natural disasters, such as hurricanes. The following group was referred to as Personal stressors. As the name says, these stressors affect the individual. These stressors can be extremely difficult due to the lack of support. Holmes and Rahe created Social Readjustment of Rating Scale, a stressor scale to specifically measure this type of stress.

Lastly, Lazarus and Cohen categorized events into a group called Background stressors. These stressors would include the daily bothers of life. Some simple examples of this type of stressor would include a noisy workplace or a traffic jamThe events that cause stress within our lives and the way each person copes with that is drastically different throughout different individuals. One theory, by Walter Cannon in 1932, is a common explanation of how individual persons deal with stress is the “fight or flight” response.

This theory holds the idea that when faced with a stressful situation, we either deal with the consequences, or we flee from the situation. Depending on the individual and the situation the response may vary and it is difficult to predict the reaction of an individual (Taylor, 1999, p. 431).Selye writes a lot

about the topic of diversity among individual.

First he makes clear that individuals will react similarly to situation even if the stressors differ. As a population, individuals will respond differently, even if the stressor is the same His General Adaptation Syndrome shows the aspects of Seyle’s theory regarding response. The theory has three parts: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Within each step differences between people is clear. Those individuals who reach the exhaustion phase may become ill, with symptoms such as a suppressed immune system (Pitts & Phillips, 1991, p.

3). Because there are many different stressors, it is important to understand exactly how to cope with stress within our lives. Sheridan and Radmacher (1992) define coping as using resistance resources to overcome the short term reaction (p. 159). Antonovsky describes the three name cognitive components of coping.

The first surrounds the idea of rationality. This involves the individual to correctly assess the situation and what is causing them stress. Second component is flexibility which is recognizing all possible strategies in order to overcome the situation or stressor.The last cognitive component would be farsightedness. This involves the individual foreseeing the consequences of his or her responses to the stressor. (Sheridan & Radmacher, 1992, p.

151). Sheridan and Radmacher (1992) discuss two major coping styles. Problem-focused coping involves being in command of the stressor through the gathering information regarding the situation and being knowledgeable of all aspects. Antonovsky’s three cognitive components, rationality, flexibility, and farsightedness, are extremely important for this coping style.Emotion-focused coping has to do with being in control of the emotional response. It is important for the individual to be in the mindset that they

are in a better situation than some and it could always be worse (p.

160). Pitts and Phillips (1991) explain that coping responses are entirely different for each individual due to the various appraisals of situations. Also there are diverse levels of information search regarding the stressor (p. 34). A specific example of seeking information concerning the event causing stress would be the diagnosis of cancer.

There may be patients who have cancer that learn their diagnosis do nothing more, while others who are diagnosed will take plenty of time to research the disease, symptoms, and treatment options. Depending on how much knowledge is understood regarding the illness may or may not cause more stress within a person’s life. The patient who has taken the time to understand the sickness may have less stress due to the fact they understand what the cancer involves. Some patients may try to forget about the stressor all together.This may or may not cause more stress within their life depending the individual.

This type of coping style is considered avoidant coping style. Vigilant coping style is described as those individuals who are extremely attentive and want control of the situation (Pitts & Phillips, 1991, p. 38). Sheridan and Radmacher (1992) explain two types of people who may not view many events within their lives as stressful. A hardy personality would be someone who is an extremely committed people, also in control of their lives.

These people also may have quite a bit of challenge in their lives.In general, these people view events in life as less stressful, therefore are considered to have less stressors. There is also a group of

people that feel a sense of coherence within their lives. These people view comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness as important values of their lives. War veterans were a great example given.

These people have a good understand of the world and have the ability to make sense of the difficult situations presented in life (p. 161). Lazarus and Cohen’s three categories of stressors have extremely different amounts of coping necessary.Cataclysmic stressors, events that occur to large groups of people, require much less coping. These occurrences are easier to cope with due to the fact that there is the support of the other members of the group. A hurricane affecting a community and destroying houses would most likely cause stress to those members of the town.

Although the situation would be extremely difficult, members of the community would have the support of each other in order to help cope with the stress. Background stressors, everyday events that may cause stress within lives, are similarly easy to cope with.Because these occurrences are often prevalent day to day, coping with these events is a familiar action. A simple example would be noise within a library. Although extremely distracting, similar stressors occur often and coping with these stresses is a common and simple human reaction. Lastly, Lazarus and Cohen discuss Personal stressors, which may be caused by the loss of a loved one.

These particular stresses are extremely hard to cope with due to the lack of support. Unlike cataclysmic stresses, the particular occurrence has not affected everyone within a community therefore require individual coping skills.Although stress affects individuals differently and it is possible for many individuals to cope with

stress within their lives, it is possible for stress to become a physical problem as well. Through research and experimentation it has been proven that there is a connection between stress and illness. There seem to be many different effects of stress that physically harm an individual.

A large concern for those who are stressed is a suppressed immune system. This symptom of stress can be caused by a number of different activators. Our immune system is important in order to fight off disease and sickness from our body.When our immune system is deficient, it is much easier to get sick. This is why those who are extremely stressed may be affected physically as well.

It is common for those individuals who have a great amount of stress in their lives to lose sleep and eat less. These are two common side effects of stress. The stressor within an individual’s life may become so overwhelming that simple daily activities suffer. Lack of sleep and abnormal eating habits cause suppression of the immune system. Others may use coping methods such as alcohol or drugs, thinking these ways are helping forget the stress.These examples of behavior are also harmful to the body in many ways (Sheridan & Radmacher, 1992, p.

82). Within a human body there are also chemicals that are released when we are trying to fight stress. Natural opioids released within our bodies suppress our immune system because of their similarities with morphine. This natural chemical has also been shown to allowing the spread of tumors within a body.

It is difficult to set up a perfect experiment to prove the intensity of this chemical

due to the fact that it is not easy to control all variables within a patient’s life (Sheridan & Radmacher, 1992, p. 3-84). The release of epinephrine and norepinephrine due to high levels of stress within an individual’s life will also suppress the immune system Taylor (1999) writes about stress and the nervous system. As a body is more and more stressed, physical clues may be seen. These include increased blood pressure, a faster heart rate, and sweating. She also mentions the fight or flight response.

As an individual becomes increasingly stressed, the body may decide to fight, or approach, the situation. Because the body may only be able to handle one situation at a time, physical aspects may suffer.Instead of fighting off a disease, the body may decide to approach a stressor. This may end in the individual suffering physically (p. 432).

Although stress is shown different for individuals, it is something that individuals deal with each day. Some may have the ability to hide the feeling of stress, while others show clear physical signs. Once stressed, different people have extremely different ways of coping with stress. Some face the problem directly, while others try to avoid the situation.

Those individuals who have a hard time coping or cannot fully cope with the stress, have a more likely chance of becoming physically ill.Although stress is common for everyone, the aftermath of stress is extremely different for each individual. In order to fully understand stress, one must understand the different affects of stress on the individual and the various ways of coping with stressful situations. Works Cited Sheridan, Charles L. , Radmacher, Sally A. (1992).

Health Psychology: Challenging the Biomedical Model. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Pitts, Marian, Phillips, Keith. (1991). The Psychology of Health: an Introduction.

London: Routledge. Taylor, Shelley E. (1999). Health Psychology. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.