While the stress response is adaptive for brief threats, it is not meant to withstand long-term, perpetual threats.  When this happens, poor health outcomes like hypertension can occur.  Systems of oppression are an example of a more perpetual threat.  Thus, systems of oppression are linked to poor health outcomes.  An example of this is over-policing in lower income neighborhoods being correlated with hypertension in African Americans, or workplace sexism being related to incidence of breast cancer in women. 

Stress response and poor health outcomes

The body's physiological reaction to stress is complex, primarily orchestrated by two major systems: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The SNS provides a rapid response to a perceived threat, while the HPA axis, being endocrine-based, reacts more slowly.

Key Physiological Systems in the Stress Response

In brief episodes, the physiological stress response can be beneficial, providing the body with extra energy, temporarily improving immune system function, and decreasing sensitivity to pain.

Short-Term Favorable Effects of the Stress Response

When the body's stress response remains active for extended periods or frequently operates beyond normal limits, it can lead to cumulative damage. This concept of 'wear and tear' is analogous to how an air conditioner deteriorates from being run constantly at its highest setting.

Cumulative Wear and Tear from Chronic Stress

Cardiovascular disorders, which affect the heart and blood circulation system, are serious medical conditions that are central to the study of psychophysiological health. Extensive research has consistently demonstrated a strong link between these disorders and psychological factors, showing they are significantly influenced by stress and negative emotions like anger, negative affectivity, and depression.

Cardiovascular Disorders

Read the two scenarios below. Analyze how the body's physiological stress response, which is designed to be adaptive, functions in each situation. Explain why this response is highly beneficial in Scenario A but can become problematic in Scenario B.

Analyzing the Stress Response in Context

The stress response is a complex and coordinated set of physiological reactions that the body activates when needed. These reactions are adaptive, preparing an individual to cope with situations perceived as dangerous or threatening.

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New Mexico Highlands University

Grand Valley State University

Arizona State University

Discriminatory institutions, norms, and structures within society such as racism or sexism.  These lead to poor health outcomes.

Systems of oppression

Stress is a process through which an individual perceives and responds to events, known as stressors, that they appraise as overwhelming or threatening to their well-being. This cognitive appraisal of the event and one's ability to cope with it is a key determinant of the resulting physiological or psychological strain. While often viewed negatively, stress can also be an adaptive response to challenging situations.

Stress

Taylor, C. J. (2019).  Health consequences of laws and public policies that target, or protect, marginalized populations. Sociology Compass, 14, 1-13.


Health consequences of laws and public policies that target, or protect, marginalized populations

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

These can be things like laws; institutional policies and practices; national, regional, state, and local economic and political infrastructures; neighborhood and workplace conditions; and community-level cultural ideologies.

Societal-level social structures

Stress Response

Research suggests that stress affects immunology mainly through autonomic nerves innervating lymphoid tissue, hormone-mediated alteration of immune cells, or adoption of coping behaviors.

Stress and Immunology

- Negative Life Events 
- Perceived Stress
- Negative Affect
- Social Isolation
- Socioeconomic Status

Factors contributing to Stress

Stress Hormones

- Cholesterol levels are used to identify coronary heart disease 
  - Could lead to atherosclerosis, which is plaque buildup in arteries
- Lipid levels increase in response to stress
- Increased cholesterol in the blood poses a risk for CHD, which then increases its permeability through the innermost layer of the blood vessel wall

Stress and Lipids

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course is a program where one is taught multiple practices of how to be accepting and non-judgemental of their present experiences or thoughts. In addition, individuals who participate in this course are taught mindfulness practices, such as being more mindful when eating or taking a walk and being more attentive with their breathing and body sensations. These practices often lead individuals to be more wise with how they respond to their external circumstances.

Critical Skill To Combat Stress Through Mindfulness

Stress is different for everyone as it is based on one's personality. Some stressors may affect some a lot more than others. Primary triggers that cause stress for most people externally consists of external related stress.

Causations of Stress

Stress can impact one's life mentally, emotionally, behaviorally, and physically. As many experiences stress differently, some may experience only a few or more symptoms in these categories.

Symptoms of Stress

When a paper you read mentions a form of stress, add it here as a bullet point, then create a concept child node defining it. Also make sure to add your reference to this node.
- Emotional Stress
- Stress caused via media
- Climate Grief
- Oxidative Stress
- Covid-19 Pandemic Stress
- Time Stress
- Anticipatory Stress
- Situational Stress
- Encounter Stress
- Workplace/Academia Stress
- Gender-related Stress
- Chronic illness and Stress
- Physical stress
- Psychological stress
- Psychosocial stress
- Psycho-spiritual stress
- Generational stress/ Generational trauma

Types of Stress

Stress reduction in the workplace can be done through group-based (instructor-lead) or computer-based (computer-presented format) intervention. However, compliance is more problematic in computer-based intervention since there is limited human supervision online, while individuals in clinician-guided mental health experienced greater improvement and satisfaction than computer-guided groups.

Group-based vs. Computer-based Stress-management Intervention

Men and women are at differential risk for mental illnesses. Different forms of response/adaptation could predispose men and women to different illnesses and health problems, such as psychophysiological differences between men and women in context of stress




Gender, Stress, and Health

Chronic and Acute Stress

Stress is a complex phenomenon that affects individuals in various ways. The study of stress has led to the development of several theories that attempt to explain its causes and effects.

Theories of stress

- Positive
- Tolerable
- Toxic
- Physiological
- Cognitive
- Behavioral

Types of Stress Responses

References for Stress

Previous research has illustrated that emotional processing plays a role in moral decision making. Brain areas such as the amygdala, hippocampus, the anterior cingulate cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which play important roles in emotional processing when activated, also can potentially play a role in moral decision making. By extension, stress has been seen to play a role as well. 

Impact of Stress on Moral Decision-Making: Emotional Processing 

When trauma is experienced, the brain recognizes it as a threat and therefore activates a neurobiological stress response. Though this stress response can be beneficial in the moment to help protect a person from danger, repeated exposure to stress/trauma and thus, the repeated, overactivation of a neurobiological stess response, can negatively affect the mind and body. Exposure to traumatic stress during childhood can damage and/or alter a child's brain as it is developing. Such damage can affect their ability to learn in school and even affect them into adulthood. 


Childhood Traumatic Stress 

Dysfunctional attitudes are mostly caused by stressful life events. It can develop in people with no psychological disorders and in people with psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety when they encounter too much stress. 

Dysfunctional Attitudes and Stress

3 Types of Stress Responses

- Immunoprotective
- Immunoregulatory/inhibitory
- Immunopathological

3 Types of Stress Effects on Immunity 

Reference for Stress Sensitization Model

Stress sensitization model is a term used to describe the theory that suggests that a person might become sensitized to stress over the course of time to the point where successive episodes only require a decreasing amount of stress to trigger them. 

Stress Sensitization Model 

Academic stress refers to the stress students experience related to school. It can be as a result of a heavy workload and/or due to the pressure to perform well. 

Academic Stress 

Contributors to Stress Research and Understanding

Refers to perceived threatening or demanding stimuli, and in turn initiating the stress process.

Stressors

There are various ways one can manage and regular their stress. This may include:
- Coping 
- Social support
- Perceived control
- Stress reduction techniques
- Virtual reality stress treatment

Regulation of Stress

There are differences in the stress level of demographic groups with variances in the following characteristics:

- Sex
- Age
- Race
- Education
- Employment
- Income ($US)

Stress and Demographics

Defining stress with precision is challenging because it is a fairly vague and complex concept. This difficulty in establishing a single, universally accepted definition has led to the development of several different conceptualizations, including stimulus-based, response-based, and appraisal-based definitions, as well as the distinction between good and bad stress.

The Challenge of Defining Stress

Contrary to its common negative association, stress can function as a beneficial force. It often serves as a key motivator for individuals to engage in actions that are in their own best interest, such as preparing for exams, seeking regular medical care, exercising, and striving for excellence in the workplace.

Beneficial Aspects of Stress

Profoundly negative health consequences can arise when stress becomes extreme or chronic. This prolonged stress is a significant contributor to the onset and progression of various psychological disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder, as well as a wide range of physical illnesses and diseases.

Negative Health Consequences of Chronic and Extreme Stress

The study of stress and illness explores the relationship between psychological stress and physical health, examining how stress can contribute to the onset or worsening of various diseases.

Stress and Illness

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale is a self-report questionnaire used to operationally define stress. It requires individuals to identify stressful life events they have experienced in the past year, assigning specific points based on the severity of each event—such as a divorce ($$73$$ points) or changing jobs ($$36$$ points)—to calculate a total stress score.

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

The Perceived Stress Scale is a specific operational definition utilized to quantify the abstract concept of stress. It serves as a self-report questionnaire where individuals provide scores that correspond to their level of perceived stress, thus transforming a theoretical variable into an observable and measurable format.

Perceived Stress Scale

Stress can be operationally defined using various physiological measures, beyond just self-report questionnaires. Researchers can quantify the stress response by recording specific biological variables within the body, such as elevated blood pressure levels or increased concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol.

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