Psychology: Stress

MARMOT - studied effect of stress on civil servants working in Whitehall, LDN. Found: person's position on work place hierarchy had direct impact on level of stress they felt/ their health. 28,000 studied.Over 40 years.Natural exp. Further down hierarchy = more disease. Low control over job. Higher up = minimal disease/ poor health. More control.

Fight or flight - go hard or go home. Defend or run away. Could be unhelpful today because we need to keep calm in many situations & cannot fight/fly.

What happens when we are stressed?Different kinds of stressors act on the hypothalamus. Different kinds of stressors act on the hypothalamus. 

  (  ACUTE  )

(  CHRONIC  )=======>>> 

This activates the sympathetic branch of ANS (automatic nervous system).This stimulates the adrenal medulla. Releases adrenaline.This increases blood pressure, heart rate and sweat glands. 

This activates the pituitary gland.Releases ACTH.Stimulates the adrenal cortex.Releases cortisol. This suppresses the immune system. 

Atherosclerosis

Wearing away of blood vessels lining as blood pushes, vessels = scared and fat acids collect there. Fat plagues build up that block vessels.

Increases in blood pressure damaging vessel walls. Fatty deposits narrowing vessels means blood doesn't circulate round heart efficiently & strain is put on values and ventricles.

Hypertension 

Raised blood pressure due to furring up of cardiovascular system.

Cortisol facilitate fat conversion to energy- acids and glucose travel in blood stream. These can clog vessels & blood has to push harder to move through blood vessel increasing blood pressure. 

Stroke

Fat plagues block tiny blood vessels in brain

Cortisol facilitates fat conversion to energy - acids and glucose travel in blood stream around body, including tiny vessels in brain. If fat settles & forms plaques, vessels become clogged and brain = unable to circulate blood. 

Frequent colds 

Frequency of runny nose/ watery eyes/ general run down feeling/ mucus.

When present in body, cortisol suppress immune system as energy and resources are used instead this means body = poorer at fighting illness 

Stomach ulcers 

Acid in stomach attacks stomach lining. Diet can increase problems & needs to be carefully monitored. 

Digestion = inhibited as part of sympatho-adreno-medullary axis. Over a long period of time, poorly digested food can affect stomach's acid levels 

Wounds take longer to heal

Cuts can take longer to heal/ scabs remain longer at site of injury.

Due to hypothalamic-piuitary - adrenal axis, immune system = suppressed. This means when a person is cut, body = slower at sending white blood cells to site.

Coronary heart disease 

Heart attack due to damage to functioning of heart that pumps blood around body.

Fat converted to energy. If it's not burnt, it collects in blood vessels which narrows the diameter.

Immune system - how it protects us:Creates a barrier (e.g. scabs & mucus) that prevent antigens from entering body.If an antigen enters body,immune system tries to detect it & eliminate it before it can settle and reproduce. If virus does reproduce & start causing problems, immune system = responsible for eliminating it.

COHEN-  wanted to investigate link between stress and the immune system.394 healthy individuals matched for factors (such as exercise, allergies, smoking...)Asked to complete questionnaire on how stressed they were. Questions to measure perceived level of stress, stress caused by life events and negative moods. Each pt = given a stress index which determined their stress level on a scale of 3-12 on psychological stress index. Pts then subjected to 1/5 strains of common cold via nasal drops.  Kept together for investigation (not allowed to return home) 1/3 pts came down with common cold. Higher the stress index = more likely to develop cold. (Positive correlation) Pts with stress index score of 11-12 = over 45% developed cold. There is a direct link between stress and immune system. 

KIECOLT-GLASER ET AL - relationship stressTested impact of inter-personal conflict on wound healing. Blister wounds on arms of married couples healed slower after they had conflicting discussions rather than supportive. Compared married women with single women. Immune system was worse for women who had become separated in the last year. 

MALARKEY ET AL - relationship stress90 newly weds over 24 hours.Asked to talk and resolve marital issues (such as money)Conflict produced changes in adrenaline and nor adrenaline.This could weaken immune system. 

EVANS ET AL- effects of stress - can stress enhance on immune systemLooked at the activity of one particular antibody - SlgAArranged for students to give other students acute stress.Increase in slgA SlgA decreased in examination periods

SEGERSTROM & MILLER - effects of stress on immune system Meta-analysis of 293 studies over past 30 yearsShort term, acute stress can boost immune systemLong term chronic stressors can lead to deteriorating immune systemLonger the stress, the more the immune system changes from good to bad.

FRIEDMAN AND ROSENMAN - believed people into type A and type B each showing different behavioural patterns. (TYPE A: Hostile, easily angered, competitive... TYPE B: Calm, easy going, easy forgiving...)

FRIEDMAN AND ROSEMAN - Set up the Western Collaborative Group Study to investigate hypothesis: CHD is related to Type A personality.Around 3000 men aged 39-59 living in California = tested on symptoms of CHD (excluding those already ill) & then had personalities assessed via structured interview. Interview including Qs about how they responded to everyday pressures. After 8.5 years twice as many Type A personalities had died of cardiovascular problems. 12.8% of Type As had experienced heart attack vs. 6% of Type Bs.Twice as many Type As (2.7%) had died of cardiovascular problems vs Type Bs (1.1%)

FRIEDMAN AND ROSENMAN - Results showed a relationship between peronality typeand coronary heart disease. Type A personalities = more likely to develop CHD.

KOBASA - Some people may be more psychologically 'hardy' than others.(Control, challenge & Commitment) Hardy traits would protect against stressors so person feels calmer. 800 American business executives. Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Questionnaire where pts had to identify life events suffered in past year. (choosing from list of 43 events) Each event had stress index score. Around 150 pts had stress. Some had low illness records. High stress/low illness = All 3 characteristics. High stress/lower illness = scored lower on 3. People with more 'hardy' personality = more successful & less ill.  

HOLMES & RAH - To investigate whether life changes cause stress and does this lead to physical illness? 5000 people that recently suffered illness had medical records examined.They were asked if they had experienced any life events preceding illness.A list if 43 events was created. To establish stressfulness of each event they asked 400 pts to score each event in terms of how much readjustment would be needed by average person.(As a baseline pts = told that marriage was 50 life units)The higher the LCU the more stressful. Found that many of people had suffered major life events preceding their illness. Positive correlation of 0.1 found.  

KANNER-  Tested daily hassles and uplifts.100 men and women 45-64 rated their number of hassles (from scale of 117 hassles) and uplifts (from scale of 135 uplifts) they experienced each month for a 9 month period.  Hassles scores= better predictor of psychological problems (Eg depression/anxiety) than Life Event scores. Positive correlation between problems experienced & number of hassles. Negative correlation between uplifts and problems recorded. Daily hassles provide a more significant source of stress for most people than major life changes. Could be because daily hassles accumulate leading to overloads. 

(Testing the SRRS) US NAVY STUDY - SRRS tested on 2700 USA sailors for 7mths whilst at sea.Had their health status assessed by a medical professional.Positive correlation of 0.1 between amount of life stress and illness. 

JOHANSSON - Workplace StressWanted to assess whether workplace stressors increase physical arousal & lead to stress-related illness. 2 groups of workers @ Swedish sawmill were measured for their stress levels by testing the amount of stress hormones in their urine.High-risk Stress Group -Finishers worked in area where they had little control/social contact. Low-risk Stress Group - Cleaners able to work at own pace and were able to interact. Finishers had higher stress levels than other workers. Had higher blood pressure, high rate of stomach/intestinal disorders and reported suffering from headaches compared to cleaners. Urine samples had higher adrenaline and noradrenaline. Work being repetitive, lack of control and lack of interaction meant the high-risk group experienced stress. 

Basic

STRESS EFFECTS ILLNESS

Friedman

other studies