coping with stress psychology essay

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Coping with Stress Essay

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How to Cope with Stress Essay

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Introduction

How do stress and stressors help a person in identifying ways to cope, problem solving approach in coping stress, the identification of the stressor.

According to Aamodt (2009) stress is the psychological and physical reaction to certain life events or situations. Fear, resistance, resentment, change, relations with others, organizational politics, and unfavorable physical environment are the main causes of stress (Aamodt, 2009). Even though stress affects different personalities differently, it could result to grave consequences if not well managed.

Many people often think there is little that can be done about their level of stress. However, the fact is contrary. Individuals should identify their stressors and develop coping strategies aimed at neutralizing and finally eliminating the effects of the stressors. I have in the past adopted various strategies in coping with stress.

There are many stress coping methods. However, individuals often find themselves employing unhealthy and unproductive methods, which end compounding the problem. Such methods include withdrawal from friends and families, use of pills, drinking, smoking, overeating, and taking out of stress on other people. Even though these methods can work, their results are temporary as individuals soon face the reality of the stressor.

Healthier and effective ways of controlling stress require either situation change, or reaction change. Every individual exhibits unique response to stress, which makes it impossible to have a common method of coping. The simplest approaches to coping with stress, which I have used in the past, include problem identification and solving, acceptance, alteration, self-nurturing, and anticipatory approach also suggested by Aldwin (2007).

Problem solving approach is a strategy that its applicability is dependent on the determination of the main cause of stress. Once the stressor is identified, it becomes easy to solve the stress as an individual directs his or her energy towards subduing the stressor. For example, if lack of finances is the main cause of stress, then an individual may seek for new employment to provide for the much-needed cash.

The identification of the stressor also opens a window for an individual to explore other adaptation methods, which can be of help in the future such as avoidance. In anticipatory approach, an individual prepares for possible causes of stress and consequently prepares for them before their actual occurrence. Past trends and acquired knowledge can help an individual in such preparations.

For example, a student subjected to last minute revision pressures and stress for failing to revise in time may expect the same, hence prepare early in the following semesters to avoid going through the same. This method is very effective as an individual can review and continually revise the best method to use every time the stressor reoccurs. Sometimes stressful situations are not only complex, but also impossible to avoid.

It is only prudent for individuals affected to alter and adapt to such situations. This involves finding possible ways of changing an individual’s operation to avoid the stress from reoccurring. For example, stress caused by coworkers could be avoided by expressing ones’ feelings to the specific workers instead of bottling them up. If the desired change is not achieved, then one can go a step further by changing his or her own behaviors.

Stressors such as the death of people we love, fatal accidents, and illness are unavoidable and impossible to ignore. However, letting such stressors take tall of an individual’s life is also unacceptable. In such cases, the best coping strategy is acceptance. Though hard to take, acceptance is the only way out for individuals facing unchangeable life-threatening situations.

There are other effective coping strategies, which even though I have not used, I would consider applying. Self-nurturing is such “effective way of coping with stress” (Aldwin, 2007).

Creating time for fun and relaxing, enhance our ability to copy with life’s unending stressors. It is therefore prudent for an individual to engage frequently in healthy ways of relaxing such as, going for a walk, playing with a pet, going adventures, watching comedies, and lighting scented candles.

Aamodt, M. G. (2009). Industrial/Organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Aldwin, C. M. (2007). Stress, coping, and development: an integrative perspective (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

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How to Cope With Stress: 10+ Strategies and Mechanisms

If so, you might be stressed.

Stress is an inevitable part of life, affecting individuals in different ways. Some people thrive under stress, whereas others struggle. Our thresholds for how much stress we can endure differ from one person to the next.

Learning how to cope with stress is essential to ensuring that individuals maintain their physical and mental health. It is improbable to have a life completely free of stress, so we must learn how to cope.

In this post, we explore how to cope with stress using stress coping techniques. We will start with the psychological theories about stress and, from there, look at several methods, informal and formal, that can be used. Our goal is that readers should have a solid understanding of stress-management techniques that can be easily implemented.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises (PDF) for free . These science-based exercises will equip you and your clients with tools to better manage stress and find a healthier balance in your life.

This Article Contains

How to cope with stress according to psychology, healthy coping strategies and mechanisms: a list, 6+ techniques your clients can try, 5 activities, prompts, and worksheets, stress-management skills for work stress, 3 questionnaires, tests, and inventories, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message.

There are various psychological theories about coping with stress, and it is essential to understand these theories to manage stress effectively.

4 Theories about coping with stress

One of the most popular and widely accepted theories is the transactional model of stress and coping, developed by Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman (1984).

According to this model, stress results from an individual’s assessment of the stressor, its threat, and whether they have the necessary cognitive and behavioral resources to manage the stressor.

Based on this assessment, our coping mechanisms and psychological responses to stress are triggered. The model suggests that coping strategies can be either problem focused or emotion focused.

Problem-focused coping involves actively addressing the stressor, while emotion-focused coping involves managing the emotions associated with the stressor.

The transactional model of stress was expanded upon into the workplace, where it’s known as the job demand–control theory and the job demand–control–support theory (for a review, see Häusser et al., 2010; Goh et al., 2010).

In this theory, two dimensions influence the experience of stress: workload/job demands and the degree of control employees have over work tasks. The combination of high demand and low control increases the likelihood of high stress. Social support within the office has protective properties that moderate the relationship between demand and control.

The protective qualities of social support were recognized in the social support theory, another theory about coping with stress (Cohen & Wills, 1985). In this theory, social support is crucial for managing anxiety, because it helps ease feelings of anxiety and helps develop solutions to stressful environments. Social support is not limited to only immediate family and friends but includes colleagues and health care professionals.

The conservation of resources Theory (COR; Hobfoll, 1989) is another stress coping theory. This theory developed from the starting point that people feel stressed when they do not think they have the necessary resources to combat stress. However, in COR, additional emphasis is placed on the objective resources that are also available. These resources can be tangible (e.g., money, a house) or intangible (e.g., our relationships, self-worth), and individuals experience stress when their resources are threatened, depleted, or unattainable.

This theory is primarily used to explain workplace stress , and some researchers prefer it over the transactional model of stress because it:

Is more practical and realistic
Places less responsibility on the individual who experiences the stressor to change their mindset to combat stress
Has predictive qualities (Hobfoll et al., 2018)

Why is stress management important?

Chronic stress can adversely affect an individual’s wellbeing and lead to mental health disorders like anxiety and depression (Hammen, 2005).

Therefore, developing good coping strategies has multiple beneficial outcomes (Cohen, 2004), including:

Reducing the negative impact of stress
Improving an individual’s overall quality of life by enhancing resilience
Improving their social support network, allowing them to seek help and support from friends and family during stressful times

Here we provide a concise list of methods that can be used to cope with stress.

Healthy coping strategies include exercise, relaxation techniques, social support, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBT). Exercise has been shown to have numerous health benefits, including stress reduction, improved mood, and enhanced cognitive function (Sui et al., 2019).
Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, and yoga have also been shown to reduce stress and improve mental health outcomes (Pascoe et al., 2017).
Social support, such as emotional and practical support from family and friends, can help individuals cope with stress (Cohen & Wills, 1985).
CBT helps individuals recognize and change negative thought patterns and behaviors, improving mental health outcomes (Hofmann et al., 2012).
Additional strategies that can improve mental and physical health are getting enough sleep, eating healthily, and avoiding alcohol (or consuming it in moderation). They do not impact stress directly, but they provide the scaffolding so individuals are better positioned to cope with stressful experiences effectively.

Besides these healthy coping strategies, there are several psychological techniques or mechanisms that individuals can use to manage stress.

One mechanism is problem-focused coping, which involves addressing the stressor directly through problem-solving strategies (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
Emotion-focused coping involves managing the emotional response to stress through strategies such as positive reappraisal or acceptance (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
Meaning-focused coping involves finding meaning or purpose in the stressor or the experience of coping with it (Park, 2010).

These psychological techniques can be used alongside healthy coping strategies to manage stress more effectively and maintain overall wellbeing.

Download 3 Free Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to manage stress better and find a healthier balance in their life.

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Stress can have a significant impact on both our physical and mental wellbeing. Fortunately, there are several psychological techniques and physiological strategies that can alleviate stress.

One such technique is mindfulness-based stress reduction ( MBSR ). MBSR has decreased perceived stress, anxiety, and depression in individuals who practice it regularly (Carmody & Baer, 2009).
Similarly, practicing mindfulness meditation has been found to reduce stress levels and improve wellbeing (Hoge et al., 2013). Mindfulness exercises can include simple techniques, such as paying attention to one’s breath or body sensations, or more structured practices, such as body scans or mindful eating .
Another technique is CBT , which helps individuals identify and challenge negative thoughts and beliefs contributing to stress (Beck, 2011).
Additionally, relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation and deep-breathing exercises have been shown to reduce stress (Hennefeld & Battle, 2019).
Another technique is visualization, which involves imagining a calm, peaceful place or scenario to reduce stress and promote relaxation (Chafin & Ollendick, 2001).

Move your body to improve your mood

Physical exercise and activity have also reduced stress levels and improved mood and overall wellbeing (Craft & Perna, 2004). Physical exercise reduces stress by releasing endorphins, improving mood, combating depression , and improving physical health (Belvederi Murri et al., 2019).

One simple yet effective activity is to take a walk in nature. A study conducted by Bratman et al. (2015) found that taking a 90-minute walk in a natural environment reduced neural activity in the sub-genual prefrontal cortex, a brain region associated with rumination and negative thought patterns.

Although exercise can be completed alone, consider doing it with friends or family or joining an exercise group or club. This way, you get double the benefits: exercise’s mood-boosting effects plus social support’s protective benefits.

Consider formal social support groups

Finally, joining a support group or taking part in group therapy can also help build a sense of community and reduce feelings of isolation.

Cohen et al. (2015) found that individuals who received social support had lower levels of stress hormones in response to stressors than those who did not receive social support.

The ABC sheet

One commonly used activity is the ABC sheet , which is based on CBT and helps patients understand the relationship between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

The name is an initialism:

Antecedent is the event or stimulus that activates thoughts.
Belief represents the perception or evaluation of that event.
Consequence is the emotional or behavioral reaction that follows.

With this sheet, patients learn to identify irrational thoughts, negative beliefs, and consequences.

Once patients learn how to recognize these beliefs and behaviors, they can also learn how to challenge them, resulting in more favorable emotional and behavioral outcomes.

The Core Values Worksheet

Another worksheet is the Core Values Worksheet . With this worksheet, the underlying premise is that if we behave in a way that is incongruent with our core values, then we will experience stress.

Therefore, to reduce stress, we must identify our core values and how to align our behaviors to achieve, preserve, and satisfy them. These behaviors should be incorporated into our daily lives, not just reserved for big, life-changing decisions.

In this worksheet, the client will list their top values and then identify specific actions aligned with them. In addition to helping clients identify primary values, the tool can also help them identify incongruous behaviors that can lead to stress.

Journal prompts

Journaling is a valuable method for reducing stress and identifying patterns of behaviors and thoughts. One of the most significant advantages of journaling is that it is easy to implement and cost effective. All you need is a pencil and a notebook.

Several journal prompts can be used for coping with stress. In fact, we suggest having a look at our gratitude journal article for ideas. However, to whet your appetite, here is a short list to start with:

Gratitude journaling: Write about three things you are grateful for each day to increase positive emotions.
Positive self-talk: Jot down some positive affirmations or statements about yourself. This can help combat negative self-talk and increase self-esteem.
Reflection on achievements: Write about a recent accomplishment to improve your self-worth.

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For most adults, work is a source of significant stress. Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence that can lead to substantial physical and mental health issues if not adequately managed.

Developing stress-management techniques for work will improve not only wellbeing, but also productivity. Stress-management strategies for work include time management, physical activity, and mindfulness meditation.

Effective time management is a critical stress-management skill, and it involves organizing and prioritizing tasks to optimize productivity and reduce stress. For example, employees who manage their time efficiently are less likely to experience work stress (Frost & Stimpson, 2020).

To do this, individuals should set realistic goals and establish a schedule that allows them to accomplish their tasks without feeling overwhelmed. Other methods within employees’ control are to avoid procrastination and work without distraction.

For example, do not accept all tasks or requests that come your way, learn to say no or delegate, do the most difficult task first, and use a time-management system. One example of an effective time-management system is the Pomodoro technique , where you work for 25 minutes, take a five-minute break, and then after three cycles, take a longer break.

If employees do not determine their deadlines or tasks, which can be unrealistic or untenable, they should discuss these challenges with their managers or team leaders.

Employers can also significantly reduce work stress by implementing policies promoting a healthy work–life balance and providing stress-management training and support resources.

Physical activity is another critical stress-management skill that can help employees cope with work stress. Regular physical activity has been shown to reduce stress, improve mood, and increase energy levels by reducing stress hormones in the body (i.e., cortisol and adrenaline) and promoting the release of endorphins, which are natural mood enhancers (Salmon, 2018).

Physical activity can also improve cognitive function and help individuals make better decisions, which can reduce work stress (Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha, 2014).

Other simple physical techniques that may help combat work stress include getting enough sleep, eating healthily and regularly, and avoiding alcohol (or consuming it in moderation).

Mindfulness exercises, such as mindfulness meditation, may also protect against work stress. Mindfulness meditation is a stress-management technique focusing on the present moment without judgment.

This technique helps individuals reduce stress by promoting relaxation, improving cognitive function (Schmidt et al., 2019), and reducing feelings of anxiety even in the workplace (Biegel et al., 2009). Mindfulness meditation can be easily performed in the office or a quiet workplace.

These tools have good psychometric properties (i.e., internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and validity) and are often used in peer-reviewed research.

Perceived Stress Scale

The first questionnaire is the Perceived Stress Scale, a 10-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure an individual’s subjective perception of stress (Cohen et al., 1983).

Initially, it was designed as a generic tool to measure perceived stress in a smoking cessation study. The original version contained 14 items and can be found in the original paper.

It assesses how individuals perceive their life as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded. The Perceived Stress Scale , with scoring instructions, can be accessed via the link.

State–Trait Anxiety Inventory

A second, more general measure of anxiety and stress is the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1983).

Originally, it was developed as two separate tools, each containing 20 questions; however, these are often administered together. This inventory is widely used, easy to administer, and freely available.

It is a 40-item self-report questionnaire that measures two types of anxiety: state and trait anxiety. State anxiety is the temporary emotional state characterized by subjective feelings of tension, apprehension, and nervousness. For example, when presented with an urgent deadline, we might feel acute but short-lived feelings of stress and worry.

In contrast, trait anxiety is a stable personality trait characterized by a tendency to experience anxiety across various situations. For example, some people tend to have higher anxiety in general that is not limited to a specific event.

Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ)

For professionals who work in industrial and organizational psychology, we recommend the JCQ (Karasek et al.,1998).

This is a 49-item self-report questionnaire that measures job stress in terms of its psychological demands, decision authority, skill discretion, and social support. Initially, it was designed for research on the relationship between job stress and cardiovascular disease.

A study by Kivimäki et al. (2012) found that high job strain (high psychological demands combined with low decision authority and low social support) was associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. The JCQ is in the manuscript’s appendix published by Karasek et al. (1998).

17 Exercises To Reduce Stress & Burnout

Help your clients prevent burnout, handle stressors, and achieve a healthy, sustainable work-life balance with these 17 Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises [PDF].

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

For readers interested in journaling techniques and prompts, we suggest the following articles:

Journaling for Mindfulness
Journal prompts to improve self-esteem

For readers who want to read more about mindfulness meditation, especially in the workplace. this post is a good starting point and is quite exhaustive:

Mindfulness at Work

In addition to our blog posts and free worksheets, we’d also like to share these three tools specifically related to stress and burnout. The Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercise Pack includes the following useful worksheets:

Energy Management Audit
The Stress-Related Growth Scale
Strengthening the Work–Private Life Barrier

The worksheets are easy to administer and appropriate for clients experiencing stress in different domains of their lives. Two of these tools are designed for assessment and can help identify energy levels, the most effective ways to recharge, and how clients approach and reframe life events. The third tool is an exercise to help develop work–life boundaries.

Looking for even more tools? If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others manage stress without spending hours on research and session prep, check out this collection of 17 validated stress-management tools for practitioners . Use them to help others cope with stress and create more balance in their lives.

Stress is a common experience that can have very serious negative consequences if left unmanaged. However, learning how to cope with stress is vital and will positively impact different spheres of life.

A large amount of stress is due to work demands. Finding a coping solution that works for you, especially one that can be incorporated into the work environment, is a great way to improve your mental health.

We encourage you to try these coping techniques to find the optimal one that will help you manage your stress levels.

Are there any stress coping methods you would recommend personally or that you have found highly effective in your practice? Please share them with us in the comments.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises (PDF) for free .

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What Is Stress?

Stress is Inevitable - Learn to Maintain Your Emotional and Physical Well-Being

The Inner-Workings of the Stress Response

Ways to cope with stress, final thoughts.

Next in How Stress Impacts Your Health Guide How to Recognize Burnout Symptoms

Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or mental strain. Stress is your body's response to anything that requires attention or action.

Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way you respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to your overall mental and physical well-being.

Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin

Sometimes, the best way to manage your stress involves changing your situation. At other times, the best strategy involves changing the way you respond to the situation.

Developing a clear understanding of how stress impacts your physical and mental health is important. It's also important to recognize how your mental and physical health affects your stress level.

Watch Now: 5 Ways Stress Can Cause Weight Gain

Clues that indicate you might be stressed.

Stress is not always easy to recognize, but there are some ways to identify some signs that you might be experiencing too much pressure. Sometimes stress can come from an obvious source, but sometimes even small daily stresses from work, school, family, and friends can take a toll on your mind and body.

If you think stress might be affecting you, there are a few things you can watch for:

Cognitive signs such as difficulty concentrating, worrying, anxiety, and trouble remembering
Emotional signs such as being angry, irritated, fearful, or moody
Physical signs such as high blood pressure, headaches , clammy/sweaty hands, muscle tension and neck pain , changes in weight, frequent colds or infections , teeth grinding, digestive problems , and changes in the menstrual cycle and sex drive
Behavioral signs such as poor self-care, not having time for the things you enjoy, or relying on drugs and alcohol to cope

What Does Stress Feel Like?

Stress can manifest in a variety of ways in your mind and body, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It can contribute to feelings of frustration, worry, and burnout. You may feel physically exhausted, worn out, and unable to cope.

Stress vs. Anxiety: What's the Difference?

Stress can sometimes be mistaken for anxiety, and experiencing a great deal of stress can contribute to feelings of anxiety. Stress and anxiety both contribute to nervousness, poor sleep, high blood pressure , muscle tension, and excess worry. Experiencing anxiety can make it more difficult to cope with stress and may contribute to other health issues, including increased depression, susceptibility to illness, and digestive problems.

In most cases, stress is caused by external events, while anxiety is caused by your internal reaction to stress. Stress may go away once the threat or the situation resolves, whereas anxiety may persist even after the original stressor is gone.

The Usual Suspects: Main Causes of Stress

There are many different things in life that can cause stress. Some of the main sources of stress include work, finances, relationships, parenting, and day-to-day inconveniences.

Mental Health in the Workplace Webinar

On May 19, 2022, Verywell Mind hosted a virtual Mental Health in the Workplace webinar, hosted by Amy Morin, LCSW. If you missed it, check out this recap to learn ways to foster supportive work environments and helpful strategies to improve your well-being on the job.

The Four Types of Stress

Not all types of stress are harmful or even negative. Some of the different types of stress that you might experience include:

Acute stress : Acute stress is a very short-term type of stress that can be upsetting or traumatic ; this is the type of stress that is out of the ordinary, such as a car accident, assault, or natural disaster.
Chronic stress : Chronic stress is what we most often encounter in day-to-day life and seems never-ending and inescapable, like the stress of a bad marriage or an extremely taxing job.
Episodic acute stress : Episodic acute stress is acute stress that seems to run rampant and be a way of life, creating a life of ongoing distress; episodic stress can be recurring illness, ongoing domestic violence, child abuse , and living through conflict and war.
Eustress : Eustress , on the other hand, is fun and exciting. It's known as a positive type of stress that can keep you energized. It's associated with surges of adrenaline, such as when you are skiing or racing to meet a deadline.

Harmful Types of Stress:

The main harmful types of stress are acute stress, chronic stress, and episodic acute stress. Acute stress is usually brief, chronic stress is prolonged, and episodic acute stress is short-term but frequent. Positive stress, known as eustress, can be fun and exciting, but it can also take a toll if you don't keep your life in balance.

Stress can trigger the body’s response to a perceived threat or danger, known as the fight-or-flight response . During this reaction, certain hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released. This speeds the heart rate, slows digestion, shunts blood flow to major muscle groups, and changes various other autonomic nervous functions, giving the body a burst of energy and strength.

Originally named for its ability to enable us to physically fight or run away when faced with danger, the fight-or-flight response is now activated in situations where neither response is appropriate—like in traffic or during a stressful day at work.

When the perceived threat is gone, systems are designed to return to normal function via the relaxation response . But in cases of chronic stress, the relaxation response doesn't occur often enough, and being in a near-constant state of fight-or-flight can cause damage to the body.

Stress can also lead to some unhealthy habits that have a negative impact on your health. For example, many people cope with stress by eating too much or by smoking. These unhealthy habits damage the body and create bigger problems in the long term.

Brace For Impact: How Stress Affects Your Health

Stress can have several effects on your health and well-being. It can make it more challenging to deal with life's daily hassles, affect your interpersonal relationships, and have detrimental effects on your health. The connection between your mind and body is apparent when you examine stress's impact on your life.

Feeling stressed over a relationship, money, or living situation can create physical health issues. The inverse is also true. Health problems, whether you're dealing with high blood pressure or diabetes , will also affect your stress level and mental health. When your brain experiences high degrees of stress , your body reacts accordingly.

Serious acute stress, like being involved in a natural disaster or getting into a verbal altercation, can trigger heart attacks, arrhythmias, and even sudden death. However, this happens mostly in individuals who already have heart disease.

Stress also takes an emotional toll. While some stress may produce feelings of mild anxiety or frustration, prolonged stress can also lead to burnout , anxiety disorders , and depression.

Chronic stress can have a serious impact on your health as well. If you experience chronic stress, your autonomic nervous system will be overactive, which is likely to damage your body.

Stress-Influenced Conditions

Chronic Pain
Inflammatory diseases
Heart disease
Hyperthyroidism
Sexual dysfunction
Skin problems
Sleep disorders
Tooth and gum disease

What Can I Do When I Have Too Much Stress?

There are some treatment options for acute and chronic stress, as well as a variety of stress management strategies you can implement on your own. Stress may be inevitable; however, whenever possible, prevention is the best strategy.

An Old Proverb by Benjamin Franklin

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Treatment Options

Stress is not a distinct medical diagnosis and there is no single, specific treatment for it. Treatment for stress focuses on changing the situation, developing stress-coping skills , implementing relaxation techniques, and treating symptoms or conditions that may have been caused by chronic stress.

Some interventions that may be helpful include therapy, medication, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Psychotherapy

Some forms of therapy that may be particularly helpful in addressing symptoms of stress including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) . CBT focuses on helping people identify and change negative thinking patterns, while MBSR utilizes meditation and mindfulness to help reduce stress levels.

Medication may sometimes be prescribed to address some specific symptoms that are related to stress. Such medications may include sleep aids, antacids, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medications.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Some complementary approaches that may also be helpful for reducing stress include acupuncture, aromatherapy, massage, yoga, and meditation .

Although stress is inevitable, it can be manageable. When you understand the toll it takes on you and the steps to combat stress, you can take charge of your health and reduce the impact stress has on your life.

Press Play for Advice On Managing Stress

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast featuring professor Elissa Epel, shares ways to manage stress. Click below to listen now.

Follow Now : Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts / Amazon Music

Here are a few things to get you started:

Learn to recognize the signs of burnout. High levels of stress may place you at a high risk of burnout. Burnout can leave you feeling exhausted and apathetic about your job. When you start to feel symptoms of emotional exhaustion, it's a sign that you need to find a way to get a handle on your stress.
Try to get regular exercise. Physical activity has a big impact on your brain and your body . Whether you enjoy a walk in the park, stretching, pilates, or you want to begin jogging, exercise reduces stress and improves many symptoms associated with mental illness.
Take care of yourself. Incorporating regular self-care activities into your daily life is essential to stress management. Learn how to take care of your mind, body, and spirit and discover how to equip yourself to live your best life.
Practice mindfulness in your life. Mindfulness isn't just something you practice for 10 minutes each day. It can also be a way of life. Discover how to live more mindfully throughout your day so you can become more awake and conscious throughout your life.

If you or a loved one are struggling with stress, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database .

Stress is a part of life and comes in all shapes and sizes. There are things we can do to minimize or even prevent much of the stress in our lives. But some stress is unavoidable.

If you find you are overwhelmed by an acute stressor, or the daily grind, there are ways to cope and recover. Whether you try some stress management strategies on your own or seek professional help... it is important to keep stress levels in check to avoid the negative impact on your cognitive, emotional, and physical well being.

National Institute of Mental Health. I'm so stressed out! Fact sheet .

Goldstein DS. Adrenal responses to stress . Cell Mol Neurobiol . 2010;30(8):1433–1440. doi:10.1007/s10571-010-9606-9

Stahl JE, Dossett ML, LaJoie AS, et al. Relaxation response and resiliency training and its effect on healthcare resource utilization . PLoS ONE . 2015;10(10). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140212

Chi JS, Kloner RA. Stress and myocardial infarction . Heart . 2003;89(5):475–476. doi:10.1136/heart.89.5.475

Salvagioni DAJ, Melanda FN, Mesas AE, González AD, Gabani FL, Andrade SM. Physical, psychological and occupational consequences of job burnout: A systematic review of prospective studies . PLoS ONE . 2017;12(10). doi:10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0185781

Bitonte RA, DeSanto DJ II. Mandatory physical exercise for the prevention of mental illness in medical students . Ment Illn . 2014;6(2):5549. doi:10.4081/mi.2014.5549

Ayala EE, Winseman JS, Johnsen RD, Mason HRC. U.S. medical students who engage in self-care report less stress and higher quality of life . BMC Med Educ . 2018;18(1):189. doi:10.1186/s12909-018-1296-x

Richards KC, Campenni CE, Muse-Burke JL. Self-care and well-being in mental health professionals: The mediating effects of self-awareness and mindfulness . J Ment Health Couns . 2010;32(3):247. doi:10.17744/mehc.32.3.0n31v88304423806.

American Psychological Association. Stress in America 2023 .

Krantz DS, Whittaker KS, Sheps DS. Psychosocial risk factors for coronary heart disease: Pathophysiologic mechanisms . In Heart and Mind: The Practice of Cardiac Psychology (2nd Ed.). American Psychological Association; 2011:91-113. doi:10.1037/13086-004

By Elizabeth Scott, PhD Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

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Coping with Stress: Effective People and Processes

Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Training Program in Clinical Psychology

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This title provides theory and research that show us how to cope adaptively with the big and small challenges of life. It presents a cutting-edge theory and research about the coping process, taking an interdisciplinary approach and utilizing concepts and methods from social, personality, clinical, cognitive, lifespan, and cross-cultural psychology to illuminate the coping process and how itcan go wrong. The theory and research in this book provide blueprints for improved coping and buildingbetter ‘coping machines’.

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Front Behav Neurosci

Mental Resilience and Coping With Stress: A Comprehensive, Multi-level Model of Cognitive Processing, Decision Making, and Behavior

Iryna s. palamarchuk.

1 Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Tracy Vaillancourt

2 School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Aversive events can evoke strong emotions that trigger cerebral neuroactivity to facilitate behavioral and cognitive shifts to secure physiological stability. However, upon intense and/or chronic exposure to such events, the neural coping processes can be maladaptive and disrupt mental well-being. This maladaptation denotes a pivotal point when psychological stress occurs, which can trigger subconscious, “automatic” neuroreactivity as a defence mechanism to protect the individual from potential danger including overwhelming unpleasant feelings and disturbing or threatening thoughts.The outcomes of maladaptive neural activity are cognitive dysfunctions such as altered memory, decision making, and behavior that impose a risk for mental disorders. Although the neurocognitive phenomena associated with psychological stress are well documented, the complex neural activity and pathways related to stressor detection and stress coping have not been outlined in detail. Accordingly, we define acute and chronic stress-induced pathways, phases, and stages in relation to novel/unpredicted, uncontrollable, and ambiguous stressors. We offer a comprehensive model of the stress-induced alterations associated with multifaceted pathophysiology related to cognitive appraisal and executive functioning in stress.

Introduction

The impact of minor and major stressors on psychological and physical health is well documented. It is clear from this literature that stressors are salient stimuli, including events and behavior, that can evoke strong negative emotions and feelings such as fear, betrayal, confusion, and powerlessness (i.e., psychological stress), which in turn, can lead to significant morbidity including depression, PTSD, coronary heart disease, and ischemic stroke (e.g., Stansfeld and Candy, 2006 ; Hamer et al., 2012 ; Richardson et al., 2012 ; Brainin and Dachenhausen, 2013 ; Henderson et al., 2013 ; Wei et al., 2014a ). Psychological stress is an appropriately evoked biological reaction intended to recalibrate and optimize executive functions to stay focused on the stressor at hand, and thus mitigate the potential harm to the organism. Although this mechanism is intended to be adaptive, it is not perfect, particularly in the case of intense and/or chronic stress. In this context, the neuroactivity can constrain cognition and increase the risk of mental and social dysfunction, as well as neural and systemic inflammation (e.g., Shin and Handwerger, 2009 ; Hassija et al., 2012 ; Latack et al., 2017 ; Auxéméry, 2018 ; Mills et al., 2019 ; Quinones et al., 2020 ; Slavich, 2020 ; Vaillancourt and Palamarchuk, 2021 ). The origin of this type of stress-associated cognitive maladjustment belongs to attentional tunneling (i.e., stressor preoccupation, e.g., Chajut and Algom, 2003 ; Roelofs et al., 2007 ; Pilgrim et al., 2010 ; Tsumura and Shimada, 2012 ; Shields et al., 2019 ), which restricts cognitive flexibility (e.g., Alexander et al., 2007 ; Shields et al., 2016 ; Marko and Riečanský, 2018 ), and distorts memory because aversive information is prioritized over neutral or positive information (e.g., de Quervain et al., 2009 , 2017 ; Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review; Vaillancourt and Palamarchuk, 2021 ). Moreover, despite the shift in cognitive defence mechanism to liberate the emotional burden via the downplaying of aversive feelings and thoughts, the attempted suppression of the stressor’s influence can still affect mental health. For instance, internalizing can lead to dysphoria or anhedonia (Salmon and Bryant, 2002 ), core symptoms of major depressive disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ).

The effect of a psychological stressor is primarily related to the level of perceived stress severity, i.e., cognitive appraisal/interpretation of the stressor. Stressors can represent various aversive events regardless of their proximity (i.e., direct or remote such as in witnessing or learning), which commonly disrupt emotional integrity ( Figure 1 ). This mechanism and development have not been described comprehensively in one integrated model. In this review, we outline the central neural dynamics and highlight the main phases of stress development. We define a neuropathophysiological mechanism of psychological stress that represents a complex cognitive construct beyond the classic fear-conditioning model. We detail neural dynamics in stress, and in doing so, propose a multi-level model to describe the accumulated neuronal alteration of cognitive dysfunctions. Our review highlights the importance of ameliorating psychological assessment, clinical screening, prevention, and treatment of altered adaptive-learning abilities of psychologically distressed and depressed individuals.

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A simplified schema of the neurocognitive reactivity to a psychological stressor. Note. This schema presents major neurocognitive dynamics during stress development phases (light blue blocks) and stages (yellow blocks). Neurocognitive stress reactivity is facilitated by two principal neural limbs, the LC-NE system and the HPA axis. Phase I : (1) The LC-NE system detects a challenging stimulus (i.e., stressor) and “informs” the neocortex related to cognition. (2) Automatically, it triggers subconscious cognitive defence mechanisms to activate the HPA axis. Phase II : (3) Further engagement of cognitive appraisal defines the severity of a stressor. Phase III : (4) Severe stress perception distresses emotions. (5) Fear promotes selective attention and aversive memory which aggravates cognitive defence and (6) can result in psychological problems. (7) Insufficient fear downregulation in chronic and/or intense stress (alarm-to-threat stage), as well as chronic uncertainty (risk-to-escape stage) and/or losing hope (surrender-in-defeat stage) can lead to psychiatric disorders and cognitive alterations, e.g., poor memory and executive dysfunctions. Phase IV : (8) Consequently, poor neurocognitive functioning affects decision-making, as well as alters recognition (phase I), appraisal (phase II), and response (phase III) of/to a novel stressor. Legend : HPA—hypothalamic “pituitary” adrenal; LC-NE—locus coeruleus-norepinephrine; ↑: hyperactivity/increase; ↓: decrease; black arrows—adaptive path; blue arrows and blocks—maladaptive path.

Stressor Detection and Arousal

Psychological stress is a challenge, but the nervous system stands its homeostatic ground. First, it facilitates the detection of a stressor with noradrenergic signaling via the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system (e.g., Sara and Bouret, 2012 ; Bari et al., 2020 ; Poe et al., 2020 ). The LC-NE system is formed by the LC in the brainstem, which is a cluster of neurons encompassing NE. The axons of the LC neurons are organized in the several modules that project across the brain and format a noradrenergic system with extensive collateralization. Thus, LC activation results in a diffuse NE surge in the cerebral networks (e.g., Sara and Bouret, 2012 ; Szabadi, 2013 ; Schwarz et al., 2015 ; Bari et al., 2020 ; Poe et al., 2020 ), which is linked to cognitive (e.g., attention and flexibility) and behavioral outcomes (e.g., Skosnik et al., 2000 ; Morilak et al., 2005 ; Alexander et al., 2007 ; Figure 2 ).

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Highlights of the neural dynamics and topology in neurocognitive stress reactivity. Note. Schematic diagram of the main co-occurrences (1–5) in neurocognitive reactivity and cerebral topology in psychological stress. (1) Detection of a threat by the LC-NE system and (2) its sensory processing triggers (3) the amygdala (fear), which in turn affects (4,5) cognition and behavior via the ventromedial fronto-temporoparietal network [cognitive defence] directed towards fearful stimuli (the fronto-temporal circuits) and novel/unexpected stimuli (the fronto-parietal circuits). Novelty detection encompasses the following circuits: (a) mesial temporoparietal network for phasic attention to the novel stimuli such as auditory and somatosensory, but to the lesser degree visual; (b) the prefrontal- hippocampal-diencephalic network (i.e., frontocentral hippocampal regions, adjacent fusiform, lingual gyri, fornix-mammilothalamic-cortical pathways and calcarine) for novelty processing and encoding. By contrast, the posterior hippocampal region is associated with spatial processing and encoding. Legend : A—amygdala; dACC—dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; H—hippocampus; I—insula; LC—locus coeruleus; NE—norepinephrine; T—thalamus; vm—ventromedial; ↑: hyperactivity/increase; ↓: decrease; ↔: functional coactivity.

The LC neurons can be subconsciously activated in response to fear, which is likely linked to the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) afferents from the amygdala (e.g., Pacak et al., 1995 ; Dunn et al., 2004 ; Valentino and Van Bockstaele, 2008 ; Sara and Bouret, 2012 ; Szabadi, 2013 ; Godoy et al., 2018 ; Reyes et al., 2019 ). The amygdala is principally associated with a fear response (e.g., Etkin and Wager, 2007 ; Godoy et al., 2018 ; Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review). Chronic psychological stress strengthens the functional connectivity between the LC and amygdala that relates to fear learning. Specifically, via hypothalamic orexin, LC activity facilitates amygdala-dependent aversive/fear memory (e.g., Sears et al., 2013 ), with early retrieval (up to 6 h) associated with activated prelimbic prefrontal cortex (PFC) → basolateral amygdala circuits and later retrieval (up to 28 days) associated with activated prelimbic PFC → thalamic paraventricular nucleus → central amygdala circuits (rat model, Do-Monte et al., 2015 ). At the same time, prolonged severe stress has been found to impair amygdalar inhibition, seen in reduced PFC → basolateral amygdala connectivity that hyperactivated the amygdala and ensued aggressive behavior (Wei et al., 2018 ). That is, in chronic stress, the amygdala is relaxed from the PFC, yet thalamic pathways reconnect the pair, at least for fear memory retrieval.

The LC-amygdala connectivity is reciprocal as the amygdala can phasically activate LC neurons as well (e.g., Bouret et al., 2003 ). Liddell et al. ( 2005 ) showed that subliminal fear stimuli (i.e., fearful faces) coactivate the LC, amygdala, pulvinar, and frontotemporal areas related to orienting an “alarm system” (hereafter referred to as cognitive defence that is induced by “alarmed” LC-NE system; see Figure 2 ). Leuchs et al. ( 2017 ) validated previous findings that phasic pupil dilations, which are related to the LC activity (e.g., Murphy et al., 2014 ) in response to aversive (e.g., Wiemer et al., 2014 ) and emotionally arousing stimuli (e.g., Bradley et al., 2008 ), are a physiological marker of fear learning/conditioning. Fear learning is associated with a functional coactivity between the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula, thalamus, and PFC (e.g., Etkin and Wager, 2007 ; Fullana et al., 2016 ; see Figure 2 . At the same time, almost all of the neocortex (e.g., the PFC related to cognitive appraisal and stress controllability; and the ACC together with the insula related to social monitoring/pain network; Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review) can modulate LC activity via passing already processed/encoded information about the salient sensory and behavioral stimuli (e.g., Sara and Bouret, 2012 ; Szabadi, 2013 ; Schwarz et al., 2015 ).

The LC neuronal activity is a bimodal—tonic (sensory-orientated) and phasic (action-orientated)—firing that regulates attention and ongoing behavior. Specifically, the levels of tonic activity relate to drowsiness and disengagement (low), arousal (moderate), and hyperarousal (high; Sara and Bouret, 2012 ; Hofmeister and Sterpenich, 2015 ; Bari et al., 2020 ). Hyperarousal has been found to be associated with an increased effort to face challenges (Varazzani et al., 2015 ). The phasic activity increases in response to relevant behavior and hence prioritizes a goal-directed attentional processing over a stimulus-driven attention, which serves adaptive behavioral performance (Sara and Bouret, 2012 ; Hofmeister and Sterpenich, 2015 ). The phasic activity also reacts to fear, nociception (e.g., Valentino and Van Bockstaele, 2008 ; Sara and Bouret, 2012 ), and motivation (i.e., anticipated reward size; Bouret and Richmond, 2015 ), that modulate behavioral performance. However, upon detecting a stressor, the LC drops its phasic activity and increases its tonic activity, which is seen in hyperarousal and hypersensitivity and relates to scanning attention and the analysis of behavior (Valentino and Van Bockstaele, 2008 ). That is, when facing a stressor, the LC puts goal-directed attentional processing (the dorsal frontoparietal network) on hold so the challenge can first be inspected (the ventral/mesial frontoparietal network, mainly the dextral part including the inferior frontal gyrus, frontal/insula regions, and basal ganglia; Corbetta and Shulman, 2002 ; Corbetta et al., 2008 ; Shulman et al., 2009 ; see also Godoy et al., 2018 ). Therefore, we define cognitive defence as the ventromedial fronto-temporo-parietal network driven by fear which can emerge when fearful stimuli (frontotemporal circuits) and novel/unexpected stimuli (frontoparietal circuits; Figure 2 ) are presented.

Unexpected novel stimuli that do not have predictive value will elicit larger event-related potential responses measured by electroencephalography and prolonged reaction time to the subsequent target (i.e., larger arousal), that in turn, will modulate behavior (Knight and Nakada, 1998 ). The findings in shocked rats are that, compared to expected stressors, unpredictable stressors evoke greater LC-NE reactivity seen in the higher levels of principal NE metabolite in the amygdala, hypothalamus, and thalamus, and higher levels of corticosterone in plasma. In contrast, predictable stressors do not elevate NE metabolite levels in the LC and thalamus, nor corticosterone levels in plasma, the way unpredictable stressors do, compared to non-shocked rats (Tsuda et al., 1989 ). The potential mechanism of the higher impact of unpredictable stress may relate to altered serotoninergic (5-HT) signaling that relates to preserve the β-adrenoreceptors’ upregulation (e.g., Asakura et al., 2000 ; Yalcin et al., 2008 ), which is also seen in conditioned fear and inescapable stress (Kaehler et al., 2000 ). However, McDevitt et al. ( 2009 ) showed that although stress controllability modulates NE levels, it does not affect NE signaling in the LC neurons; whereas stressor controllability relates to the medial PFC function to downregulate the amygdalar hyperactivity associated with altered 5-HT signaling (e.g., Amat et al., 2005 ; see also Puig and Gulledge, 2011 ; Leiser et al., 2015 ; Garcia-Garcia et al., 2017 ; Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review). The findings collectively highlight that neurocognitive stress reactivity is orchestrated by the LC-NE system, fueled by the fear-driven amygdala, and regulated by the PFC/5-HT circuits.

Cognitive Appraisal of Stress Severity

Elevation of cortisol levels in response to a stressor is associated with perceived stress severity (e.g., Sladek et al., 2016 ; Gabrys et al., 2018 , 2019 ; Woody et al., 2018 ). That is, a psychological threat “exists” to the extend cognition “sees” it. Though cognitive capability may help with the avoiding of dangerous situations, it is the cognitive appraisal that helps reduce psychological stress via a self-appraisal perspective that conquers challenges, but not the challenging stimulus per se . Slattery et al. ( 2013 ) tested the associations between three neurocognitive variables, IQ, academic achievement, and verbal/visual short–term memory, which were measured at age 14, during a standardized psychosocial stress paradigm delivered at age 18. Results indicated that poor cognitive appraisal, but not cognitive skill, predicted stress responses. Specifically, stress-coping abilities during stress anticipation depended on “secondary” cognitive appraisal related to the perception of poor self-efficacy (we term this appraisal related to the perception of self-efficacy to deal with the stressor self-appraisal ), but not on “primary” cognitive appraisal (greater threat/challenge-perception, which we term stressor-appraisal ). Poor self-appraisal independently predicted lower cortisol reactivity during the test indicating an insufficient stress response in adolescents. At the same time, poor visual memory predicted cortisol hyperreactivity to stress, whereas internalizing disorders increased the links between verbal memory and cortisol reactivity. These results denote an important fact that intelligence alone is not likely a marker of emotion regulation that is sufficiently related to stress outcome. Rather, the outcome associated with stress is principally influenced by an individual’s cognitive self-appraisal.

Other findings support the impact of self-appraisal on stress severity. In adolescents, Sladek et al. ( 2016 ) showed that higher levels of perceived daily stress severity were linked to elevated cortisol levels, compared to diurnal patterning, only in: (1) individuals with low self-appraisal; and (2) in situations with higher “engagement” coping (i.e., support seeking). The situational variation of cortisol reactivity likely indicates that engagement coping may be due to lower self-belief in coping capacity and thus lower self-appraisal. Coping efficacy related to self-belief in one’s capacity to deal with a stressful situation has been found to be linked to psychological problems in children of divorced parents (Sandler et al., 2000 ). In another study, compared to peers with high coping efficacy, adolescents with increased loneliness and low coping efficacy presented a flatter diurnal cortisol slopes, a marker of poor cortisol regulation, later on in college; while higher coping efficacy predicted lower levels of the cortisol awakening response in college (Drake et al., 2016 ). In their subsequent work, Sladek et al. ( 2017b ) found that girls with an active engagement coping style in response to interpersonal stress had lower cortisol levels (measured by diurnal cortisol slope, total output across the day (AUCg), and cortisol awakening response). However, higher rates of using active coping related to higher cortisol awakening responses the next morning. For women with attentional avoidance of social threat cues, Sladek et al. ( 2017a ) showed that increased use of social support coping predicted lower cortisol responses to social stress and flatter average diurnal cortisol slopes compared to women with attentional vigilance (i.e., a bias toward threat). Similar cortisol patterns were found in children who had more social problems compared to their peers, which was seen in flatter slopes of cortisol decline from wakening to bedtime; as well, children presented with higher cortisol at wakeup time the next morning after higher than usual rates of peer or academic problems at school (Bai et al., 2017 ; see Figure 3 ).

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Major cognitive determinants of the cortisol responses linked to stress psychopathology. Note. This diagram represents the major factors influencing cortisol response to stress that can lead to stress disorders. Stress responses depend on the particular challenge, one’s perception of the stressor, and the ability to cope with the stressor. The stressor’s intensity, acuity, and persistence relate to cortisol responses, which are moderated by cognitive appraisal that is associated with self-efficacy and coping abilities. The stressor’s novelty (i.e., unknown predictive value) and inescapability (i.e., negative “learned” value) increase negative predictive values (i.e., fear and powerlessness, respectively), that hinder self-appraisal and aggravate stress severity. Repeated exposure to homotypic stressors resets the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Chronic stress can result in blunted cortisol responses to a stressor, flattened diurnal slops, and increased cortisol awakening responses. Legend : *—not limited to the emotional aspect that reduces stress perception (e.g., motivation, compassion 1 , and sense of belonging 2–4 ) but also social and physical aspects directed to a reduction in the stressor’s influence (e.g., physical or financial help); **—risk of PTSD and suicidal ideation; ↑: increase; ↓: decrease, “-”: negative; 1 Vaillancourt and Palamarchuk ( 2021 ); 2 Grobecker ( 2016 ); 3 Choenarom et al. ( 2005 ); 4 Stachl and Baranger ( 2020 ).

The impact of self-appraisal on stress response/severity is in keeping with meta-analytic results by Kammeyer-Mueller et al. ( 2009 ), which demonstrated that core self-evaluations (i.e., a stable personality trait that encompasses self-efficacy, locus of control, self-esteem, and neurotism) related to lower perceived stress, higher rates of problem-solving coping, reduced strain, and lower levels of engagement in avoidance coping. In this meta-analysis, self-appraisal was not significantly linked to emotion-focused coping and emotional stability moderated the association between stress and strain and was uniquely linked to the coping process and stress. A meta-analysis by Connor-Smith and Flachsbart ( 2007 ) adds to the idea that personality traits can predict higher rates of specific coping strategies, including problem-solving and cognitive restructuring (for extraversion and conscientiousness), support seeking (for extraversion), and wishful thinking (i.e., mental avoidance), withdrawal, and emotion-focused coping (for neuroticism).

The effect of self-appraisal may be related to the aforementioned sensory-driven shift in the LC firing in response to stress, that suppresses goal-orientated actions, which need to be balanced with the action-orientated switch (i.e., subconsciousness “cognitive defence task”). In other words, sufficient self-appraisal supports self-belief and reduces the “mental barriers”, which in turn facilitates active, problem-solving coping. Further research is needed to lend more clarity on these associations (see Figure 2 ). A meta-analysis by Penley et al. ( 2002 ) showed problem-solving coping, but not emotion-focused coping, was associated with positive outcomes on general physical and psychological health. The nuances were that deliberate actions or analytical efforts and problem-focused coping were helpful only in acute interpersonal stress, correlating positively to psychological health outcomes. The effect was opposite in chronic stress, correlating negatively to psychological health outcomes. This highlights the fact that chronically distressed individuals do require social/psychological assistance. In contrast, seeking social support, confrontation, self-blame, mental or physical avoidance/distancing, self-control, and positive reappraisal in which emphasis is placed on a positive side of a situation, correlated with poor psychological self-reported outcomes in acute stress.

The major role of self-appraisal aligns with Social Self Preservation Theory (Gruenewald et al., 2004 ; see also Dickerson and Kemeny, 2004 ). For instance, in social evaluative stress, both acceptance threat and status threat can elicit a cortisol response (Smith and Jordan, 2015 ), and threats to the social self can induce shame and reduce self-esteem, which correlates with stress-induced cortisol levels (Gruenewald et al., 2004 ). It has also been demonstrated that high cortisol in social evaluative stress is accompanied by sympathetic activation (i.e., hyperarousal due to the NE surges), but not parasympathetic activation (i.e., measured by heart rate variability, can relate to affective responses; Bosch et al., 2009 ; Mackersie and Kearney, 2017 ; Poppelaars et al., 2019 ). Further, the magnitude of the stress response has been shown to increase in women with the size of the audience (Bosch et al., 2009 ), whereas sympathetic hyperreactivity was found to predict increased reactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, again in women (Poppelaars et al., 2019 ).

Stress perception also moderates the impact of a stressor on neurocognitive function. For instance, Jiang et al. ( 2017 ) showed that higher levels of stress perception correlated with poor episodic memory and frontal executive function in older adults free of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Higher stress severity can be experienced in novel/unpredictable and inescapable conditions (e.g., Sauro et al., 2003 ; Lupien et al., 2007 ; Slattery et al., 2013 ) and is distinguished by hyperarousal. Tsuda et al.’s ( 1989 ) rodent studies, where these types of conditions, but not predictable stress, elevated NE in the LC and corticosterone in plasma. The apparent effect of the compromised feeling of control over unknown/novel challenges or in learned helplessness, aligns well with the self-appraisal influence discussed above. Dickerson et al.’s ( 2004 ) meta-analysis provides evidence that uncontrollable social threat relates to the highest levels of cortisol and adrenocorticotropin hormone responses to stress and the longest post-stress recovery.

Aversive emotions in both stress and stress anticipation that result in NE surge affect cortisol influence on attention, cognitive flexibility, memory, and learning, and thus aggravate the intensity of a stressor (Skosnik et al., 2000 ; Morilak et al., 2005 ; Alexander et al., 2007 ; Kvetnansky et al., 2009 ; Gray et al., 2017 ). That is, in intense stress, negative emotions enhance aversive memories and withdraw the cognitive focus from the “peripheral” details. Such selective attention is associated with poor working memory and memory retrieval (de Quervain et al., 1998 , 2009 ; Roozendaal et al., 2006 , 2008 ). The effect of emotional valence in stress involves concurrent activation of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and adrenoreceptors, specifically, central β-adrenergic receptors activation linked to long-term declarative memory for emotionally arousing information (e.g., Cahill et al., 1994 ; Cahill et al., 2004 ; Maheu et al., 2005a , b ; see also Gibbs and Summers, 2000 , 2002 ; Schwabe et al., 2009 ; Smeets et al., 2009 ; Lonergan et al., 2013 ) and activation of α 1 -adrenoreceptors that were insensitive previously to NE in the medial entorhinal cortex, linked to hippocampal memory dysregulation (e.g., Carrion and Wong, 2012 ; Hartner and Schrader, 2018 ). As well, a deletion variant gene that encodes α 2B adrenoceptor, ADRA2B, contributes to the cognitive processing of emotional information (see meta-analytic review by Xie et al., 2018 ). Levels of hyperarousal and its proximity to the occurrence of stress modulate memory formation, whereas higher hyperarousal can be seen in children due to neurodevelopmental sensitivity (e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review; Vaillancourt and Palamarchuk, 2021 ), and in women due to the LC-NE system specifics (e.g., Bangasser et al., 2016 ; Bangasser and Wicks, 2017 ; Bangasser et al., 2018 , 2019 ; see also Mulvey et al., 2018 ). Additionally, the sex differences are that emotionally influenced memory relates to hyperactivated amygdala with a stronger effect in the left hemisphere for women and in the right hemisphere for men (e.g., Cahill et al., 2004 ). Animal studies on fear conditioning show that mild-to-low levels of hyperarousal can impair spatial recognition memory, yet moderate-to-strong levels of hyperarousal can enhance the memory (e.g., Baars and Gage, 2010 ; Conrad, 2010 ). Therefore, stress reactivity has inter-individual variations that can be mild or more pronounced depending upon the individual’s stress appraisal and valence of aversive emotions, which are moderated by age and gender. Additionally, glucocorticoid stimulation followed hours earlier by NE secretion has been shown to inhibit arousal effect on memory (Osborne et al., 2015 ).

Decision Making and Stress

The executive functioning facilitates adaptation with decision-making based on the evaluated external (environmental) and internal (sensory) information (e.g., De Kloet et al., 1998 ; Wager and Smith, 2003 ; Collins and Koechlin, 2012 ; Barbey et al., 2013 ; Dajani and Uddin, 2015 ). Executive functioning integrates memory, cognitive flexibility (such as rapid attention and task-shifting, as well behavioral adjustments, e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review), learning fortification, reasoning, insecurity predictability, and monitoring behavioral strategies (e.g., Collins and Koechlin, 2012 ; see also Grissom and Reyes, 2019 ). The distinctions are that the ventromedial PFC integrates memory and emotional systems that are needed for decision-making, whereas the striatal and ACC inputs can affect it with bias (e.g., Gupta et al., 2011 ; Ho et al., 2012 ; Shimp et al., 2015 ; Goulet-Kennedy et al., 2016 ; Fitoussi et al., 2018 ; Hiser and Koenigs, 2018 ; Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review). At the same time, the amygdala mediates emotional responses that engage the insula, which relates to social pain, empathy, and anger (e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review). In a social context, the medial PFC and amygdala, but not ventral striatum, moderate decision-making (Ho et al., 2012 ; see also Hiser and Koenigs, 2018 ); whereas high levels of fear or anger (i.e., the amygdalar hyper response to a stressor) can affect decision-making with impulsivity/immediate actions (e.g., Gupta et al., 2011 ). Conversely, the stress associated with uncertainty and unknown power over a situation involves the frontrostriatal circuits, where task-sets and actions are driven by the references of cognitive/behavioral strategies stored in the long–term memory as a script (relates to the dorsal striatum/left caudate nucleus engaged in reward and motivation). Thus, in the context of stress-related ambiguity, the choice depends on predicted outcome values (related to the ventral striatum/the nucleus accumbens and ventral putamen engaged in cognitive control) to maximize their utilization, i.e., reinforcement learning/instrumental conditioning (O’Doherty et al., 2004 ; see also Hollerman et al., 2000 ; Brovelli et al., 2011 ; Vogel et al., 2015 , 2017 ). The strategy is selected if it is absolutely reliable (the ventral striatum, nucleus accumbens) among the assortment of scripts (the dorsal striatum, nucleus caudate); and if it is unavailable, a new task-set is created because the decision-making is binary when the stimulus is ambiguous (e.g., Collins and Koechlin, 2012 ).

Emotional state/mood can affect the interpretation of the stressor, i.e., the mood-incongruent effects. Anxiety can lead to attentional bias toward threat due to higher predicted negative outcome of the stressor (i.e., ambiguity (fear, e.g., Blanchette and Richards, 2003 ; Barazzone and Davey, 2009 ). An anxious state also increases speed in the detection of aversive changes on a subliminal level and increases attention and conscious awareness on a supraliminal level (Gregory and Lambert, 2012 ). For example, in adults with high trait anxiety, the anxious state lowers awareness thresholds. In particular, fearful faces or non-threat faces presented among threatening faces are detected faster (Ruderman and Lamy, 2012 ). Neurocognitive functioning in stress thus drops cognitive flexibility (i.e., reduced functions of the dorsolateral PFC) to stay focused on the stressors, this attentional tunneling during emotional arousal allows the individual to detach from the “peripheral” information unrelated to the stressor that might distract the individual who is under pressure (e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review; see also Brosch et al., 2013 ; LeBlanc et al., 2015 ). However, attentional tunneling and enhanced memory for aversive experiences can lead to psychological maladjustment, for instance, emotion-focused coping, anxiety, and PTSD (e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review).

Hypothesis: Coping Mechanisms Are Driven by the Stress Stages

We define coping styles as intra-individual neurocognitive variability moderated by stress development across three main stages: (1) alarm-to-threat stage → (2) risk-to-escape stage → (3) surrender-in-defeat stage. Potentially, the full development can be observed in chronic, intense, and homotypic stress associated with the HPA resetting and circulating cortisol decline. It is likely that these stress stages can be disrupted/attenuated, escalated, and/or distorted according to the level of perceived stress severity and neuropsychological status; whereas novel stressors can restart stress phases cycling (e.g., stress detection phase I; see Figure 1 ). Therefore, coping styles can fluctuate in a predictable intra-individual manner and recognizing the stress stage can expedite adequate interventions to prevent or treat maladaptive coping.

Alarm-to-Threat (Check) Stage

Acute intense stress triggers right amygdalar fear-related effects such as tunneling attention, anxiety, and impulsivity seen in a reactive aggression as a sympathetic fight-or-flight response that is driven by high cortisol and NE levels (e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review). The core mechanism is that fear can initially serve adaptation by reducing risky behavior (e.g., Pabst et al., 2013a , b ; Yu, 2016 ; Vogel and Schwabe, 2019 ), because, in contrast, positive emotions can increase the probability of risk-taking (e.g., LeBlanc et al., 2015 ). Specifically, aversive emotions during mild psychological stress can facilitate the most reliable cognitive strategy via the narrowed scope of attention (that can also be induced by the pre-goal desire, e.g., LeBlanc et al., 2015 ), reduced configural associative learning (i.e., reduction in tri-/biconditional discrimination), and enhanced binary (uniconditional as irrelevant vs relevant) discrimination (e.g., Byrom and Murphy, 2016 ). Of relevance, social stress has been shown to increase activity in the anterior PFC associated with parallel processing during decision-making performance (e.g., the Game of Dice Task, Gathmann et al., 2014 ; see also Schiebener and Brand, 2015 ; Shimp et al., 2015 ). However, stimuli associated with extreme/traumatic experiences can trigger inadequate responses and reduce responses to contextual cues such as focusing on aversive sound and disregarding the safety of the environment that promotes automatic retrieval of traumatic experiences (e.g., Cohen et al., 2009 ; Otgaar et al., 2017 ). This is an example of accentuated alarm-to-threat stage by rigid binary cognitive strategy, whereas improving cognitive flexibility by configural associative learning could be a key element in the psychotherapeutical approach. Another example is that strong fear can elicit avoidance behavior related to the left lateral amygdala and anterior hippocampal hyperactivity (Abivardi et al., 2020 ). In other words, “cold” executive functioning is set to prioritize the most reliable decision-making to avoid danger when confronting a threat, yet it limits attention and flexibility. The mechanism is facilitated by promoted dorsal striatum-dependent (“habit”) learning and behavior over hippocampal-dependent (“cognitive”) memory encoding and retrieval, which leads to stereotypical ideas and thus maladaptive functioning in chronic stress (e.g., Packard, 2009 ; Vogel and Schwabe, 2016 ; Vogel et al., 2017 ; Zerbes et al., 2020 ; see also Schiebener and Brand, 2015 ; Shimp et al., 2015 ; Fitoussi et al., 2018 ). In particular, poor consequences can be seen in attentional set-shifting deficits, poor memory, anxiety, and depression (e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review).

If acute stress subsides, attention can be improved with the decline of cortisol (e.g., Zandara et al., 2016 ). Conversely, intense stress can hyperactivate the LC that is associated with anxiety (Borodovitsyna et al., 2018 ; Morris et al., 2020 ) due to limbic dysregulation (e.g., Herman et al., 2005 ). In particular, it is related to the functional connectivity between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and amygdala (e.g., Clauss, 2019 ; Knight and Depue, 2019 ; Hofmann and Straube, 2021 ). The nuances are that the amygdala is involved in explicit threat processing (i.e., threat confrontation), whereas the BNST is involved in ambiguous threat processing (i.e., threat anticipation; Herrmann et al., 2016 ; Klumpers et al., 2017 ; Naaz et al., 2019 ; see also Fox et al., 2015 ; Fox and Shackman, 2019 ; Luyck et al., 2019 ). As well, the BNST → central amygdala projections relate to cued-fear inhibition (Gungor et al., 2015 ; see also Clauss, 2019 ). The BNST plays a critical role in fear acquisition/expression, which relates to stress maladaptation and the development of stress-related disorders like PTSD (e.g., Miles and Maren, 2019 ) and involves CRH signaling (e.g., Hu et al., 2020 ). This functional interplay between the BNST and amygdala relates to the inter-individual differences in threat processing and trait anxiety (Brinkmann et al., 2018 ), which likely influences the development of the next stage in chronic intense stress.

Risk-to-Escape (Stalemate) Stage

The evidence is that stress, predominantly chronic, can increase risk-taking behavior (Starcke et al., 2008 ; Lighthall et al., 2009 ; Pabst et al., 2013c ; Ceccato et al., 2016 ; see also Brand et al., 2006 ; Starcke and Brand, 2012 ; Yu, 2016 ). We predict that stress-induced risk-taking is largely driven by threat anticipation due to hyperactivated BNST. The BNST integrates limbic information and valence monitoring and plays a central role in the hippocampus-hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus circuit that activates the HPA axis and has a psychogenic effect (e.g., Lebow and Chen, 2016 ). The BNST is sexually dimorphic; its activity is heritable and relates to anxiety in ambiguous and sustained threat (e.g., Clauss, 2019 ). The neurophysiological background is that the BNST receives multiple signals, including, but not limited to, dopamine and 5-HT from the dorsal raphe and NE from the nucleus tractus solitarii (e.g., Glangetas and Georges, 2016 ). Moreover, increased impulsivity relates to alteration in the central amygdala → BNST dopaminergic projections that inhibit impulsive behavior (Kim et al., 2018 ).

We thus predict that in prolonged homotypic stress, hyperactivated BNST covers a shift from the front-line stress-care medial PFC-amygdalar circuits. This is likely a now-or-never response to escape the burden of anticipated threat, driven by dopamine reductions in uncertain conditions which recruit the dorsal PFC-striatal circuits related to impulsive and risky behavior. Our reasoning is that, in contrast to fear, ambiguity can be perceived as a dormant threat that increases approach behavior (the hippocampal rectivity, e.g., O’Neil et al., 2015 ) and risky behavior (the ventral striatal reactivity moderated by impulsivity traits, e.g., Mason et al., 2014 ; Goulet-Kennedy et al., 2016 ). As well, the activity of the ventral striatum is associated with a motivational control of performance and is regulated by the dorsolateral PFC (Hart et al., 2014 ). Therefore, it could be a part of an adaptive mechanism to confront the challenge although it requires adequate executive functioning, and by extension, goal-oriented actions. The pitfalls are that poor cognitive control and insular risk-processing can increase perceived stress, and in turn, risk-taking behavior (e.g., among adolescents, Maciejewski et al., 2018 ). In contarst, risk-taking behavior is inversely associated with a cortisol increase for boys/men but not girls/women (e.g., Daughters et al., 2013 ; Kluen et al., 2017 ). This effect relates to greater activity and novelty preferences due to higher sensation seeking in boys/men compared to girls/women who are more punishment sensitive (meta-analysis by Cross et al., 2011 ). The developmental moderation of stress-induced responses can also lead to impulsive errors in girls (e.g., Lukkes et al., 2016 ), which is also moderated by personality traits related to impulsivity (e.g., negative urgency that correlates to impulsivity, Berg et al., 2015 ; see also Cyders and Smith, 2008a , b ; Herman et al., 2018 ). The levels of impulsivity in healthy young adults inversely correlate with the levels of released dopamine from the ventral striatum in low to moderate stress; yet high stress reduces dopamine responses (e.g., Oswald et al., 2007 ; see also Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review).

In sum, poor cognitive functioning and cortisol decline can promote a burden of uncertainty ( stalemate ), and as dopamine drops, risk-taking ensues to which young men are more prone to than young women. The mechanism is that the striatal networks can serve decision-making with the learned behavior/”script” when facing explicit danger in acute stress. In contrast, when dealing with prolonged uncertainty, decision-making can be impulsive and risky due to poor risk-processing, and potentially, motivation/urge to terminate the status quo in chronic intense stress. Accordingly, improving cognitive control with proper risk-processing (psychological help) and facilitating adequate options to avoid predictable danger (social assistance) could be a key intervention to prevent poor outcomes. Although our hypothesis has yet to be tested, it sheds light on why stress can induce risk-taking behavior.

Surrender-in-Defeat (Checkmate) Stage

We interpret that in acute and extreme stress associated with a loss or defeat, as well as in chronic stress with a prolonged ambiguity, the executive functioning “surrenders” in the absence of absolutely reliable task-sets and incapacity to create new ones (i.e., defeat/ checkmate ), which is why serotonin levels drop and depression emerges. Of relevance, Yu et al.’s ( 2016 ) findings in rodent models demonstrate that repeated social defeats, but not social threats, increase cortisol and NE levels but decrease dopamine, its metabolites, and serotonin levels in the striatum and hippocampus (see also Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review).

On a molecular level, stress adaptation relates to a negative feedback of the HPA axis seen in cortisol hyposynthesis as ACTH sensitivity declines (e.g., Juruena et al., 2003 ; McEwen, 2012 ; Gray et al., 2017 ). In particular, the duration of exposure to a homotypic stressor displays a linear and inverted U-shaped dose-effect on a stress response: (1) a novel stressor can increase ACTH sensitivity; (2) a repeated stressor can initially desensitize ACTH; and (3) a chronic stressor relates to an unceasing ACTH sensitivity (Aguilera, 1994 , 1998 ; Aguilera and Liu, 2012 ). Prior exposure to homotypic stressors can compromise stress response to a novel stressor (e.g., García et al., 2000 ), which in turn can expose a previous stress-induced latent behavioral sensitization that often surpasses the HPA axis sensitization (Belda et al., 2015 ; also see McCarty, 2016 ). Not surprisingly, intense stressor can facilitate certain cognitive functions and thus promote stress resilience (e.g., Ellis et al., 2017 ) although its chronic exposure is associated with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety (e.g., Juruena et al., 2020 ). According to the aforementioned findings on stress responses, we hypothesize that intra-stages expressions and inter-stage transitions in our model of stress development depend on the novelty, intensity, timing, and chronicity of the stressor. Stress stages can be desensitized in subchronic exposure to the same stressor (or homotypic stressors) but accelerated/exacerbated in chronic exposure to the homotypic stressors, which in turn can also hypersensitize stages toward a novel stressor.

We acknowledge that sex/gender may affect the coping-related neural pathways due to sex and stress hormones co-signaling. In particular, neurocognitive variability during stress development can be affected by the levels of circulating estradiol/estrogen. Estrogen signaling influences memory, social learning, and aggressive/defensive behavior associated with the hippocampal and medial PFC functioning (e.g., Milner et al., 2008 ; Luine and Frankfurt, 2012 ; Laredo et al., 2014 ; Almey et al., 2015 ) and thus contributes to sex differences in stress coping. In females, circulating estradiol levels mediate stress resilience (e.g., Wei et al., 2014b ; Luine, 2016 ; Yuen et al., 2016 ) and facilitate cerebro- and cardio-protection (e.g., Guo et al., 2005 ; Murphy, 2011 ; Adlanmerini et al., 2014 ) in linear and inverted U-shaped dose-effect (e.g., Bayer et al., 2018 ), where high estrogen levels increase cognitive sensitivity to stress (e.g., Graham and Scott, 2018 ; Hokenson et al., 2021 ). On the one hand, this may help explain why the prevalence of PTSD— surrender-in-defeat stage in our model—is two times higher in women than in men (e.g., Breslau, 2002 ; Zlotnick et al., 2006 ; Pooley et al., 2018 ). On the other hand, the androgen effect may explain the findings of why men are inclined toward impulsive behavior (i.e., risk-to-escape stage in our model, e.g., Hernandez et al., 2020 ) and are more affected by stress magnitude, compared to women who are more affected by stress frequency (e.g., Grissom and Reyes, 2019 ; see also Hidalgo et al., 2019 ).

Our hypotheses need to be tested to further clarify the various interfering factors with stress reactivity and resilience, such as sex hormones and genetic polymorphism related to serotonin and dopamine signaling reviewed above, as well as stressor type and stress timing/continuity (single, repeated intermittent, or chronic) that can involve different neural pathways and different reactivity of the HPA axis and LC-NE system. Nevertheless, these hypotheses can help explain why active coping is negatively linked to psychological health as reviewed above ( Figure 1 ). It also supports the fact that chronically stressed individuals with depression/anxiety and poor cognition require psychological and social assistance.

Concluding Remarks

Neurocognition plays a vital role in adaptation and monitors the severity of challenges faced. When cognitive appraisal assigns a negative value to the salient stimuli, it is the moment they become psychological stressors and stress arises. Thus, psychological stimuli can vary in nature because it is the level of cognitive “attention” that determines stress and its severity, that is the stress appraisal/interpretation, but not the stimuli per se .

To address the nuances underlining stress severity, we propose to update a dichotomy in the cognitive appraisal terminology— self-appraisal (i.e., the perception of self-efficacy to deal with the stressor) and stressor-appraisal (the perception of threat/challenge). This dichotomy is intended to facilitate cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as translational research on stress and mental resilience. Specifically, self-appraisal relates to successful emotional downregulation and enables cognitive flexibility vs. stressor-appraisal which can contribute to emotional dysregulation and attentional tunneling that restricts/alters executive functioning. Noted specifics of the cognitive appraisal duality are associated with the PFC and amygdala interplay during the processing of aversive emotions and fear, which is linked to stress sensitization and psychiatric consequences (e.g., Palamarchuk and Vaillancourt, under review).

To advance our understanding of mental resilience and stress development, we offer new insights to the scholarly literature on psychological stress coping with respect to previously published reviews. First, we differentiate the neurocognitive aspects in stress development with four key phases: (i) stressor detection, (ii) stress appraisal (assessment of stress severity), (iii) stress reactivity, and (iv) decision making. Clinical analysis of each phase may help with ruling out primary and secondary causes of behavioral maladaptation. For instance, it is important to keep in mind that sudden and inadequate behavioral reaction to an event (i.e., detection of a novel stressor) may be related to a totally different event that occurred chronically in the past that latently compromised psychological health (i.e., prior chronic exposure to homotypic stressors can trigger cognitive “defence,” see Figure 1 ). Another example is that prolonged uncertainty increases the chances of risky/impulsive behavior.

Second, we model a complex concept of stress development that introduces an intra-individual variability factor in the stress reactivity phase, which is based on the neural dynamics in cognitive processing. In particular, we hypothesize that coping styles are influenced by intra-individual neurocognitive variability moderated by stress reactivity (phase iii) across three major stages: (1) alarm-to-threat [check] stage → (2) risk-to-escape [stalemate] stage → (3) surrender-in-defeat [checkmate] stage ( Figure 1 ). Alarm-to-threat stage denoting the cortisol and NE surges in response to psychological stress must not be confused with the alarm phase , classically referred to triphasic allostasis process, which originated from the “general adaptation syndrome” concept by Selye ( 1998 ), reprint of 1936) that described “typical syndrome” following “diverse nocuous agents.” That is, the general alarm reaction within “6–48 h in rat models of acute nonspecific stress.”

Finally, we emphasize that stress coping can fluctuate in a predictable intra-individual manner. Identifying the stressor’s novelty/chronicity and stress stage/phase can help with early prevention and appropriate therapy of maladaptive stress coping, and in turn, prevent mental disorders.

Author Contributions

TV encouraged, supported, and supervised ISP to investigate stress impact on cognition. ISP planned and carried out the project, the main conceptual ideas, developed the theoretical models and hypotheses, and designed the figures. ISP wrote the manuscript with support from TV. ISP and TV provided critical feedback, helped shape the manuscript, and contributed to the final version. The authors are accountable for the content of the work. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Funding. This work was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Tier 2 and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair grants (CRC Tier 1—950-231846; CRC Tier 2 renewal 950-229058; CRC Tier 2 950-203794) awarded to TV.

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Chapter 16. Stress, Health, and Coping

16.2 Stress and Coping

Jennifer Walinga

Learning Objectives

Define coping and adaptation.
Understand the various conceptualizations of stress as stimulus, response, and transactional process.
Understand the role of cognition and physiology in coping with stress.
Recognize emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies.
Understand the relationships and interactions between health, stress, and coping.

In order to understand how people learn to cope with stress, it is important to first reflect on the different conceptualizations of stress and how the coping research has emerged alongside distinct approaches to stress. Stress has been viewed as a response , a stimulus, and a transaction . How an individual conceptualizes stress determines his or her response, adaptation, or coping strategies.

Stress As a Response

Stress as a response model, initially introduced by Hans Selye (1956), describes stress as a physiological response pattern and was captured within his general adaptation syndrome (GAS) model (Figure 16.3). This model describes stress as a dependent variable and includes three concepts :

Stress is a defensive mechanism.
Stress follows the three stages of alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
If the stress is prolonged or severe, it could result in diseases of adaptation or even death.

Later, in The Stress Concept: Past, Present and Future (1983), Selye introduced the idea that the stress response could result in positive or negative outcomes based on cognitive interpretations of the physical symptoms or physiological experience (Figure 16.3, “The General Adaptation to Stress Model “) . In this way, stress could be experienced as eustress (positive) or dystress (negative). However, Selye always considered stress to be a physiologically based construct or response. Gradually, other researchers expanded the thinking on stress to include and involve psychological concepts earlier in the stress model.

The response model of stress incorporates coping within the model itself. The idea of adaptation or coping is inherent to the GAS model at both the alarm and resistance stages. When confronted with a negative stimulus, the alarm response initiates the sympathetic nervous system to combat or avoid the stressor (i.e., increased heart rate, temperature, adrenaline, and glucose levels). The resistance response then initiates physiological systems with a fight or flight reaction to the stressor, returning the system to homeostasis, reducing harm, or more generally accommodating the stressor, which can lead to adaptive diseases such as sleep deprivation, mental illness, hypertension, or heart disease. Thus, along with the early conceptualization of stress as a physiological response, early research on coping was also born. As early as 1932, Walter Cannon described the notion of self-regulation in his work The Wisdom of the Body.

Stress As a Stimulus

The theory of stress as a stimulus was introduced in the 1960s, and viewed stress as a significant life event or change that demands response, adjustment, or adaptation. Holmes and Rahe (1967) created the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) consisting of 42 life events scored according to the estimated degree of adjustment they would each demand of the person experiencing them (e.g., marriage, divorce, relocation, change or loss of job, loss of loved one). Holmes and Rahe theorized that stress was an independent variable in the health-stress-coping equation — the cause of an experience rather than the experience itself. While some correlations emerged between SRRS scores and illness (Rahe, Mahan, & Arthur, 1970; Johnson & Sarason, 1979), there were problems with the stress as stimulus theory. The stress as stimulus theory assumes:

Change is inherently stressful.
Life events demand the same levels of adjustment across the population.
There is a common threshold of adjustment beyond which illness will result.

Rahe and Holmes initially viewed the human subject as a passive recipient of stress, one who played no role in determining the degree, intensity, or valence of the stressor. Later, Rahe introduced the concept of interpretation into his research (Rahe & Arthur, 1978), suggesting that a change or life event could be interpreted as a positive or negative experience based on cognitive and emotional factors. However, the stress as stimulus model still ignored important variables such as prior learning, environment, support networks, personality, and life experience.

Stress As a Transaction

In attempting to explain stress as more of a dynamic process, Richard Lazarus developed the transactional theory of stress and coping (TTSC) (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), which presents stress as a product of a transaction between a person (including multiple systems: cognitive, physiological, affective, psychological, neurological) and his or her complex environment . Stress as a transaction was introduced with the most impact when Dr. Susan Kobasa first used the concept of hardiness (Kobasa, 1979). Hardiness refers to a pattern of personality characteristics that distinguishes people who remain healthy under life stress compared with those who develop health problems. In the late 1970s, the concept of hardiness was further developed by Salvatore Maddi, Kobasa, and their graduate students at the University of Chicago (Kobasa, 1982; Kobasa & Maddi, 1981; Kobasa, Maddi, & Kahn, 1982; Kobasa, Maddi, Puccetti, & Zola, 1985; Maddi & Kobasa, 1984). Hardiness has some notable similarities with other personality constructs in psychology, including locus of control (Rotter, 1966), sense of coherence (Antonovsky, 1987), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997), and dispositional optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985), all of which will be discussed in the next section. Researchers introduced multiple variables to the stress-as-transaction model, expanding and categorizing various factors to account for the complex systems involved in experiencing a stressor (Werner, 1993). The nature of stress was described in multiple ways: acute, episodic or intermittent, and chronic. Different types of stressors emerged, such as event, situation, cue, and condition, which then fell into categories based on locus of control, predictability, tone, impact, and duration. Figure 16.4 illustrates theories of stress as a response, stimulus, and transaction.

In his book Psychological Stress and the Coping Process (1966), Lazarus presented an elegant integration of previous research on stress, health, and coping that placed a person’s appraisal of a stressor at the centre of the stress experience. How an individual appraises a stressor determines how he or she copes with or responds to the stressor. Whether or not a stressor is experienced as discomforting is influenced by a variety of personal and contextual factors including capacities, skills and abilities, constraints, resources, and norms (Mechanic, 1978). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) unpacked the concept of interpretation further in their model of stress appraisal, which includes primary, secondary, and reappraisal components (see Figure 16.5, “ The Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping”). Primary appraisal involves determining whether the stressor poses a threat . Secondary appraisal involves the individual’s evaluation of the resources or coping strategies at his or her disposal for addressing any perceived threats . The process of reappraisal is ongoing and involves continually reappraising both the nature of the stressor and the resources available for responding to the stressor .

Coping with Stress

There are many ways that people strive to cope with stressors and feelings of stress in their lives. A host of literature, both popular and academic, extols the practice of stress management and whole industries are devoted to it. Many techniques are available to help individuals cope with the stresses that life brings. Some of the techniques listed in Figure 16.6, “Stress Management Techniques,” induce a lower than usual stress level temporarily to compensate the biological tissues involved; others face the stressor at a higher level of abstraction. Stress management techniques are more general and range from cognitive (mindfulness, cognitive therapy, meditation) to physical (yoga, art, natural medicine, deep breathing) to environmental (spa visits, music, pets, nature).

Stress coping , as described by researchers such as Lazarus and Folkman, implies a more specific process of cognitive appraisal to determine whether an individual believes he or she has the resources to respond effectively to the challenges of a stressor or change (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988; Lazarus & Folkman, 1987). The appraisal literature explains the response or coping process in terms of problem-focused coping or emotion-focused coping (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), also referred to as active and passive coping styles (Jex, Bliese, Buzzell, & Primeau, 2001). As well, approach and avoidance-style measures of coping exist involving assertiveness or withdrawal (Anshel, 1996; Anshel & Weinberg, 1999; Roth & Cohen, 1986). When faced with a challenge, an individual primarily appraises the challenge as either threatening or non-threatening, and secondarily in terms of whether he or she has the resources to respond to or cope with the challenge effectively. If the individual does not believe he or she has the capacity to respond to the challenge or feels a lack of control, he or she is most likely to turn to an emotion-focused coping response such as wishful thinking (e.g., I wish that I could change what is happening or how I feel), distancing (e.g., I’ll try to forget the whole thing), or emphasizing the positive (e.g., I’ll just look for the silver lining) (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987). If the person has the resources to manage the challenge, he or she will usually develop a problem-focused coping response such as analysis (e.g., I try to analyze the problem in order to understand it better; I’m making a plan of action and following it). It is theorized and empirically demonstrated that a person’s secondary appraisal then determines coping strategies (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987). Coping strategies vary from positive thinking to denial (see Figure 16.7, “COPE Inventory”) and are measured and tested using a variety of instruments and scales such as the COPE inventory (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989).

Research Focus: Stress and Playing Soccer

Walinga (2008), in her work with a university soccer team that was undergoing several stressful changes in addition to the usual performance stressors, recently elaborated upon the appraisal model by suggesting that reappraisal more specifically involves a reiteration of the primary-secondary appraisal process. Once a person determines that a stressor is indeed a threat, and secondarily appraises resources as lacking, he or she then primarily appraises the secondary appraisal. In other words, the person determines whether having a lack of resources indeed poses some sort of threat. If lack of resources is deemed not to be a threat, the person is much more likely to generate creative solutions to the initial stressor and therefore cope effectively. But if a lack of resources is deemed to be a threat, then the person tends to focus on finding resources rather than addressing the initial stressor, and arrives at ineffective control-focused coping strategies.

In the case of the university soccer players, some initial stressors were identified as “a particularly challenging or sizable opponent,” “rainy conditions,” “the cold,” “not connecting with the coach,” or “negative attitudes on the field.” Typical emotion- or control-focused coping strategies included “working harder” and “sucking it up,” as well as avoidance or passivity. One player who struggled with her opponent’s size felt that she had little control over the fact that her opponent was taller and thus “beat her to the header balls.” She explained how she would “just kinda fade away when we play that team…get passive and just fade into the background.” Her coping response signified a withdrawal subscale on the emotion-focused coping scale, and when asked about her degree of satisfaction with her chosen path of response, she replied that she was “unhappy but could see no other alternative.” However, generally the team and several of the key leaders expressed alternative coping strategies not accounted for in the transactional theory of stress and coping. While several members of the team had a negative secondary appraisal, believing themselves to be lacking in the resources required to deal with the changes that occurred to the team, during the interviews it became apparent that such powerlessness did not, as was expected, lead only to emotion-focused coping, such as defensiveness, blame, or withdrawal; an acknowledged lack of control often resulted in an ability to move on and solve the challenges of change effectively.

Many of the team members believed “hitting rock bottom” accounted for their successful transformation, acting as a sort of “trigger” or “restart” and enabling them to gain greater clarity about their goals, as well as strategies for achieving these goals. Rather than focusing on increasing control or controlling the barrier or threat itself, the tolerant individual accepts the barrier as reality and accepts the lack of control as a reality. This person can now attend to and identify the challenges that the barrier poses to attaining her goals. For instance, the goalkeeper focused not on regretting or blaming herself for a missed save, or even trying harder next time, but instead focused on the challenges that a difficult shot posed for her and how she might resolve an unexpected spin on the ball. When faced with rainy conditions, the tolerant player focused not on denying or pushing through the rain, but on the problems the rain creates for her and how to resolve the resulting lack of ball control or slippery field conditions:

“I guess the spin on the ball was out of my control, but I had total control in terms of adjusting to it.”
“I was not in control of what my opponent did with the ball or could have done to ensure that I did not win the ball, but I was in control of making sure I did not dive into the tackle, I held my check up so we could get numbers back and avoid a counterattack.”
“I went forward when I probably shouldn’t have and I left our defenders outnumbered in the back, so I made sure I won the ball so that we would not be faced with a 3-on-2.”
“Despite my fatigue, I decided to make better decisions on when to commit myself and made sure I communicated when I needed help so that my opponent wouldn’t get a breakaway.”
“The lights in my eyes were beyond my control, but I could control my focus on the ball and my positioning.”
“I was not in control of the fact that they were fast; I was in control of my positioning and my decision making.”

By extending the theory of stress and coping, it is hypothesized here that when an individual perceives that he or she is lacking in resources to manage a threat, the perceived lack of control, and not necessarily anxiety, becomes the new challenge and focal point. If the person deems the perceived lack of control to be threatening or problematic for any reason, this would hypothetically cause him or her to fixate on increasing resources for managing the threat (control-focused coping), and impede any kind of response to the particular threats the challenge itself generates. If, on the other hand, the person accepts the lack of control, deeming the lack of resources to be a benign reality, he or she would be able to move the focus to the problems this threat creates and consider options for resolution and goal achievement (problem-focused coping). Control-focused coping seems to be a more generalizable construct for explaining an individual’s inability to focus on the problem at hand. The readiness model proposes that the appraisal process continues to cycle through the primary and secondary phases to determine an individual’s coping response (i.e., primary appraisal = Is it a threat?; secondary appraisal = Do I have the resources to change or control the threat?; if not, we find ourselves back at primary appraisal = Is my lack of control a threat?), and it is this cyclical process of appraisal that offers leverage for facilitating effective coping.

Related concepts to stress coping include locus of control (Rotter, 1966), sense of coherence (Antonovsky, 1987), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997), and stress-related growth (Scheier & Carver, 1985). Rotter posited that a person with an internal locus of control believes that their achievements and outcomes are determined by their own decisions and efforts. If they do not succeed, they believe it is due to their own lack of effort. Whereas, a person with an external locus of control believes that achievements and outcomes are determined by fate, luck, or other . If the person does not succeed, he or she believes it is due to external forces outside of the person’s control. Aaron Antonovsky (1987) defined sense of coherence as:

a global orientation that expresses the extent to which one has a pervasive, enduring though dynamic feeling of confidence that (1) the stimuli deriving from one’s internal and external environments in the course of living are structured, predictable and explicable; (2) the resources are available to one to meet the demands posed by these stimuli; and (3) these demands are challenges, worthy of investment and engagement (pg. 19).

Self-efficacy is often confused with self-confidence, but in fact confidence is merely one of the many factors that make up a strong sense of self-efficacy. Albert Bandura (1997) defined self-efficacy as the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals . Self-confidence is a trait measure (a quality that is built over time) whereas self-efficacy is a state measure (a capacity experienced at a specific point in time and concerning a specific task). Stress-related growth or thriving is a dispositional response to stress that enables the individual to see opportunities for growth as opposed to threat or debilitation . Spreitzer and colleagues (2005) offered a preliminary definition of thriving as a “psychological state in which individuals experience both a sense of vitality and a sense of learning at work” (p. 538). Carver (1998) described thriving as being “better off after adversity” (p. 247). There are many examples of individuals surpassing previous performances when faced with particularly stressful scenarios, showing increased growth and strength in the face of adversity.

Coping and Health

The capacity for thriving, resilience, or stress-related growth has been associated with improved health outcomes. For example, building on Carver’s work on dispositional optimism and thriving, Shepperd, Maroto, and Pbert (1996) found, in their longitudinal study of cardiac patients, that optimism predicts success in making health changes associated with lower risk of cardiac disease. Optimism was significantly and directly correlated with improved health outcomes, including lower levels of saturated fat, body fat, and global coronary risk, and positively associated with success in increasing aerobic capacity. Billings and colleagues (2000) showed that coping affected positive and negative affect among men who were caregiving for AIDS patients. Social support coping predicted increases in positive affect, which in turn were related to fewer physical symptoms. Avoidant coping, however, was related to increases in negative affect, which were related to more physical symptoms.

Research Focus: Coping with Melanoma

Perhaps the most dramatic of stress coping interventions studies was conducted by Fawzy and his colleagues (Fawzy, Cousins, Fawzy, Kemeny, & Morton, 1990; Fawzy, Kemeny, et al., 1990; Fawzy, et al., 1993; Fawzy & Fawzy, 1994), who did specific coping skills interventions with melanoma patients. During a six-week structured program, participants experienced multiple program components including health education, psychological support, problem-solving, and stress management training. In the short term, the experimental subjects were more likely to use active behaviour coping than the controls, and also had more positive affect. Differences in immune functioning were evident between the two groups at the six-month assessment. Specifically, experimental subjects had a greater percentage of large granular lymphocytes, more NK cells, and better NK cytotoxicity. While coping strategies were not directly associated with immune cell changes, they were correlated with affect, which in turn was associated with immune functioning. The studies supported the hypothesis that effects of coping on biomedical outcomes may be mediated through affect. At a five-year follow-up, a third of the control group had died, compared with less than 10% of the experimental group. Longer survival was associated with more active coping at baseline.

Key Takeaways

Stress has been conceived of in different ways: as a response, as a stimulus, and as a transaction.
Stress as response treats stress as the physiological dependent variable.
Stress as stimulus treats stress as a life event or change that acts as an independent variable.
Stress as transaction considers the myriad personal, social, and environmental factors that come into play in determining the nature, degree, and impact of the stress experience.
There are a variety of stress management techniques deriving from a multitude of theoretical derivations and philosophies.
Coping with stress can be a trait or state-based process — an inherent quality or ability or a learned skill or capacity.
How people appraise a stressor determines how they will attempt to cope with the stressor.
Appraisal hinges on multiple human, social, and environmental factors.
Concepts related to coping include optimism, thriving, hardiness, locus of control, and self-efficacy, all qualities and capacities that can influence the coping strategies an individual chooses to apply to a stressor.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

Reflect on a recent emotionally or physiologically impactful stressor that you perceived to be threatening or negative. What social, environmental, and personal factors contributed to your appraisal of the stressor? Referencing the list of coping items on the COPE inventory, what types of coping strategies did you apply?
Imagine a stressful situation that you believe you coped with positively. Can you identify some coping strategies you used? Can you determine whether you were able to grow through the experience? What factors facilitated a positive outcome for you?
What are some major life events you have experienced? Can you identify differences in how you appraised these events? How you coped with these events?

Anshel, M.H. (1996). Coping styles among adolescent competitive athletes. The Journal of Social Psychology, 136, 311-323.

Anshel, M.H. & Weinberg, R.T. (1999). Re-examining coping among basketball referees following stressful events: Implications for coping interventions. Journal of Sport Behavior, 22, 144-161.

Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health: How people manage stress and stay well . San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Bandura, A. (1997 ). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.

Billings, D. W., Folkman, S., Acree, M., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2000). Coping and physical health during caregiving: The roles of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79 , 131–142.

Carver, C. S. (1998). Resilience and thriving: Issues, models, and linkages. Journal of Social Issues, 54 , 245–266.

Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56 , 267–283.

Cannon, W. B. (1932). The Wisdom of the Body. New York: W.W. Norton.

Fawzy, F., & Fawzy, N. (1994). Psychoeducational interventions and health outcomes. In R. Glaser and J. K. Kiecolt-Glaser (Eds.). Handbook of human stress and immunity (pp. 365–402). San Diego: Academic Press.

Fawzy, F. I., Fawzy, N. W., Hyun, C., Elashoff, R., Guthrie, D., Fahey, J. L., & Moron, D. L. (1993). Malignant melanoma: Effects on early structured psychiatric intervention, coping, and affective state on recurrence and survival six years later. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50 , 681–689.

Fawzy, F. I., Cousins, N., Fawzy, N. W., Kemeny, M., & Morton, D. I. (1990). A structured psychiatric intervention for cancer patients: I. Changes over time in methods of coping and affective disturbance. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47 , 720–725.

Fawzy, F. I., Kemeny, M., Fawzy, N. W., Elashoff, R., Morton, D., Cousins, N., & Fahey, J. L. (1990). A structured psychiatric intervention for cancer patients: II. Changes over time in immunological measures. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47 , 729–235.

Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R.S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health & Social Behavior, 21 (3), 219-239.

Folkman, S., Lazarus, R. S. (1988). Coping as a mediator of emotion. Journal of Personal and Social Psycholog,. 54, 466-75.

Holmes, T., & Rahe, R. (1967). The Social Reajustment Rating Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 12, (4), p. 213–233.

Jex, S.M., Bliese, P.D., Buzzell, S., & Primeau. J. (2001). The impact of self-efficacy on stressor–strain relations: Coping style as an explanatory mechanism. Journal of Applied Psychology 86 (3), 401.

Johnson , J. H., & Sarason , I. G. (1979). Moderator variables in life stress research. In I. Sarason & C. Spielberger (Eds.), Stress an d anxiety, 6, 151–167.

Kobasa, S. C. (1979). Stressful life events, personality, and health – Inquiry into hardiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37 (1), 1–11.

Kobasa, S. C. (1982). The hardy personality: Toward a social psychology of stress and health. In G. Sanders & J. Suls (Eds), social Psychology of Health and Illness (p. 3-32). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kobasa, S. C., Maddi, S. R., & Courington, S. (1981). Personality and constitution as mediators in the stress-illness relationship. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 22 (4), 368–378.

Kobasa, S. C., Maddi, S. R., & Kahn, S. (1982). Hardiness and health: A prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 42 (1), 168–177.

Kobasa, S. C., Maddi, S. R., Puccetti, M. C., & Zola, M. A. (1985). Effectiveness of hardiness, exercise and social support as resources against illness. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 29 (5), 525–533.

Lazarus, R. S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Lazarus, R. S. (1999). Stress and emotion: A new synthesis. New York: Springer.

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping . New York: Springer.

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1987). Transactional theory and research on emotions and coping. European Journal of Personality, 1, 141–169 .

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Mechanic, D. (1978). Students under stress: A study in the social psychology of adaptation . Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Rahe, R. H., & Arthur, R. J. (1978). Life change and illness studies: Past history and future directions. Journal of Human Stress, 4, 3–15.

Rahe R. H., Mahan J. L., & Arthur R. J. (1970). Prediction of near-future health change from subjects’ preceding life changes. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 14 (4), 401–6.

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Shepperd, J. A., Maroto, J. J., & Pbert , L. A. (1996). Dispositional optimism as a predictor of health changes among cardiac patients. Journal of Research in Personality 30 , 517–534.

Spreitzer, G., Sutcliffe, K., Dutton, J., Sonenshein, S. & Grant, A. (2005). A socially embedded model of thriving at work. Organization Science 16 (5): 537-549.

Walinga, J. (2008). Change Readiness: The Roles of Appraisal, Focus, and Perceived Control. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 44 (3), 315–347.

Werner, E.E. (1993). Risk, resilience, and recovery: Perspectives from the Kauai longitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology, 5 , 503-515.

Image Attributions

Figure 16.3: A diagram of the General Adaptation syndrome model by David G. Myers (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_Adaptation_Syndrome.jpg) used under the CC-BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en).

Figure 16.4: by J. Walinga.

Figure 16.5: by J. Walinga.

Figure 16.6: by J. Walinga.

Figure 16.7: Adapted by J. Walinga from Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989.

Long Descriptions

Figure 16.6 long description: Stress Management Techniques.
Cognitive	Physical	Environmental	Other

[Return to Figure 16.6] Figure 16.7 long description: COPE Inventory scale of coping techniques

positive reinterpretation and growth
mental disengagement
focus on and venting of emotions
use of instrumental social support
active coping
religious coping
behavioural disengagement
use of emotional social support
substance use
suppression of competing activities

[Return to Figure 16.7]

Introduction to Psychology - 1st Canadian Edition Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Walinga is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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13 Stress and Coping

Luciano Berardi; Olya Glantsman; and Christopher R. Whipple

Chapter Thirteen Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Understand what stress is and the different forms people can experience
Understand what coping is, what coping strategies are, and coping styles
Understand how individuals and communities become resilient

It’s 2:00 a.m. and your head is swarming with thoughts, none of them pleasant or relaxing: Did I reply to that important email? Am I ready for the upcoming presentation? Should I have studied more for tomorrow’s test? How long will it take me to fall asleep? Why is this always happening to me? All of these thoughts manifest as stress, an ever-present variable in our lives. You are not alone and as you will find out in this chapter, there are ways of coping and managing these stressors. Furthermore, there are ways that we can help communities better deal with these types of challenges.

WHAT IS STRESS?

So what is stress ? This shouldn’t be a trick question, but why is it so hard to answer? Stress can be three things: a stimulus event (i.e., a stressor), a process for understanding the stimulus and its context , and a reaction we have to this event . Essentially, to be stressful the event has to become an overload of incoming information into our system. Stress can cause biological responses such as sweaty palms or a racing heart, as well as psychological responses such as nervousness. It is known to have effects on our behavior causing us to avoid others, and it also affects cognitive performance causing us to have difficulty concentrating.

A number of genetic studies have begun to identify candidate genes that may play a role on diverse forms of stress reactions. It is highly probable that genetics account for some of our responses to stress, but other factors are also of importance. Environmental stressors can also affect our behaviors and emotions. Environmental stressors can be grouped into different types: Major Life Events (e.g., experiencing a breakup, getting married, or having a baby), Life Transitions (e.g., puberty or transition into high school), Daily Hassles (e.g., family arguments or waiting in a long line at a security checkpoint of an airport) and Disasters (e.g., experiencing a car accident or a computer crashing causing loss of important information). These types of environmental stressors can cause you to be fearful and have a racing heartbeat. And our perceptions of these responses can actually make the symptoms worse. It is also important to note that these stressors can be perceived differently by different people. For instance, two people can get stuck in the same elevator and while one would find the experience to be a nuisance, another will tell you it was the worse situation they have ever been in. Here is a poll about the role of stresses and stress responses in the natural world. This supplementary article explores what is the right amount of stress .

PHYSIOLOGICAL VS PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS

While most of the time we think about stress in a negative way, some stress is adaptive and can even give us an edge. Part of the stress reaction involves the secretion of hormones, which in turn will stimulate the cardiovascular system, which includes your heart. In this way, the right amount of stress may release hormones and increase our ability to focus better on an exam or to quickly maneuver our car when we are trying to avoid an accident. Most stressors in our daily life are psychological in nature—dating, exams, presentations, and deadlines, so the adrenaline and cortisol (i.e., stress hormones) released into the bloodstream do not get burned off. These types of psychological stressors can initiate an over-activation with a tendency to make the stress response worse. So, a response to an environmental stressor may start as fear and turn into a panic attack.

Acute vs Chronic Stress

One of the goals of our body is to maintain stability (i.e., homeostasis ). We can, therefore, define stress as an actual or perceived threat capable of throwing our homeostasis off balance. Stress exposure starts the responses. When a person is exposed to prolonged stress, overload may occur. When the stress response is triggered too often and/or remains active too long, it can cause “wear and tear” on the body from lowering your immune system and bone density, to hypertension, to heart attack.

There are two different types of stressors that we typically encounter. Acute stressors are observable stressful events that are time-limited such as an upcoming test or a family gathering. An acute stressor brings activation to our neuroendocrine system and makes us ready to act (i.e., “fight or flight”). Remember that pumped up feeling you got the last time you were getting ready to give a speech in front of the class? Chronic stressors , in contrast, are persistent demands on you; they are typically open-ended, using up your resources in coping but not having any resolution. Here is a short article and podcast on stress effects on health and suggestions for stress preventive activities.

A chronic illness, poverty, and racial discrimination are all examples of chronic stressors. Prolonged stress can lead to an eventual breakdown, causing one to be unable to take care of oneself or work. A number of recent studies have shown that lower socioeconomic status is associated with higher stress load. In addition, perceptions of racism can serve as a chronic social stressor for ethnic minorities and can, in part, explain some of the health issues of African Americans and other ethnic minority groups in the US and other countries.

Everyday Hassles

Robert Service , a Canadian Poet, cautioned, “Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out—it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.”

In addition to many stressors in our lives being psychological and chronic in nature, we should pay attention to everyday hassles, which can be as harmful, if not more harmful than life-changing events. Everyday hassles may include things like worrying about one’s weight, having too much work with too little time, or a stressful commute to school or work. Major life changes usually bring about more hassles, which may lead to more physical stress symptoms.

In summary, stress can be adaptive—in a fearful or stress-causing situation, we can run away to save our lives, or we can concentrate better on a test. Biologists might even say it is necessary. But, stress can also be maladaptive. This is especially true if it is prolonged (i.e., chronic stress) because it increases our risk of illness and health problems. Thus, reducing stress, especially prolonged stress, is essential to healthcare. This video explains the effects of daily hassles on our health.

COPING AND STRESS

To deal with stress in your life, it is important to figure out where that stress originates and notice how you tend to react to it. Later in this chapter, we will show you how community psychologists consider the environment and ecological perspectives as intertwined in stress and coping. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) have been among the most influential psychologists in the stress and coping field, and they defined coping as efforts to manage demands that could exceed our resources. It is important to highlight from this definition that when a person perceives a life circumstance as taxing and exceeding the resources they have, this person will experience stress. Therefore, coping involves your efforts to manage stress, which is illustrated in Figure 1.

Coping Defined

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) felt that when humans perceive a life circumstance as taxing and exceeding their resources, stress will be experienced, which we have already defined in the prior section as an overload of incoming information into a system. Therefore, coping involves persons’ efforts to manage stress, whether the process of dealing with stress is adaptive or not (Lazarus, 1993). When we talk about coping, we will need to consider the intensity of the stressor, the context of coping, and an individual’s appraisal of coping expectations.

Coping Types

Research on coping has usually found five types of coping styles (Clarke, 2006; Skinner, et al., 2003; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2005). These include the following: (1) problem-focused coping style involves addressing the problem situation by taking direct acting, planning or thinking of ways to solve the problem, (2) emotion-focused coping style involves expressing feelings or engaging in emotional release activities such as exercising or practicing meditation, (3) seeking-understanding coping style refers to finding understanding of the problem and looking for a meaning of the experience, and (4) seeking help involves using others as a resource to solve the problem. Finally, people might respond to stressors by (5) avoiding the problem and trying to stay away from the problem or potential solution to the problem.

Coping Strategies

Coping strategies are the choices that a person makes in order to respond to a stressor. A strategy can be adaptive (effective) or maladaptive (ineffective or harmful). The ideal adaptive coping strategy varies depending on the context, as well as the personality traits of the person responding. The coping strategies can be problem-solving or active strategies, emotional expression and regulation strategies, seeking understanding strategies, help or support-seeking strategies, and problem avoidance or distraction strategies.

Here is one example of an intervention strategy that shows how to effectively cope with daily and transitional stressors. The strategy is called Shift-and-Persist (Chen & Miller, 2012), and it requires individuals to first shift views of the problem. To shift, you need to (1) recognize and accept the presence of stress, (2) engage in emotional regulation and control negative emotions, and (3) practice self-distancing from the stressor to gain an outsider’s perspective of the stressful context. To persist, you would need to (1) plan for the future through goal setting, (2) recognize a broader perspective when obstacles arise, (3) determine what brings meaning to your life, and (4) become flexible to determine new pathways to goals. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association offer other coping strategies. Two more discussions on coping strategies are found in these two Ted Talk Videos here and here .

Table 1 below presents a list of coping strategies and is a summary of strategies reported in Clarke, 2006; Skinner, et al., 2003; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2005. Although completed lists are more extensive, this table presents styles reported across the three studies that presented similar types of responses.

To understand coping as a process, we need to understand people’s reaction to stress in context. This includes assessing whether the coping thoughts or actions are good or bad for that given challenge and given context. In addition, the process of coping includes the particular person, the particular encounters with the stressor, the time of the person’s reactions, and the outcome being examined. Practical Application 13.1 can help you examine your reaction to stress and understand your coping process .

Practical Application 13.1 Understanding Stress in Your Life

Think about an important stressful experience in your life:

What was stressful about it for you?
Was it a short-term or a long-term situation?
What thing did you do to cope with this experience?
What resources helped you cope with this stressful experience?
How did your experience affect you as a person?
What did you learn or how did you grow through this experience?

COPING AND CONTEXT

Community psychologists try to understand coping beyond individual perceptions and reactions to stress. In general, new coping models are looking into what the characteristics of people that will elicit a given coping style are. In addition, it is important to learn more about the effectiveness of different coping styles when used across different contexts (which includes the environment and nature of the stressors). A community psychologist is interested in understanding the contextual element that produces or reduces a given stressor, so they create interventions to help people cope with their stressors. Finding the best fitting coping strategy may improve people’s experiences and outcomes when confronted with challenging/stressful life transitions .

All people are exposed to transitions, with youth being even more likely (e.g., starting elementary/middle school, finishing high school, first job, etc.), and the experience of mastery of these situations might help school-age youth successfully cope with future transitions. The following Case Study 13.1 highlights how community psychologists might use preventive strategies to help youth deal with these types of natural stressors that they will encounter in life.

Case Study 13.1 Preparing Students for High School Graduation

Leonard Jason and Betty Burrows (1983) provided youth about to graduate from high school with practice crisis experiences to work through, so that they could generate successful outcomes for stressful situations. The youth were first informed that during times of transition, heightened levels of emotions are often experienced. These elevated levels of arousal can become maladaptive if experienced over a prolonged period of time. They then had a chance to practice techniques to effectively reduce excessive arousal or anxiety such as progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, or listening to quiet music. The youth were then given anxiety-promoting transitions to imagine. They were asked to try one of these strategies to alleviate the anxiety of this crisis situation.

The seniors also had a chance to discuss how personal beliefs and self-statements can affect one’s mood. When difficult transitions are encountered, irrational beliefs or negative self-statements might arise. An example of an irrational belief is that it is a necessity for us to be loved and approved by everyone we know. The seniors were provided with situations involving transitions to role-play. Within each of these scenes, one actor adopted an irrational belief; the other attempted to show a more rational way of thinking. Following each role-play, the participants had a chance to discuss how the adoption of a rational or irrational belief might affect their ability to successfully handle transitions. Following the role-plays, all the students discussed how effective the various coping strategies might have been in resolving transitional events.

This study found that seniors about to graduate from high school can profit from being provided a preventive intervention that prepares them for dealing with transitions. Here are some of the students’ comments: “You really helped me to really think out all my problems and how to answer them. Thanks!! …. It helped me to help other people who are in difficult situations.” “I think that problem solving is the most helpful to people at my age because we face problems every day.” “I feel that I have benefited from the sessions as I have gone through a lot as my mother has been divorced twice and is married for the third time and I just moved from a small town to a large city.”

But sometimes, crises occur, and then we need to find ways to deal with those situations. Case Study 13.2 will provide an example of helping individuals and communities with dealing with a natural disaster, Hurricane Maria.

Case Study 13.2 Coping with Hurricane Maria

On September 20th, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Watching the compounding difficulties over the course of that fall, Melissa Ponce-Rodas and a team of 20 members, four faculty, one alumna, 13 students, and two other staff members with backgrounds in undergraduate and graduate psychology, community and international development, and social work decided to spend their Spring break helping with the recovery. The ultimate goal of the mission was to “Accept, Talk, Heal,” providing mental health training in churches and communities to give those affected by the disaster the tools they needed to help them through the trauma of the aftereffect of the hurricane and to help them recover beyond the physical reconstruction of their community. This intervention was about more than cleaning up debris or restoring a school, it was about empowering a community to overcome trauma.

Prior to the intervention, the team contacted local church agencies and asked about their experiences and what was truly needed. This process of inquiry resulted in another group of people with expertise in the community to be invited into the collaborative process. The local collaborators included social workers, police officers, certified nursing assistants, staff from the four schools, church groups, and others who were directly affected by the natural disaster. It is not surprising that the team was quickly accepted and trusted by the community. Ponce-Rodas believes one contributor to this is her Puerto Rican heritage that helped bridge the intervention team to the community and facilitate connections between community members and those from the mainland.

Understanding the complexity of the coping process was one of the reasons Dr. Ponce-Rodas drew on her Community Psychology experience to partner with existing agencies on the island. Because so many community members had experienced symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder the intervention aimed at normalizing the emotional reactions affecting the individuals. The team reminded the community members participating in the intervention that the whole community was going through this and no one should feel isolated in their experience, and that it is normal to seek help from others when faced with adversity. The team emphasized this with the “Healing is a Process ” slogan, highlighting the dynamic nature of this concept.

The team also agreed that a strength-based approach fits this intervention well. To help combat the loss and desperation, the community participants were encouraged to turn to the strengths the community still had. The message across the island was “Puerto Rico Se Levanta” ( Puerto Rico Will Rise) . Many heroic stories of selflessness and self-sacrifices emphasized resilience in the wake of such massive destruction and highlighted the power and strength in the community. The community members also often commented on their faith, which meant that the team included faith in their intervention. The team firmly believed that the best way the community could get help was by understanding the community’s background, by recognizing the dynamic process of coping, by alleviating the stigma of help-seeking, by drawing on their own strengths, and by helping themselves.

Coping and Support

Coping can be aided by asking others for support to help overcome problems. Support-seeking strategies include seeking advice or information or direct assistance. Individuals who engage in these types of help-seeking strategies are more likely to obtain social support. Seeking help from relatives may prove to be successful, which might contribute to it becoming a frequently employed coping mechanism. Barker (2007) suggests that youth’s help-seeking behaviors set up the conditions to create a rich supportive network for them, and the feeling that there is available support. Case Study 13.3 illustrates how one can go about studying supports using multiple points of view.

Case Study 13.3 Support Seeking Behavior

Having at least one friend in a recovery home was found to be about the best predictor among residents of recovery homes of having a good outcome, which involves not using drugs or engaging in illegal activities. To better understand what seeking support might be about, several community psychologists used focus groups to better understand natural friendship and mentoring relationships. For example, participants were asked about how they determined who they would go to in the house for support, the type of support they received from housemates, and the characteristics that those individuals have. The findings from the focus groups had a theme of promoting social support within their recovery homes, as one female participant explained:

“When I come in this door and I’ve got something to talk about, I don’t care which of these girls is here, I’m just going to talk about it. And that’s because they play a positive mentor or role model in my life. I don’t have to pick out two or three or one to say who I want to talk to.”

Instrumental supports were often related to the ability of other house members to provide tangible support for residents. As one female participant described:

“I have not been employed . . . I’ve always been concerned about if my rent’s going to get paid on time. These sisters came together and told me if you can’t get your rent paid, we know what you’re doing and we know that you want to be here and they were willing to go into their own pockets to help me pay my rent.”

Focus-group themes indicated that men were also able to form supportive relationships within the recovery home settings, but not as quickly as the females (Lawlor et al., 2014).

Individuals who experience significant and chronic stressors are often referred to as being “ at-risk ” of something, whether it be poor school performance, problems with alcohol or drugs, or engaging in illegal activities. However, not all individuals “at risk” of negative outcomes end up struggling with the outcomes. Some people are able to avoid negative outcomes and even thrive despite the adversity they face. Why is it that some people are successful in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles?

This question was at the heart of early studies of resilience. Resilience is a dynamic process characterized by positive outcomes despite adversity or stress (Luthar et al.,2015). In other words, resilience refers to how people maintain, or in some cases develop, healthy and positive outcomes in spite of stressful situations. The study of resilience stemmed from researchers who began to notice that a subset of their participants, often children facing significant adversity, did well despite their difficult circumstances. For example, Garmezy (1974) studied children of parents with schizophrenia. Among this group of at-risk children, all were expected to struggle in various aspects of life and likely develop schizophrenia. But a subset of children exhibited surprisingly positive and adaptive behavioral patterns despite their level of risk. Another large-scale study recruited all of the children born on the island of Kauai, Hawaii (Werner, 1996). The original goal of the study was to assess the long-term consequences of stressful living environments (e.g., family discord, divorce, parental alcoholism, mental illness). Most of the children living in these stressful environments struggled academically and behaviorally. However, one-third of these “high-risk” children did not develop learning or behavioral problems; in fact, many of them thrived. Studies like these helped to shift our focus from a deficits-only approach to one more able to consider both deficits and strengths.

Resilient children were thought to have been invulnerable and able to weather any storm. Traits found to characterize resilience include high creativity, effectiveness, competence, and ability to relate well to others. Now, resilience is viewed as the interaction between the person and their environment, and given the right combination of individual and environmental supports, it might be possible for anyone to be resilient. From a Community Psychology perspective, research had found that these children are positively affected by their immediate and extended family networks and religious organizations (Wright et al., 2013).

“Resilience does not come from the rare and special qualities, but from the everyday magic or ordinary, normative human resources in … children, in their families and relationships, and in their communities.” (Masten, 2001, pp. 235)

So far, we have considered resilience as an individual construct. Individuals can be resilient to adversity. However, it is also possible to apply this idea of resilience to groups of people. Community resilience is the collective ability of a defined group of people to deal with change or adversity effectively (Aldrich & Meyer, 2015). When adversity, like a disaster, financial struggle, or war strikes a community, will the community as a whole be able to overcome and bounce back?

Resilient communities often have many characteristics in common. Communities that are resilient frequently have access to both resources and relationships that support resilient outcomes. An important element of community resilience includes members’ knowledge of their own community, both its weaknesses and strengths. In addition, resilient communities have strong community social networks in which people work together to achieve goals, with competent governance and leadership. Often there is also an economic investment, both before and after adversity strikes. Another important factor is individual, family, and government preparedness. And finally, resilient communities have positive attitudes and an acceptance of change (Patel et al., 2017). Both research and community work is now being done to help communities build these resources and relationships to protect against adversity.

Case Study 13.4 Promoting Community Resilience

From 2000 to 2010, poverty rates in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood in Chicago doubled. Consisting of 80% Latino residents, Belmont Cragin residents have experienced soaring poverty rates associated with the gentrification of nearby neighborhoods. In addition, many residents in the neighborhood experienced significant trauma when they were younger. These adverse childhood experiences include living in extreme poverty; suffering physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; being exposed to community violence; having a parent struggling with substance abuse, or many other potentially traumatic experiences. Having adverse childhood experiences can be detrimental to emotional and physical health, and individuals who have experienced them are more likely to experience additional negative emotional or behavioral outcomes. In recognition of the increasing poverty in the neighborhood and the trauma experienced by many residents, community leaders formed the Resilient Belmont Cragin Community Collaborative . Community Psychologists Suzette Fromm Reed and Judith Kent worked with Belmont Cragin leaders to help residents cope with adverse childhood experiences by facilitating trauma-informed programming at schools using mentoring, tutoring, and counseling to help at-risk youth stay on track. They also helped train police to de-escalate the conflict. The Resilient Belmont Cragin Community Collaborative utilized existing community resources and established partnerships with resources outside of the community to ensure collective healing and growth. It brought together members of the community, from schools, health care settings, businesses, police departments, families, faith leaders, and others, to help residents address these traumatic experiences and thrive. Programs like these exemplify community resilience and help individuals, and the community as a whole, grow and heal together.

The concept of posttraumatic growth is centuries old, but was introduced to the fields of psychology and psychiatry in 1995 (Tedeschi, Shakespeare-Finch, Taku, & Calhoun, 2018). Over several decades of research, Tedeschi et al. found that many individuals who suffer various types of trauma experience psychological growth. The term posttraumatic growth (PTG) is separate and distinct from resilience. People who are resilient tend to be relatively unaffected by the effects of trauma and tend to bounce back quickly when faced with adversity. The process and outcome of PTG is generally seen in people who struggle psychologically following the aftermath of their trauma. As individuals begin to reconstruct their beliefs about life, themselves, and others, they come to appreciate the fact that they have become stronger, developed a greater capacity for relating to others, experienced immense gratitude, acknowledge new possibilities, and experience spiritual and/or existential growth.

Acknowledging Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a possible outcome of trauma is important, however, being too deficit-focused can hide the fact that many trauma survivors also experience post-traumatic growth. The same difficult experiences that lead to PTSD set the stage for psychological growth and the development of new strengths. Those who have endured natural disasters, violence, motor vehicle accidents, and many other types of trauma in their communities also experience posttraumatic growth. After facing incredible adversity they go on to provide social support and help others learn to grow from their struggles as well (Tedeschi, Shakespeare-Finch, Taku, and Calhoun, 2018).

Posttraumatic growth is usually experienced without the help of psychologists or other mental health professionals. Just as the symptoms of PTSD are naturally occurring reactions to the dire threats of trauma, and often diminish without the help of psychiatric professionals, posttraumatic growth is a naturally occurring process of healing and growth in the aftermath of trauma. Both are natural responses of the mind and body to the injury of trauma. However, informal support from people who listen well, wish to learn about a trauma survivor’s experience and see the possibilities for growth can help people see a path toward posttraumatic growth. Furthermore, mutual-support groups and community-based intervention training are showing promise toward expanding the opportunities and recognition of PTG more broadly (Moore, Tedeschi & Greene, 2020).

There is a need to apply this type of work to help those from disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities who frequently experience chronic stressors. This might be done by promoting the use of multilevel and interdisciplinary work that meshes with Community Psychology’s values of promoting social justice, as indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason et al., 2019).

We all experience stress. However, we respond to this stress in different ways. Sometimes low levels of stress can actually be helpful as it could motivate you to study for an exam. Although the experience of stress is very subjective, stress elicits physiological, emotional, and cognitive reactions in us all. To deal with these stressors, we mobilize resources for coping with the problems confronting us. The success of our coping efforts will depend on ourselves as well as the environmental challenge. For example, most of us have the resources to deal with the stress of a thunderstorm, but we might really be challenged if we are confronted with a tornado that comes through our neighborhood. So there are different levels of stressors that we face. In this chapter, we examined the relationship between stressors and coping, and we reviewed the different coping styles and the relationship between individual and context and coping outcomes, including resilience. We hope that this review of stress has provided you with some new insights about how you might use a variety of coping strategies to deal with stress and to work toward the reduction of stress among others.

Critical Thought Questions

What are the most difficult stressors for you?
With these most difficult stressors, what are the best ways you have found to cope with them?
Are there people you go to when you are having problems at college? What are the ways they are helpful and what are the ways they might change to be even more helpful to you?

Take the Chapter 13 Quiz

View the Chapter 13 Lecture Slides

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Aldrich, D. P., & Meyer, M. A. (2015). Social capital and community resilience. American Behavioral Scientist , 59 (2), 254–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764214550299

Barker, G. (2007). Adolescents, social support and help-seeking behavior . An international literature review and programme consultation with recommendations for action . Instituto Promundo, Brazil.

Chen, E., & Miller, G. E. (2012). “Shift-and-Persist” strategies: Why low socioeconomic status isn’t always bad for health. Perspectives on Psychological Science , 7 (2), 135-158.

Clarke, A. T. (2006). Coping with interpersonal stress and psychosocial health among children and adolescents: A meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence , 35 (1), 11-24.

Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2005). Coping: Pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology , 55 , 745-774.

Garmezy, N. (1974). Children at risk: The search for the antecedents of schizophrenia. Part I. Conceptual model and research methods. Schizophrenia Bulletin , 1 (8), 14- 90.

Jason, L.A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/

Jason, L. A., & Burrows, B. (1983). Transition training for high school seniors. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 7 (1), 79-92.

Luthar, S. S., Crossman, E. J., & Small, P. J. (2015). Resilience and adversity. In R. M. Lerner, & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science (7th ed.) (pp. 247-286). Wiley.

Lawlor, J. A., Hunter, B. A., Jason. L. A., & Rosing, H. B. (2014). Natural mentoring in Oxford House recovery homes: A preliminary analysis. Journal of Groups in Addiction Recovery , 52 , 126–142.

Lazarus, R. S. (1993) Coping theory and research: Past, present, and future. Psychometric Medicine , 55 , 234-247.

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping . Springer.

Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist , 56 , 227-238.

Moore, B. A., Tedeschi, R. G., & Greene, T. C. (2020). A Preliminary Examination of a Posttraumatic Growth-Based Program for Veteran Mental Health. Practice Innovations . Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pri0000136

Patel, S. S., Rogers, M. B., Amlôt, R., & Rubin, G. J. (2017). What do we mean by ‘community resilience’? A systematic literature review of how it is defined in the literature. PLoS currents , 9 , ecurrents.dis.db775aff25efc5ac4f0660ad9c9f7db2.

Wright M. O., Masten A. S., & Narayan A. J. (2013). Resilience processes in development: Four waves of research on positive adaptation in the context of adversity. In S. Goldstein, & R. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of resilience in children . Springer.

Skinner E. A., Edge, K., Altman, J., & Sherwood, H. (2003). Searching for the structure of coping: A Review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological Bulletin , 129 (2), 216-269.

Tedeschi, R. G., Shakespeare-Finch, J., Taku, K., & Calhoun, L.G. (2018). Posttraumatic growth: Theory, research, and applications. New York: Routledge.

Werner, E. E. (1996). How children become resilient: Observations and causations. Resiliency in Action , 1 (1), 18-28.

The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events that we appraise as threatening or challenging.

An ideal “set point” that depends on the person and context. The homeostatic process is a tendency toward a relative equilibrium between independent processes.

The “wear and tear” on the body when stress response is triggered too often and/or remains hyperactive too long.

Observable stressful events that are time-limited.

Persistent demands on an individual; typically open-ended, using up our resources in coping but not promising resolution.

The personality dispositions or traits that transcend the influence of the situational context and time when choosing coping strategies (Lazarus, 1993).

When the individuals respond with cognitive and behavioral efforts at managing or altering the problem causing distress.

When an individual responds with efforts to manage the emotional response to a stressful event by focusing directly on it in a constructive way.

When an individual responds by finding meaning and understanding, not seeking to put a positive interpretation on the problem, but to learn.

When an individual responds by using other people as a resource to assist in finding a solution, understand the problem, or express feelings of distress related to the problem.

Involves avoidant actions and cognitive avoidance, these strategies attempt to manage emotions by trying to avoid thinking about the stressor.

Refers to the effectiveness of a given coping response within a given context and for a given challenge or problem that the individual experiences as stressful.

A strategy for adapting to stress that requires individuals to first shift their views of the problem and themselves within the context of the problem/stressors.

Ongoing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage external or internal demands/problems/challenges perceived by the individual as stressful. The process for coping is influenced by the context where the demand arises, the time the stressors last, and how long before one responds.

Refer to approaches that explain the processes of how an individual handles a stressor(s). An individual’s coping model will be determined by cultural, social, and personality characteristics of people and will elicit a given set of coping strategies.

Strategies for coping with stress, which include seeking advice or information, or direct assistance from others.

Individuals who experience significant and chronic stressor events and are at-risk for developing associate physiological (e.g., cardiovascular complications) and psychological (e.g., anxiety, depression) symptoms.

A dynamic process characterized by positive outcomes despite adversity or stress.

The collective ability of a defined group of people or geographic area to deal with change or adversity effectively.

Introduction to Community Psychology Copyright © 2019 by Luciano Berardi; Olya Glantsman; and Christopher R. Whipple is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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COVID-19: Stress and Anxiety

[Additional essays and videocasts regarding psychological ramifications of the COVID-19 virus outbreak can be found at: https://communitiescollaborating.com/[

The COVID-19 virus knows all about the human psyche. The virus is aware that we experience stress and become anxious when we keep a distance from other people and are forced to isolate ourselves from direct, physical contact with the people we love and cherish. Under conditons of stress and as we become more anxious, our vulnerability also increases — leaving us even more anxious. A vicious cycle . . . and a cycle that we need to stop!!

This essay includes material prepared by members of the Global Psychology Task Force–a group of experienced professional psychologists from around the world who have come together to address the psychological ramifications of the COVID-19 virus. They have prepared a website (www.communities collaborating.com) that incorporates essays, video clips and links to other references that address these ramifications. This essay is derived from the content of this website.

Stress Ruts, Lions and Lumens

We start with a brief video presentation by Dr. William Bergquist, a member of the Global Psychology Task Force. He has titled his presentation: “Stress Ruts, Lions and Lumens in the Age of the Pandemic”:

Reducing the Stress and Anxiety

This essay concerns the way to reduce the stress and anxiety. In addressing this psychological dynamic we turn to both the anxiety aroused by those who have tested positive for the virus and those who have not been tested or have been tested and are negative but still worry about the physical and psychological health of other people in their life, as well as their own economic health and the economic and societal health of their community and country.

https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/3/21/21188362/manage-anxiety-pandemic

We turn now to someone who have been infected by COVID-19

Managing the Anxiety as Someone Who Has Been Infected

The anxiety associated with any major illness is quite understandable and is not in any way a sign of weakness. There are many ways in which to address this anxiety–such as looking to loved ones for support (even if they can’t be physically present), reducing other sources of stress in one’s life, identifying daily plans for dealing with the virus–and most importantly taking actions that enable you to feel less powerless and victimized.

It is perhaps best to turn from these general recommendations to the insights offered by someone who has been infected and struggled for a lengthy period of time with the infestation and related fever and isolation. This person is Dr. Suzanne Brennen-Nathan, one or our Global Psychology Task Force members. Suzanne is a highly experienced psychotherapist who has specialized in the treatment of trauma in her clinical practice. Who better to reflect on the illness and offer recommendations then someone “who has been there” and has expertise in the traumatizing impact of a major illness like COVID-19. Suzanne has been interviewed by Dr. William Bergquist, another member of the Task Force:

Managing the Anxiety as Someone Who Hasn’t Been Tested or Is Negative But Still Fearful

What about those of us who have not tested positive for COVID-19 or have not been tested at all. At the heart of the matter in facing the challenges associated with the COVID-19 virus — whether these challenges be financial, vocational or family related–is the stress that inevitably is induced when we think about, feel about and take action about the virus’ threatening nature.

We therefore begin this statement about action to be taken with an excellent presentation by one of our task force members, Christy Lewis:

To begin a cross-cultural reflection on the psychological ramifications of the COVID-19 virus, we offer an essay on the way in which one of our Task Force members, Eliza Wong, Psy.D., works with highly anxious clients in her home country: Singapore.

Dealing with Anxiety during COVID-19 in Singapore

We hope these perspectives on stress and anxiety in the age of the COVID-19 virus invasion provides some guidance for you in better understanding the psychological impact of the virus and identifying actions you can take to help ameliorate this impact.

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Essay on stress: top 7 essays | human behaviour | psychology.

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Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Stress’ for class 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Stress’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Stress

Essay Contents:

Essay on Stress Research

Essay # 1. Introduction to Stress:

Lewis Mumford in his classical book “ The Transformation of Man” observes that if one were to go by the theory of evolution we find that up to the level of the human being, the evolution has been “autoplastic”, i.e. to deal with the problems of survival, the organism has been changing itself, from unicellular to multicellular, from the invertebrate to vertebrate, etc. But at the human level, change has been “alloplastic”.

The basic human nature of the noblest and greatest of human beings today is no different biologically from that of the early savage. The evolution at the human level has been social, and this through an environment which the human being has been changing and manipulating through his own actions.

This means, the emergent problems of stress and anxiety faced by modern man is essentially an offspring of the environment he has created. Man is helpless in confronting his own mischief. We can certainly make an allusion to the story of Mohini and Bhasmasura (the teacher may explain this episode in the class).

The effect of all these is, to lead an individual to certain psychological consequences. The 20th century, in spite of all its scientific and materialistic advances has been described as an ‘age of anxiety’.

Karen Homey is of the opinion that modern society necessarily generates what you call ‘basic anxiety’ and very few are free from it, and in order to overcome this anxiety certain neurotic trends like restlessness, loneliness, aggressiveness, helplessness, compulsiveness and radicalism, etc. develop. This seems to be a new form of religion.

In the past few years, a concept has emerged in behavioural science research and also physiological research to understand and evolve ways and means of dealing with this state of human existence. Psychologists, physiologists and medical scientists and many others have found that the term ‘stress’ can be borrowed from physics to explain many of the symptoms described above.

It has been shown that rapid socio-cultural changes, ecological changes, certain psychological factors, lifestyles, all contribute to the stress. We may examine in brief the concept of stress, its nature and consequences.

M. Franken Heuser observes, “life in contemporary society is less stressful (physically) than that of any previous generation. Our age however has its own problems, many of them psychological or social in nature. Today we need not be starved in cold or physically exhausted for stress to occur (as in the earlier times). Life in technologically advanced societies imposes new demands on the same bodily resources that helped our ancestors to survive, for making them fight or flee”.

David Hamburg, leading medical scientist observes “our species has moved rapidly to take advantage of the technological opportunities and their concomitant material benefits, to undertake patterns of behaviour which are at times achieved only at high costs in terms of psycho-biology” . These problems ultimately result in ‘stress’.

Essay # 2. Sources of Stress:

Stress can be caused by many factors in the life of an individual, spread over years. It comes to be felt only if it exceeds a certain critical intensity.

Some of the factors which can contribute to the accumulation of stress are as follows:

(i) Frustration :

Repeated failures in our attempts to achieve certain goals can contribute to stress. This type of repeated failure leads to frustration. Frustration involves the blocking or thwarting of our needs. Frustration again, can be mild and temporary or severe, prolonged and cumulative, resulting in stress.

Lack of opportunities, delays, discriminatory treatment, lack of resources, etc. are some of the common factors involved in frustration. Anyone who has had some work to be done with a government office would have certainly experienced frustration because of delay, silly objections, callousness and utter irresponsibility of the system. Similarly, personal limitations like physical limitations, repeated failures, etc. can also cause frustration.

Chandler, Fidler, Southgate and many others have pointed out how loneliness, actual or psychological, can result in frustration. In modern society, many people feel alienated. The brazen and shameless attempts by some to acquire positions of power, material wealth, etc., may definitely alienate the people and make it difficult for them to live a wholesome and meaningful life.

It is here we see a paradoxical situation. Many of those who are ‘go getters’, believe that “ends justify means” and are materially successful, but at the same time find themselves equally unhappy or worse than those who do not subscribe to mercenary ways of life.

In fact, it has been found that stress-related symptoms like, diabetes, hypertension and ulcers are much more common among those who apparently succeed by pushing and driving themselves to achieve “success”. The pressure to go after success endlessly, ultimately results in stress which manifests itself in various forms.

(ii) Conflicts :

All of us experience conflicts, ‘to do something or not to do’. Conflicts can be of different types. In modern life, almost every point of decision-making in one’s life tends to create conflicts, like choice of a job, educational, choice of a spouse; choice, in fact any choice situation poses a problem.

Conflicts have been described as approach-approach type, avoidance- avoidance type, and approach-avoidance type. But whatever be the nature of the conflict, it necessarily generates stress resulting in considerable amount of discomfort, restlessness, etc.

(iii) Pressure :

Contemporary society puts a lot of pressure on the individual. It is often very difficult to enjoy solitude. There is competition everywhere, for education, for job position and almost anything. There is a premium on success at any cost, and by and large success is measured in terms of possessions and positions.

We have to prove to be the fittest to survive (Darwin must be chuckling in his grave; whether his theme is scientific or not, it has proved prophetic). Today there is struggle for ‘moving up’ and the pity is, there is a struggle not only for real success but for imaginary success. The human being has become a victim of his own perverse value system.

Here, a problem arises as to who is the fittest. The Darwinian theory, simply and logically, based the ‘concept of fitness’ on the physical capacity of the organism to endure deprivation and possibly even competition. But, in our society, often it happens the other way.

Today “those who are successful are deemed to be the fittest, while according to Darwin, it would have been the other way. Instances are not wanting where a person who has been looked down as useless and good for nothing, if he somehow becomes successful is perceived and judged to be very capable and competitive. The same people who condemned him earlier very often can be heard saying I knew even then that he had some talent”.

Thus, with so much premium laid on competitive success, we notice a tendency for people to set for themselves unrealistic goals. The result is failure, leading to frustration, and ultimately emerging stress.

The fact that today’s society compels individuals to adapt and change their behaviour, whether it is really necessary or not, keeps an individual under pressure. This type of pressure operates in almost every walk of life. Every individual is expected to keep pace with this pressure which seriously affects what Toffler described as ‘adaptive circuits’. Similarly, inter-personal relationships can also produce stress.

The need to keep up appearances, the variations in the degree and type of inter-personal relations, all complicate life. You are expected to smile and be nice to a person whom you don’t like and who in your opinion is a despicable specimen.

In addition to the quality of relationship, the mere failure of interpersonal relationships makes a very high demand. In the traditional societies relationships were limited but stable. Unfortunately this is not the case in today’s society. The closest relationship can break for no reason.

Essay # 3. Causes of Stress:

The Stress results from a number of factors and can be definitely harmful to the individual. The effect of this harm can vary in form, degree and content. Stress is related to environmental factors or events of a personal nature like loss of a job, loss of a dear one, the fear of financial losses, or a series of crises etc.

Such factors which contribute to stress are described as stressors. These then create a need for the individual to change his habits, behaviour, attitudes, etc., which in turn enhance the stress. Thus, there appears to be a vicious circle-problems demand for change ineffective change increase in stress, and finally one reaches a stage where there can be a complete psychological breakdown.

It is not only the actual occurrence of an event, loss or failure, but even the perceived possibility of such an event can cause stress. For example, whenever our government proclaims that it wants to enforce austerity (often it is only a pretension), people are afraid of losing their jobs or blocking of promotions or future unemployment of their children.

Similarly, automation is perceived as likely to result in a loss of jobs or even reduced employment. Even today, there are many examples in our country, where people resist changes in organizations out of fear. The opposition to the move towards privatisation is an example of such anticipatory reaction.

A third set of factors relates not to situations as such, but to how people react and respond to this actual stress or anticipated stress. People differ in their reactions to the stress. Some react more intensely. Others seem to overcome the stress and a third set of people do not appear to be bothered at all.

It is here that we get into trouble. The onset and effects of stress are imperceptible, not visible and perhaps not consciously experienced by the person himself. At the other end there are people whose adjustment processes collapse and the effects are visible.

But even if the presence of stress is imperceptible, it can certainly affect the basic physiological processes and when sufficient amount of stress accumulates, can result in a breakdown, psycho-physiological disturbances, or defensive behaviour like withdrawal, rationalisation, conformity, etc.

Of course, there are individuals who are able to react to stress positively and effectively and in such cases stress turns out to be an advantage and brings out the best in the person. This possibility depends on how mild or severe the stress is and also what type of a person the individual is.

In view of this it has often been argued that a very mild degree of stress is in fact helpful and has motivating effect, but one does not know where the grey area is and at what point constructive stress can turn into destructive stress.

Essay # 4. Effects of Stress :

Stress affects the organism as a totality, even though the stressor may be located in any particular segment of his life space. For example, if the stress is related to the work situation it does not cease at 5.00 PM when the individual leaves the work spot. It continues to affect him even when he goes back home.

The effects of stress are general and diffused. Similarly, stressing situations of personal life can affect behaviour in the work situation, social interactions or for that matter in any situation.

Stress, then, is essentially a sort of pressure of a psychophysiological nature arising and accumulating as a result of environmental factors or as a result of an interaction between environmental factors and behavioural styles, necessitating varying degrees of behavioural changes cognitive, conative and affective.

The effect of this is to weigh the individual down and this manifests itself in various forms ranging from simple restlessness at one end to severe psychological breakdown at the other. Stress is very often caused by not just the intensity of the stressors but by our own reaction tendencies, emotions, desires, prejudices, etc. Incidentally stress can also be contagious.

Others can gift away their stress to us and the reverse is also possible. For example, during examination times it is often seen that if the child is under stress because of the competitive nature of the examination the parents also experience stress and almost become panicky. This is like the man experiencing labor pains when the woman is delivering a baby. Stress involves psychological, social, biological and physical factors and in most instances all operate together.

All of us experience stress of varying degrees of intensity. Of course, in most cases mild stress is overcome by learning new coping behaviour which not only helps us to overcome a present set of stress but also equips us to be in a position to face future stress. But, there are others who are not able to achieve this.

There are wide individual differences in the capacity for stress tolerance, and the ways in which people react to stress. Thus both acquisition of stress and the manner of reaction to it are the results of the type of socialisation and lifestyle of the individual.

Essay # 5. Factors Affecting Stress:

The term stress has been used by psychologists with varying meanings. An idea of the wide range of definitions can be had if one goes through the reviews by Janis and Levinthal, Apply & Trumble, Lazarus. Scots defines stress as a “situation in which adjustment is difficult or impossible but in which motivation is very strong”.

The emotional and psychological state resulting out of such a situation will be stress. This definition appears to be a more or less reasonable one, for anyone to begin a discussion on the problem of stress.

Some of the factors associated with experience of stress are physical changes, isolation, solitude, crowding, noise, lack of privacy, monotony and personality incompatibility. Very often these factors act in combination and rarely do we find that a single factor can account for all the stress.

It has been shown that continuous exposure to the situations can result in a high degree of stress, which in turn can have a lot of effects on performance and also debilitate the individual. There is some evidence, of course, to show that occasionally, a mild degree of stress can really augment and facilitate performance. Investigators have pointed, to an inverted U relationship, between the amount of stress and performance.

While there has been success in attempts at predicting individual reactions to stress, by and large there has not been much of a success achieved in predicting stress behaviour in general terms. Laboratory studies and field studies have often shown trends of results which differ from each other.

Laboratory simulations of stress, confinement and isolation, have been difficult to complete because of high emotional tension in performance and profound inter-personal conflicts. Field researches on the other hand, as in the armed forces, have noticed success in overcoming combat stress in exploration groups, paratroops landing etc. Thus, lab situations often result in wrong predictions and sometimes gross under-estimation of stress-tolerance.

Noise has been found to be one of the most severe stressors. A few studies on children have shown that children from noisy homes suffer from attention difficulties and consequently poor school performance. Noisy schools can also lead to health problems in children and in adults, high blood pressure, lower-tolerance level, reduction in auditory skills, etc.

Memory about contents of social situations in pictures viewed under conditions of noise are also affected. Mathews & Canney have shown that noise is such a stressor that it can adversely affect even helping behaviour. When we are under noisy conditions, we are inclined to be less helpful.

Heat is another factor which has been studied as a stressor. A commission, appointed to look into the 1960 riots in U.S.A., (Kemer Commission) noted that high temperature was related with extensity and intensity of the riots. A number of other researches have also found supporting evidence.

Personality Factors:

There are certain psychological or personality factors which contribute to stress proneness. Individuals differ in many aspects of behaviour and their ability to tolerate stress and reacting to the same are also related to personal factors.

Basic temperamental factors, previous experience, perceived extent of one’s control over the situation, all are important factors in shaping the individual’s reaction to stress. Friedmen & Rosennan have identified two types of personalities, Type A and Type B, the former always in a hurry and thus flaying with speed and restless.

He shows a tendency to crowd activities, or do many things at the same time. He is competitive, anxious, and always on the move. He is the typical hard driving achievement-oriented individual. Many such people experience more stress, often manifested in the form of cardio-vascular problems.

The Type-B is characterised by relaxed behaviour, cautious and tolerant. These types of individuals do not drive themselves nor drive others too much. They plan their activities and have higher degree of stress-tolerance. Researchers have shown that there is a fairly high degree of association between Type-A characteristics and proneness to accumulate stress and also being unable to deal with it effectively.

All these factors, like frustration, conflict, pressure and personality and stylistic factors provide a fertile soil for stress to develop and grow, in addition to external demands. The problem of stress experience is lessened if the individual has control over the situation and also control over himself.

A sense of helplessness increases the severity of the stress. It has been noticed interestingly, that there are instances, where actual stressing factors are not essential, but the individual’s anticipation of the same is enough. Similarly, it is not necessary that an individual should have the actual ability to control outside and inside factors of stress.

The perceived ability and confidence on the part of the individual about his ability to deal with the problems of stress is much more important. Thus, people with ‘internal locus of control’ look into themselves, are reflective, and are not simply swayed by the environment. They are found to have a greater ability for stress tolerance as observed by Bandura, Geer Davison & Gotchel.

The above discussion of stress as an interesting component of human life has helped to point out a number of factors; social, and psychological involved in the experience of stress. It is obvious then that an individual’s attitudes and values play an important role.

Similarly, an individual’s lifestyle or “reaction type” to the environment is also very crucial. The social psychologist can find very few problems to claim his attention which are more important than stress. He should be able to identify the various internal and external characteristics, which contribute to the onset and increase of stress.

Similarly, he can also think of suggesting necessary social support systems for those who are likely to be stress prone. It was seen that very often loneliness is critically associated with stress.

The social psychologist can work out ways and means to develop systems and institutions which will provide the necessary social support which, traditionally, the home and the school and religion were providing. However, one hopes that in the process he does not increase the stress of others, but also his own.

Today these institutions appear to have become ineffective. Franken Hauser has the following to say:

“When assessing the potential of psychology in promoting human health and welfare it is important to remember that people today have a much better chance than earlier generations, of shaping their own environment to suit human needs. Technology provides a tool and the task now is to devise application of new technology so that they can contribute to the realisation of social and human goals. What has been observed above is that it is mainly the shaping and consolidation of proper attitudes and values that is probably the most important requirement, and this certainly is the domain of the social psychologist. He cannot disown it and others cannot appropriate this responsibility to themselves”.

Essay # 6. Manifestations of Stress :

Stress often operates without being noticed. Every person has a certain capacity to tolerate stress. But if the stress goes on accumulating, slowly certain symptoms begin to appear.

Some of the common manifestations of stress are as follows:

It may appear as restlessness, increased anxiety and gradual decrease in efficiency. The individual after sometime really gives the appearance of being under tension.

Slowly symptoms of respiratory problems, cardio-vascular problems, ulcers, skin problems, etc., begin to appear; insomnia, decreased activity level, loss of efficiency, decreased ability to concentrate and increased irritability are also some possible manifestations. Often multiple symptoms can be evident.

Coleman observes that stress need not always be unpleasant and result in negative consequence; the instances where stress results in negative consequences are referred to as ‘distress’. On the other hand in certain instances other forms of stress can stimulate a person to become more efficient, more creative and active. This type of stress is known as Eustress.

The reader will certainly appreciate that, while the latter category of stress is welcome; the former is not. In fact, we may even say that very mild form of stress is often found to be congenial to more adaptive behaviour. But this type of stress is much less frequent than negative stress. Only people with very high degrees of ‘stress tolerance’ are likely to derive benefit out of Eustress.

Essay # 7. Stress Research:

Stress research has been carried out mainly along two lines. The first line takes a physiological approach because there certainly are physiological factors in the causation of stress. Some of the earliest experiments in this area were earned out by Selye. Selye observed that animals exhibited a generalized system of response to all threatening situations in addition to specific symptoms.

There is a General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) which includes the following:

(a) A system of signalling or alarm which arises and prepares the body to resist stress.

(b) The stage of resistance, wherein the body tries to cope with the stress.

When these operations in a cyclic form are repeated very often the organism reaches a third stage of exhaustion, and greater vulnerability to diseases. The work of Selye has very much influenced the nature and direction of research efforts to understand the problem of external stress and there is now a general consensus that attempts to cope with the stress can themselves contribute to stress as observed by Avens; Anderson & Tennent; Sklar & Anesmin.

Behavioural or psychological understanding of stress depends on how we define and approach the problem. We may take the approach that stress is a kind of demand or disturbance which appears capable of testing an individual’s abilities to adapt to various situations. Thus, we may look at stress as a potential threat to adaptability, readjustment, etc., and forcing the organism to seek re-adaptation.

Our adaptation to stress very much depends on how we estimate the severity of the stress. This primary appraisal should also include an assessment of our own resources to deal with them. It is the latter part which is sometimes called secondary appraisal.

However, our assessment of a stress situation is influenced by a number of factors including physical environment and social environment, our own past experience, values, motive, goals, etc. In general, researches have suggested a few models of stress. Perhaps a brief look at these models will be of interest.

(1) Arousal Model :

This model focuses on the intensity of the stimulation which arouses a stressful situation, both psychological and physiological in the individual. Thus, extreme temperature, noise, etc. can straightaway result in stress. The other models, however, focus on the adequacy or inadequacy of the individual’s coping mechanism or his resources.

(2) Information Overload Model :

The model lays emphasis on the fact that in contemporary society there is too much of information which an individual is not able to absorb. The only way of coping under this model is by eliminating or blocking out a certain part of the stimulation.

Milgram argues that the coldness of the modern urban individual is very much a result of this tendency to avoid stress by filtering out, evading or even eluding certain stimulation. This may have its consequences on his interpersonal relationships. When he needs emotional support he may not get it.

(3) Congruence Model :

The argument here is that stress occurs when we are in some way thwarted by the environment and unable to adjust in such a way that our goals will not be thwarted. For example, if there is too much crowd on the street, drivers may not be able to reach their destination fast. Too many telephone calls, may not permit you to do your work. This model has been proposed by Stohals.

Stress Research in India:

The nature of stress and its effects certainly appears to have been known to ancient India. The various prescriptions of how to live, what to do and what not to do, the intricate details about styles of lives, what to eat what not to eat, what to hear and what not to hear, what to see and what not to see and also the elaborate working out of Yagnas, Yogic exercises, etc. stand as eloquent evidence to the fact that the ancient Indian thinkers had a fairly in-depth knowledge of the phenomenon of stress, its adverse effects and also the methods of coping with stress.

The doctrine of the three gunas, Satva, Rajas and Tamas as also the elaborate enunciation of the doctrine of humour (body hormones). Kapha, Pitha and Vata (dhatus) are all strong indicators of the pre-occupation of ancient Indian science with the phenomenon of stress, understanding its aetiological factors including personality and temperamental factors.

Ramachandra Rao traces the concept of stress to the Sankhya and Yoga systems of philosophy. He draws our attention to the two terms Klesa and Dhukha, whose meanings appear to bear a considerable amount of resemblance to the present day description of stress.

Ancient Indian texts also have made references to three types of stress, personal stress (Adhyatmika), situational stress (Adhibhautika) and environmental stress (Adhidivika).

We can see here an anticipation of what we to-day call indigenous personal factors in stress, situational or episodic factors in stress and finally ecological environmental factors. Ancient Indian theory had also mentioned a number of mechanisms of coping with stress and understanding the same.

It was ultimately realised that in the last analysis it is the individual who should help himself by organising his way of life. The fact that in describing various stages of life (Ashramas), prescribing specific duties and also the very insightful emphasis on gradual withdrawal and disengagement from active life and taking to introspection, spiritual pre-occupation and learning to live by oneself, all this is a very eloquent reflection of the depth of knowledge the ancient Indians had, about the origins, effects and manifestations of stress and related phenomena and also the means of dealing with them.

But as is usual the thread of research and analysis of stress by ancient Indian thinkers was lost sight of. But during the past decade, there has been a re-awakening of interest in re-discovering what ancient Indian thinkers and scientists had to say on this problem.

It is only hoped that this is a genuine attempt at rediscovery and not pseudo patriotic revivalism. An attempt is made here to provide the reader with some idea of the researches and studies which are being undertaken in India in the field of stress including attempts to understand ancient Indian efforts to deal with the problem of stress.

Studies Relating to Physical and Psycho-Physiological Disorders:

A very active area of stress research in India relates to the role played by stress in the onset of different types of physical disorders like coronary disorders, (myocardial infarction,) cancer and depression. This line of research on the role of stress and personality factors associated with stress proneness appears to be the most active and productive.

This line of research has brought together medical scientists, physiologists and psychologists. Some of the studies that can be mentioned in this regard are those of : Ashok Kumar al; Bhargava, S.C. et al, Bhaskar Naidu & Venkat Ramaiah; Khorana, S; Rama Rao M.V., .et al; Katiyar M. et al; Shanmugam T.E.; Srivastava S et al; and Venkob Rao. The studies relate to life events, which are stress producing.

Another line of investigation has been devoted to the identification of the various factors and events and experiences in life that can pre-dispose an individual to develop stress.

Some studies along these lines are those of Singh, S.P. et al Venkob Rao & Nammalvar; Bhaskar Naidu; Venkat Ramaiah; Harim Kumar & Indira, R. Chatopadyay RK. & Das, M. It may thus be seen that the second line of investigations concerned with life experiences associated with stress and also their relationship to certain types of disorders, like depression, is also fairly rigorous and active.

Other Lines of Research:

Another set of investigations has been involved in devising and standardizing different types of tools for assessing the amount of stress and also related personality dimensions like those of Gurumeeth Singh et al, and Singh, G. et al. Some of the other areas of research are stress in organisations, and different kinds of employment as seen in the studies of Rama Murthy et al. Sharma & Sharma and Srivastava, A.K.

It may thus be seen that the research and study of stress, and its various aspects including causes, role in various disturbances, measurement problems and addictions are the few areas where Indian scientists have been taking interest.

Incidentally it may also be noted that a vast majority of these studies have been carried out in the post-1980 period indicating that stress research in India is of recent origin and is bound to gather more momentum.

Recently the author had the opportunity of looking into an unpublished piece of research which has attempted to relate stress experience to personality factors, conceptualized on the basis of ancient Indian ideas spelt out in the Sankhya philosophy and elaborated much more in the Bhagavad-Gita.

It is hoped that stress research in India will very soon expand to investigate the role of social and socio-psychological and present day cultural factors in the genesis of stress and also mechanisms which appear to be emerging for coping with stress.

Attribution Mode :

The concept of ‘attribution’ has also been employed to understand the phenomenon of crowding. Crowding results in a limitation of one’s ‘personal space’, ‘loss of control’ and other negative processes.

These become operative and explosive but only if the person concerned who is experiencing the above conditions tries to attribute them to some other source, human or otherwise. According to Worchell, crowding as a state thus results from attribution of personal discomfort to external agencies.

The focus of the person’s attention very often shifts under conditions of high density and the nature, and this kind of shift to a considerable extent, influences the nature and intensity of the negative effects of ‘felt crowding’. Worchell, Brown & Webb stated that the individual will experience stress only if he attributes it to the density and not otherwise.

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Take Control of Your Stress and Burnout

To beat burnout and reduce stress, you must make a plan..

Posted August 7, 2024 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer

What Is Stress?
Take our Burnout Test
Find counselling to overcome stress
Burnout is an unmitigated chronic stress induced condition.
Stress and burnout do not go away on their own.
To eliminate stress and burnout you must take control and make plans.
The plan and process do not have to be complicated.

I have written quite a few posts for Psychology Today about stress and burnout ( See my posts ). I am frequently asked what is the single most important action I can take to address burnout and its underlying stressors. Although stress reactivity is tremendously complicated, involving intricate neurotransmitter, hormone , and immune system interactions, coupled with psychological underpinnings such as developmental issues, schemas, perception, prior operant conditioning , habituated patterns, neural pathways, and memory storage and retrieval, the answer to the question is quite simple: Actively take control of your stress that causes burnout!

Burnout is caused by longitudinal, unmitigated, chronic stress (Comer, 2020). Mitigating it requires a unique plan: You must manage it. Stress and burnout do not vanquish on their own. In fact, chronic stress is well reported to lead to many pathologies, both physiologically and psychologically (Comer, 2020).

When does the stressor occur?

To create a successful plan, you must first think about the underlying causal factors leading to chronic stress-induced burnout from three temporal aspects: proactive, concurrent, and retroactive (see Figure 1).

Proactive — this entails taking steps to prevent stress from ever occurring.

Concurrent — this means learning to handle stress when it actually occurs, in the moment.

Retroactive — this involves evaluating your stress after it has occurred and defining ways to address and release it.

Considering these three time-based aspects of stress can be helpful for learning more about your unique stressors.

For example, my doctoral dissertation was on post traumatic stress in veterans (Comer, 2020). A veteran may have been diagnosed with PTS, which is the retroactive component of stress — that is, the trauma producing stressors have already occurred and plans to address them must be retroactively applied to reduce the symptoms of an event that cannot be changed. This is by far the most difficult way to deal with stress.

On the other hand an active duty service member may be going through actual combat in the moment. This requires concurrent stress management — using techniques to mitigate the active occurrence to stress reactivity to be able to continue functioning optimally (i.e., not succumbing to flight or fright psychophysiolocial responses, which can prove devastating during actual emergent stressors).

Finally, when a young man or woman enters military service, there is a tremendous opportunity to train the person in advance of ever entering combat so that he/she is prepared to handle stress more effectively when is occurs. This is a proactive plan and is what most military training is based on. It is by far the best time to deal with stress because it has not yet even occurred.

These concepts do not have to be in the sole purview of military operations. They can be applied to any aspect of your life where stressors are present.

The second step is making a plan

Once you have determined when the stressor will occur, is occurring, or has occurred, you can think about creating your strategy for dealing with it. An easy and effective method is to Identify, Prepare, Execute, and Review (see figure 2).

Identify — Identify the stressor that leads to dysregulated behavior. For example, perhaps you struggle with a rude co-worker who frequently upsets you. Simply identifying and acknowledging the stressor can be therapeutic itself.

Prepare — this is when you plan specific actions to mitigate the effects of the stressor. In this case, how can you take steps to address the rudeness of the co-worker? For example, you can walk the other way when you see the person, or tell the person that you are busy working on a project, or maybe you want to address the person's rudeness directly and explain how it makes you feel.

The options are endless. But the key is that you are taking active control of what you can — building upon the concept of an internal locus of control .

Execute — the best laid plans are completely useless if you do not implement them. Take your action plan and apply it the next time the stressor presents itself. This furthers your sense of control and active engagement.

Revise — finally, review your action(s) and determine the level of effectiveness. Make revisions as necessary.

By following this simple process, you will find relief just from the fact that you are trying to exercise control of your stress. Hopefully, you will also find an action that works! And make sure that you positively reinforce yourself by acknowledging the fact that you took action to improve a difficult situation and did not allow stressors causing chronic stress and burnout to roll over you.

Comer, W.J. (2020). Mindfulness-based treatments for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: A systematic literature review. Doctoral Dissertation. California Southern University, Costa Mesa, CA

Jeff Comer, Psy.D., is a hospital-CEO-turned-psychologist who writes about the neurochemical components of stress and burnout.

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How stress affects your health

Stress can be brief, situational, and a positive force motivating performance, but if experienced over an extended period of time it can become chronic stress, which negatively impacts health and well-being.

Chronic Illness

Stress : We’ve all felt it. Sometimes stress can be a positive force, motivating you to perform well at your piano recital or job interview. But often—like when you’re stuck in traffic—it’s a negative force. If you experience stress over a prolonged period of time, it could become chronic—unless you take action.

A natural reaction

Have you ever found yourself with sweaty hands on a first date or felt your heart pound during a scary movie? Then you know you can feel stress in both your mind and body.

This automatic response developed in our ancient ancestors as a way to protect them from predators and other threats. Faced with danger, the body kicks into gear, flooding the body with stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol that elevate your heart rate, increase your blood pressure, boost your energy, and prepare you to deal with the problem.

These days, you’re not likely to face the threat of being eaten. But you probably do confront multiple challenges every day, such as meeting deadlines, paying bills, and juggling childcare that make your body react the same way. As a result, your body’s natural alarm system—the “fight or flight” response—may be stuck in the on position. And that can have serious consequences for your health.

Pressure points

Even short-lived, minor stress can have an impact. You might get a stomachache before you have to give a presentation, for example. More major acute stress, whether caused by a fight with your spouse or an event like an earthquake or terrorist attack, can have an even bigger impact.

Repeated acute stress may also contribute to inflammation in the circulatory system , particularly in the coronary arteries, and this is one pathway that is thought to tie stress to a heart attack. It also appears that how a person responds to stress can affect cholesterol levels.

Chronic stress

When stress starts interfering with your ability to live a normal life for an extended period, it becomes even more dangerous. The longer the stress lasts, the worse it is for both your mind and body. You might feel fatigued, unable to concentrate, or irritable for no good reason, for example. But chronic stress causes wear and tear on your body, too.

The long-term activation of the stress response system and the overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones that come with it can disrupt almost all of your body's processes. This can put you at increased risk for a variety of physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, digestive issues, headaches, muscle tension and pain, heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep problems, weight gain, and memory and concentration impairment.

Chronic stress may also cause disease, either because of changes in your body or the overeating, smoking, and other bad habits people use to cope with stress. Job strain—high demands coupled with low decision-making latitude—is associated with increased risk of coronary disease , for example. Other forms of chronic stress, such as depression and low levels of social support, have also been implicated in increased cardiovascular risk.

Chronic stress also suppresses the body's immune system , making it harder to recover from illnesses.

What you can do

Reducing your stress levels can not only make you feel better right now, but may also protect your health long-term. Several research studies have demonstrated, for example, that interventions to improve psychological health can have a beneficial impact on cardiovascular health . As a result, researchers recommend boosting your positive affect—feelings like happiness, joy, contentment, and enthusiasm—by making time for enjoyable activities every day.

Other strategies for reducing stress include:

Identify what’s causing stress. Monitor your state of mind throughout the day. If you feel stressed, write down the cause, your thoughts, and your mood. Once you know what’s bothering you, develop a plan for addressing it. That might mean setting more reasonable expectations for yourself and others or asking for help with household responsibilities, job assignments, or other tasks. List all your commitments, assess your priorities, and then eliminate any tasks that are not absolutely essential.
Build strong relationships. Relationships can be a source of stress. Research has found that negative, hostile reactions with your spouse cause immediate changes in stress-sensitive hormones, for example. But relationships can also serve as stress buffers. Reach out to family members or close friends and let them know you’re having a tough time. They may be able to offer practical assistance and support, useful ideas, or just a fresh perspective as you begin to tackle whatever’s causing your stress.
Walk away when you’re angry. Before you react, take time to regroup by counting to 10. Then reconsider. Walking or other physical activities can also help you work off steam. Plus, exercise increases the production of endorphins, your body’s natural mood booster. Commit to a daily walk or other form of exercise—a small step that can make a big difference in reducing stress levels.
Rest your mind. To help ensure you get the recommended seven or eight hours of shut-eye, cut back on caffeine, remove distractions such as television or computers from your bedroom, and go to bed at the same time each night. Research shows that activities like yoga and relaxation exercises not only help reduce stress, but also boost immune functioning .
Get help. If you continue to feel overwhelmed, consult with a psychologist or other licensed mental health professional who can help you learn how to manage stress effectively. They can help you identify situations or behaviors that contribute to your chronic stress and then develop an action plan for changing them.

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Mental Resilience and Coping With Stress: A Comprehensive, Multi-level Model of Cognitive Processing, Decision Making, and Behavior

Tracy Vaillancourt

Introduction

Stressor Detection and Arousal

Cognitive Appraisal of Stress Severity

Decision Making and Stress

Hypothesis: Coping Mechanisms Are Driven by the Stress Stages

Alarm-to-Threat (Check) Stage

Risk-to-Escape (Stalemate) Stage

Surrender-in-Defeat (Checkmate) Stage

Concluding Remarks

Author Contributions

Conflict of Interest

Publisher’s Note

16.2 Stress and Coping

Learning Objectives

Stress As a Response

Stress As a Stimulus

Stress As a Transaction