XII PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 3
MEETING LIFE CHALLENGES
1. Concept of Stress
2. Cognitive theory of Stress
3. Types of Stress
4. Sources of Stress
5. Effects of Stress on Psychological Functioning and Health
6. Stress and Health
7. General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
8. Stress and Immune System
9. Stress and Lifestyle
10. Coping with Stress
11. Stress Management Techniques
12. Promoting Positive Health and Well-Being

Concept of Stress
1. Pattern of responses an organism makes to a stimulus event which disturbs the equilibrium state of
an individual and hinders the person’s ability to cope
2. Stress is further of two types:
o Eustress is good for the individual and keeps a person motivated. Eustress is instrumental in
attaining peak performance in an important task.
o Distress is not good for the individual as this level of stress definitely hinders the person’s
ability to cope and distress exhausts an individual emotionally, mentally and physically.

Cognitive Theory of Stress

1. Cognitive theory of stress was proposed by Lazarus and his colleagues.
2. According to the cognitive theory of stress, perception of stress is dependent upon the cognitive
appraisal of the situation along with the resources available to deal with it. This is further elucidated
with the help of the following-
3. Primary Appraisal- It is how a person views major changes in life as positive, negative, or neutral.
Negative events in life are appraised on three bases-
o Threat-it is defined as possible future damage which can happen due to stress.
o Harm-the damage that has already been done in the past.
o Challenge-Viewing major changes in life positively and with confident expectations to face
them properly.
4. Secondary Appraisal-It is defined as the assessment of the availability of resources and potential to
deal with the situation and these resources can be physical, mental, social, or financial.

o Primary and Secondary Appraisals are subjective and depend on the past experience of the
individual and also whether they are controllable or not.
Appraisal:
Reaction to Stress Assessment or
Evaluation

Changes in Stress
Signs and Symptoms of Stress

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Types of Stress
1. Physical and Environmental Stress
o Physical stress happens when we feel physically exhausted and strained due to overreaction,
lack of sound sleep and a nutritious diet.
o Environmental stress includes noise and air pollution, and dirty surroundings which make us
feel stressed.
2. Psychological Stress
o Stress generated by us from our minds is called psychological stress and it is subjective in
nature
o Various sources of psychological stress are Frustration, Conflicts, Internal Pressure,
Social Pressure.
3. Social Stress
o It results from our interpersonal relationships and interactions with other people.
o For example, Break up with a friend, death of a close family member
o Social stress is also subjective in nature.

Sources of Stress
1. Life Events
o Small or big changes happen in life and some of them are pre-planned, hence easy to cope up
with, like changing schools.
o Some big changes happen in life as well which are unpredictable in nature and are not easy to
deal with. For the death of a close family member.
2. Traumatic Events
o They leave a deep imprint on the mind of the victims and affect them psychologically and
emotionally and tragic events are of non-recurring nature.
o For example, Rape, Terrorist Attack.
3. Hassles
o Day to day stressful situations like noisy surroundings, stressful jobs, add up to our stress
level.
o Social support in such case is important as it helps an individual coping with hassles.

Effects of Stress on Psychological Functioning and Health

1. Emotional effects
o People who suffer from emotional stress experience a lot of mood swings and become
emotionally unstable which alienates them from their family and friends as a result of which
self-confidence and self-esteem are hampered.

2. Physiological Effects
o Certain hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are produced in our body in stressful situations
and that can be effective in short-run but in long run, it does hamper our well-being
o Examples of Physiological Effects include an increase in heart rate, an increase in blood
pressure etc.

3. Cognitive Effects
o Too much stress leads to mental overload and hinders our cognitive abilities like memory,
decision-making, concentration etc.

4. Behavioural Effects – Stress affects our behaviour in the following manner-

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o Less intake of nutritious food.
o Disturbed sleep pattern
o Poor work performance
o Consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Stress and Health

1. When we are highly stressed, we become physically exhausted, feel tired, less energetic and feel
anxious.
2. State of Physical, emotional and mental exhaustion is called burnout.
3. Major root cause of High BP, Diabetes, High heart rate is stress.
4. 50-60% of medical visits are because of stress related problems.
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
1. Selye subjected human beings and animals to stressful situations in his experiment to observe the
bodily response of both.
2. He subjected animals to tough conditions like high temperature, Insulin injections in the laboratory
3. He observed a pattern of bodily responses of patients suffering from major illnesses and he observed
a similar pattern of bodily response both in humans and animals. This pattern is called General
Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

The 3 stages of the GAS model are explained as follows.

 Alarm Reaction Stage-

The presence of a noxious stressor leads to activation
of the pituitary cortex system and
hormones like adrenaline and
cortisol which are released by
Amygdala (a bean sized part of  The When we perceive something threatening,
limbic system) and thus, the body is the thalamus sends sensory information to the
ready for flight or fight or freeze amygdala, which triggers a fear response.
response.  The amygdala activates the sympathetic nervous
 Resistance Stage- Prolonged stress system, initiating our fight-or-flight reaction. It
also signals the hippocampus to store memories
leads to the resistance stage and the
of the fearful event so we can avoid similar
parasympathetic nervous
threats in the future.
system calls for careful use of body
resources and thus, we are able to
confront the stressor.
 Exhaustion Stage- Too much
exposure to prolonged stress leads
to an exhaustion stage and the body is drained of its resources to deal with the stressful
situation.

Physiological systems involved in the alarm reaction stage and resistance stage become ineffective and the
chance of high blood pressure increases.

Stress and Immune System

1. There is a direct correlation between increase in level of stress and impairment in working of the
immune system.
2. Taking too much stress can hamper the working of the immune system which is responsible for
protecting the body from the attackers within the body and outside the body.
3. Psychoneuroimmunology studies the link between mind, brain and immune system and the effect
stress has on the working of the immune system.
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Stress and Lifestyle

Relationship between stress and immune system

1. Lifestyle is defined as the overall pattern of a person’s day to day decision making and the way
he/she lives a life that determines their health and quality of life.
2. There is a direct correlation between high levels of stress and an unhealthy lifestyle.
3. People who are highly stressed have poor nutritional habits, disturbed sleep patterns and no fitness
regime to look after their health and well-being.
4. A proper and healthy lifestyle has the following prerequisites-
o Positive thinking
o Nutritious Diet
o Exercise
o Social support

Coping with Stress

Coping is defined as a dynamic situation specific reaction and coping is also relative in nature. Various
strategies have been suggested by psychologists to deal with stressful situations which are discussed below-

1. Endler and Parker

o Task oriented strategy focuses on understanding the problem in a clear manner and coming
up with the solution of the same.
o Emotion Oriented strategy lays focus on maintaining emotional stability and proper
expression of our emotions.
o Avoidance Oriented Strategy is all about minimising the seriousness of the situation by
suppressing the stressful thoughts and replacing them with self protecting thoughts.
2. Lazarus and Folkman
o Emotion Focused strategies focus on psychological changes which help in controlling the
emotions, involve venting out feelings of anger and frustration and it is effective when the
situation is not under our control.
o Problem Focused Strategies focus on reducing the threat which the situation can cause and
it helps in increasing a person’s knowledge and self-awareness about the problem. It is
effective when the situation is in our control.

Stress Management Techniques

1. Relaxation techniques involve deep breathing exercises which reduce symptoms of stress it keeps
our BP and heart rate under control.
2. Meditation is defined as a sequence of techniques which aid in enhancing focus and attention and
help in attaining a new level of consciousness.
3. Exercise helps in controlling BP, Heart Rate, strengthens immunity, controls blood sugar level etc
and some of the most effective exercises are running, cycling and swimming
4. Creative Visualization: This is a mental technique that involves using your imagination to create a
visual representation of your desired outcome. It’s used to enhance motivation, increase confidence,
and prepare for specific goals or performances
5. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): A form of psychotherapy that helps individuals manage
problems by changing their thoughts and behaviors. It’s effective for a range of issues, including
anxiety and depression, and involves techniques like identifying negative thought patterns and
challenging them
6. Biofeedback: This technique teaches individuals to improve their health by controlling certain
bodily processes that normally happen involuntarily, such as heart rate and muscle tension. It uses
monitoring devices to provide feedback on the body’s physiological state.

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Promoting Positive Health and Well-Being

1. Recent studies by Kobasa have shown that people who experience high levels of stress but low levels
of illness exhibit characteristics like Commitment, Control and Challenge which can be categorised
under personality traits of hardiness
2. Life Skills help in adapting and dealing with problems in life. Some of the life skills necessary for
our overall development are-
o Time management is basically life management which implies setting our priorities and
execution of important tasks first which keep us relaxed.
o Assertiveness helps in expressing our opinions confidently and without any hesitation and
this facilitates effective communication skills and high-self-confidence.
o Rational Thinking helps us think in an organized manner and helps in differentiating
between positive and negative thinking.
o Some other important life skills are overcoming unhelpful habits like avoidance,
procrastination, self-care and improving relationships with others.
3. Positive health means a state of complete physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-
being. Positive health is not just about the absence of disease and factors responsible for Positive
Health are explained below:
o Diet – One should have a balanced diet as it prevents illness, controls BP, Heart Rate and
blood sugar level and determining factors for an individual with regard to diet are
Health History, Genetics, Activity level. A balanced diet helps in coping with stress.
o Positive attitude – There is a direct correlation between positive health and positive well-
being. Some of the ways of enhancing a positive attitude are having a definite aim in life,
taking flaws positively etc.
o Exercise – There is a direct correlation between exercise and positive health and exercise
strengthens our immune system, controls the amount of fat and BP as well.
o Other factors contributing to positive health are Positive Thinking and Social Support.

Explain the concept of stress. Give examples from daily life.

Pattern of responses an organism makes to a stimulus event which disturbs the equilibrium state of an
individual and hinders the person’s ability to cope is defined as stress.

Enumerate the different ways of coping with stress.

Ans 2 Different ways of coping with stress are Task-Oriented Strategy, Emotion-Oriented Strategy and
Avoidance Oriented Strategy.

Discuss the factors that lead to positive health and well-being.

Various factors that lead to positive health and well-being are Diet, Exercise, Positive Attitude, Positive
Thinking and Social Support.

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