COPING WITH STRESS IN MIDDLE TO LATE ADOLESCENCE

STRESS-State of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. A natural human

response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives.

Cognitive Symptoms of Stress

1. Having memory problems

2. Unable to concentrate

3. Poor judgement

4. Negativity

5. Anxious/Anxiety

6. Worrying constantly

Emotional Symptoms of Stress

1. Moodiness

2. Irritability or short-tempered

3. Depressions or unhappiness

4. Agitation or restlessness

5. Feeling overwhelmed

6. Sense of loneliness and isolation

Physical Symptoms of Stress

1. B-ody aches and pains

2. D-iarrhea or constipation

3. N-ausea and dizziness

4. C-hest pain

5. R-apid heartbeat

6. F-requents colds

Behavioral Symptoms of Stress

 1. Isolating yourself

2. Sleeping too much or too little

3. Eating more or less

4. Procrastinating

5. Neglecting responsibilities

6. Nervous habits: Nail biting and pacing restlessly

7. Drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking cigarettes, taking illegal drugs, or playing

computer for several hours

Santrock (2012)- Coping involves managing difficulties/ difficult situations, exerting efforts
to solve your problems, and striving to master or reduce the stressful effects of these
situations

Sevilla (2006)-Your behavior in dealing with stressful situations is your coping strategy

Lazarus (2000)-You can check what your ways of coping are because they can be either
problem-focused or emotion-focused

Problem Focus Coping-Facing the situation squarely and exerting efforts to solve the
problem. You are acting up about your concern/problem

Problem-Focused Skills that Need to be Enhanced

1. Study skills

2. Time management skills

3. Problem-solving skills

4. Support group

Concentration Cycle

1. Light Concentration - 5 minutes

2. Moderate Concentration – 6-30 minutes

3. Heavy concentration – 40 minutes and above

Tips to Improve Time Management Skills

 1. Monitor your time

2. Plan your activities using a schedule, and protect it as much as you protect your goals

3. Increase your efficiency

4. Tackle one task at a time so you do not get overwhelmed

5. Group similar tasks together

6. Make use of your down time

Indicators That You Have Successfully Handled Stress

1. Emotional Stability – remaining calm and not being carried away by your emotions

2. Being tactful – Being able to express your thoughts and feelings in a nonaggressive
manner

3. Doing well in school – Your ability to meet all your academic requirements, get good
grades, and be able to cope with various demands of the school

4. Learning to say “no” – by being firm on what you believe is right and saying “no” to
peer pressure

THE POWERS OF THE MIND

BRAIN- The control center of your body which lets you perform a lot of tasks

Exterior Parts of the Brain

1. Frontal Lobes

2. Temporal Lobes

3. Occipital Lobes

4. Parietal Lobes

5. Motor Cortex

6. Somatosensory Cort

1. Frontal lobe- Involved in planning

and thinking
  The rational and executive control center of the brain

 It monitors higher-order thinking skills, directing problem-solving, and regulating the

excesses of the emotional system

 Contains the self-will area or what others call as personality

Geday and gjedde (2009)- Most of your working memory is located in the frontal lobe; thus, it
is where your focus occurs

DOSENBACH ET AL.., 2010- Your frontal lobe slowly matures until adulthood, which reveals
that your capacity to control the excesses of the emotional system during your teenage years
is not yet fully functional during adolescence

SOUSA, 2011- Adults are more likely to control their emotions better than you; hence, the
tendency that you resort to risky behaviors is high. Trauma to the frontal lobe causes
dramatic, and sometimes permanent behavior and personality changes.

2. Temporal lobes- Found above the ears

 They deal with sounds, music, face, and object recognition

 Parts of long-term memory

 The speech centers are located at the left temporal lobe

3. Occipital lobes- Located at the back of your head

 Paired occipital lobes

 Functions for visual processing

 Visuospatial processing, distance, and depth perception, color determination, object

and face recognition, and memory formation

4. Parietal lobes- Located at the top of your occipital lobes

 Responsible for receiving and processing sensory input such as touch, heat, cold, and
pain

 Perception of body awareness and the construction of the spatial coordinate system
(mental map) to represent the world around us

5. Motor cortex- Controls your body movements

  Works with the cerebellum to coordinate the learning of your motor skills

 Helps the brain recognize and remember the sequence or events of time

6. Somatosensory cortex- Process sensory information from the body

• The somatosensory cortex receives tactile information from the body, including
sensations such as touch, pressure, temperature, and pain. This sensory information is
then carried to the brain via neural pathways to the spinal cord, brainstem, and
thalamus.

• This information is then projected to the somatosensory cortex, which has numerous
connections with other brain areas to process the sensory information.

• The somatosensory cortex uses sensory information to initiate important movements

that may be required to deal with particular situations.

THE INTERIOR PARTS OF THE BRAIN

 Your brainstem resembles the entire brain of a reptile; hence, it is sometimes referred
to as the reptilian brain

 It consists of the midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata

 Of the 12 cranial nerves (Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor,

trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear,
glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves) only the
olfactory and optic nerves do not end in the brain stem

 Your vital body functions such as heartbeat, respiration,

body temperature, and digestion are monitored and
controlled by your brain stem

 The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is located in the

brain stem and is responsible for your brain’s alertness

Limbic system- Located above your brain stem and below the cerebrum

 Have different functions such as generation of emotion and processing of emotional

memories
  Its location allows the interplay of emotion and reason

 It has 4 parts

FOUR PARTS OF LIMBIC SYSTEM

1. Thalamus

2. Hypothalamus

3. Hippocampus

4. Amygdala

1. THALAMUS- Cognitive activities including memory

2. HYPOTHALAMUS- In charge of monitoring the

internal systems to maintain homeostasis or the
normal states of the body. It moderates different body
functions, which include sleep, body temperature, and food intake by controlling the release
of some hormones.

3. HIPPOCAMPUS- Consolidate learning and convert information to the long-term storage

regions. It creates the meaning of information by comparing those that are working memory
and those that are stored experiences.

Balu and lucki (2009)- The Hippocampus is capable of neurogenesis, which is the production
of new neurons, which has a significant effect on learning and memory (Deng, et. Al., 2010)

4. AMYGDALA- Take part in emotion, especially fear. It plays an important role in regulating
your interactions with your environment that can help you survive, such as whether you
attack, escape, mate, or eat (Sousa, 2012)
  It encodes the emotion whenever a memory is kept in long-term storage. The emotional
element of memory is stored in the amygdala; hence, the emotions related to a specific
memory are recalled whenever the experience is remembered (Squire and Kandel, 1999)

CEREBRUM- Largest brain structure, representing nearly 80% of the brain by weight (Sousa,
2011)

 It has folded bulges called gyri, and it is marked by deep furrows called fissures and
shallow ones called sulci (singular: sulcus)

 The cerebrum is divided into two halves, called the cerebral hemisphere (Left and
Right Hemispheres)

 The hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum (made up of more than 200
million nerve fibers that function as a bridge by which the hemispheres communicate
with each other and communicate activities)

Your right cerebral hemisphere is in charge of the left side of the body while your left cerebral
hemisphere is in charge of the right side

 The hemispheres are covered by thin but tough laminated cortices

 The brain’s gray matter is where most of the actions of the brain take place such as
thought, memory, speech, and muscular movement

 The brain’s white matter is the neurons in the cortices from columns that branch and
extend through the cortical layer into a dense web below. It connects neurons to form
neural networks that carry out specific functions.

CEREBELLUM- Located just below the rear part of the cerebrum and right behind the brain
stem

• It accounts for 11% of the weight of your brain

• It is a convoluted and highly organized brain structure that contains more neurons
than all the other brain parts put together

• It coordinates the movement

• It monitors impulses from nerve endings in muscles; hence, it plays a key role in the
performance and timing of complex motor tasks

Sousa, 2011- The cerebellum stores the memory of automatic movements such as touch
typing and knife skills. Your performance in doing your tasks is improved by enhancing your
speed and accuracy with less effort through automation. It is also involved in the mental
rehearsal of motor tasks which is essential in improving performance and becoming more
skilled.