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According to the textbook, there are at least four hundred ways to cope with stress. Proactive stress "consists of efforts undertaken in advance of a potentially stressful event to prevent it or to modify its form before it occurs" (Aspinwall 417). The idea of proactive stress suggests that many stressors can be avoided. In fact there are five interrelated tasks of proactive self regulation. One can view the on set of a stressful event much the same way as meteorologists forecasts the weather. There is a bit of certainty how the outcome will lend itself. When a category 5 hurricane is on the way people start preparing for the worst. The storm may fizzle out, but people are prepared. The stress of the situation leads many people to cope by flooding the supermarket isles and emptying their wallets to survive the storm. This method differs from proactive coping and is more inline with problem-focused coping. Where one attempts to ease their mind by solving a problem that is out of their control. Proactive coping would perhaps suggest leaving the area to avoid the storm. Whereby leaving ahead of time is stressful, but the planning ahead equals out to less stress in the long term i.e. risking one's life.
Is there a way to avoid stress all together?
Why can events in one's life lead to so much stress?
Stress is the disruption of our homeostatic balance. (Social Psychology and the Human Nature, 2007) The way we perceive different things as stress is part of our own nature and personality and therefore, it is nearly impossible to say that there is a way to avoid stress all together. The term stress is highly ambiguous. We have this tendency to associate negative things to stress, however, not all stress is a bad thing. For instance, are there not times where working under pressure helps us perform far better than we initially expected?
ReplyDeleteOur textbook defines stress as "an unpleasent state of arousal in which people perceive the demands of an event as taxing or exceeding their ability to satisfy or alter those demands (510)." and gives three main reasons why stress occurs; catastrophes, main life events, and daily hassles (511). There are a lot of ways to decrease the level of stress, but I agree to Rachel I don't think there is a way to avoid stress all together. When we look at the stressors, they are things everyone inevitably encounters in life. Life is unexpected. No matter how much we try to keep things under control, there are things that we can't avoid happening. I think stress is something that makes us feel human again. Sometimes there is a very thin line between stress and excitement. Also, in some cases we learn and mature because of stress. Most of the daily hassles end with resolution and satisfaction. When you think about it one feels the happiest when one achieves something after a stressful period. On the other hand, too much stress is very unhealthy. Therefore, I think focusing on reducing it is the best solution for one to deal with stress.
ReplyDeleteCatastrophes and major life changes aren't the only things that cause stress. In fact, our book tells us that daily hassles do more to make people sick than major events. These "microstressors" place a constant strain on us, with daily interpersonal conflicts being the most upsetting of our daily stressors. When it comes to coping with stress, the body's natural response is called the general adaptation syndrome which has three stages, alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. The exhaustion occurs because overusing stress fighting resources causes other systems in the body to break down. So even though stress is short term reaction to threat, over time it compromises our health and well being.
ReplyDeleteThe three major stress categories listed in the textbook (catastrophes, major life events, and daily hassles) covers numerous scenarios on a variety of scales. As mentioned they root from different points, have different explanations and varying degrees/ impacts depending on the situation and individual (Cohen et al., 1995). The “stress-and-coping” process is seen as something constantly reoccurring for an individual in any given context (Lazarus et al., 1984). These situations are specific to each person and their environment. An individual’s judgment process defines their response to the stress (thoughts, feelings and behaviors) to act to reduce it. Given the amount of stressors, and the all encompassing categories in which they come in, it would be difficult to avoid stress however the amount of stress can be controlled and this would be through problem-solving/ coping mechanisms.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the textbook, stress is universal, and no one can escape it even if they try. Some things, according to Kassin, can be proven stressful even if one is not even aware. "Change itself may cause stress by forcing us to adapt to new circumstances." So basically, changes in our environment (which are unpredictable) are stress inducers. Even if it is a positive outcome or negative instance, change in our lives, whether it is something small or something much bigger allows us to be more stressed.
ReplyDeleteInitially, stress can be lowered through reducing goals or expectations (Hockey, 2007, although ultimately I would expect that in many people this necessity would be cause for another source of stress. I can see how many small compromises now could lead to a major setback later, which would eventually become more stressful than all of the small stressors combined. people are constantly making evaluations based on "performance- cost trade off".
ReplyDeleteAvoiding stress does not seem like something that is realistic or possible; the reason being is the form of stress mentioned in the book “Micro stressors.” These things like “Waiting in lines, losing keys, bad work days, money troubles…” (Kassin 514.) Occur every day and are unavoidable, while larger stresses may make these micro stressors more noticeable and aggravating, they still exist on their own through personal “pet peeves” or annoying habits that happen in everyday situations. Being invested in so many institutions on a daily basis like, school, or work, or finances, or even family and relationships we are put into situations where it is impossible to live without some sort of stress.
ReplyDeleteI remember in my general psychology class my professor talked about how for the past million years stress pretty much meant seeing a bear and running the other way. And mankind evolved a flight or flight response in order to survive, but we've yet to really adapt in order to deal with the more minor stresses in our lives. Stuff that comes from living day to day and dealing with work and relationships. Our textbook also went on to say that often the little things in our our lives are often more stressful than the big things. To quote the Simpsons, "you can't argue with the little things. It's the little things that make up life"
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