Transactional Model Of Stress And Coping

“In the natural environment the most adaptive response to threat is likely to be fight or flight. In order to do either effectively, the physical body must prepare.”(Cassidy, p.21) This is the basis to Selye’s ‘alarm’ stage, but unfortunately, his model omits the person’s cognitive process behind the stress response. It simply states that the stressful stimulus presents itself; whereas in the transactional model, the perception of the stimuli as being stressful is the 2nd stage. This model states that stress occurs through an imbalance of the “Perception of demand and capability to cope”(generic reference). When a person perceives a demand as being beyond their capability, imbalance is created which then results in a stress response.

Society defines stress as anything which forces us to change. Through technical terms stress is defined as “a negative emotional state occurring in response to events that are perceived as taking or exceeding a person’s resources or ability to cope.” To explaining stress researchers came up with the “Cognitive appraisal model”, this system works to tell us whether we believe we have enough resources to deal with the situation without becoming stressed. For instance as a now college student those who have had previous experience taking finales in high school can have less stress than those who have not taken it. This is because they have previous experience with taking the tests and learning how to study while those who have never taken one can become extremely stressed over the unknown of the test. Stress is one of the sub branches that is attached to the world of health psychology. Health psychology is a quickly growing branch that deals with the way the mind and body work together. Psychologists that work in the health field came up with the biopsychosocial model. This model explains the complex interaction with biological, psychological, and social factors.

Appraisals are a positive way for an employer to let the employee know how well they are performing the duties that are assigned to them, and an appraisal is a good indictor of how an employee needs to improve in a certain job task.

The cognitive factors that are responsible for the development of anxiety disorders have recently been examined. PTSD is one of those disorders, and many models have been proposed. A more recently examined factor is the effect of cognitive appraisals in the development of PTSD. Cognitive appraisals are how an individual thinks about the traumatic event and can lead to the development of PTSD. The researchers propose that negative cognitive appraisals are a factor in the development of PTSD because an individual is focusing on the negative features of a traumatic event, causing the individual to perceive an ongoing threat and thereby making the individual vulnerable to PTSD. There are two suggested theories on cognitive appraisals. Cognitive appraisals develop (1) because the traumatic experience is not consistent in regards to an individual’s prior beliefs, or (2) because an individual developed a cognitive style were they engage in appraisals and they will respond to a traumatic event with more stress than those who do not have negative cognitive appraisals (Bryant & Guthrie, 2005). This paper present a review of literature on cognitive appraisals in the development of PTSD, examining the direction of cognitive appraisals, the proposed theory, which cognitive appraisals are implicated, and the role of culture.

Leventhal et al. did not identify the type of their theory. However, the words and sentences that they mentioned in the CSM can categorize as a middle-range theory. The CSM was proposed to provide the framework for depicting the self-regulation when individuals have to encounter stress caused by an illness and understanding the processes involved in problem-coping. Leventhal et al. described that the CSM consists of three core concepts: representation of illness, coping, and coping appraisal. The relationship between the concepts was presented in the parallel processing system that interact as the individual adapts to each specific situation. These processes lead individuals to seek health care for acute illnesses and manage their illness for chronic conditions. Additionally, the CSM was used as a theoretical framework in research and applied in practice, particularly psychological, behavioral, and nursing fields. The results of study can make possible intervention which would help patients develop valid coping processes. Consequently, The CSM can be classified as a middle-range predictive theory.

The behavior I would like to change is the management of chronic stress. Chronic stress is a precursor for most health problems in today’s society. If we look at the start of most health problems, we can likely trace it back to chronic stress. Chronic stress releases levels of cortisol higher than normal. Cortisol is a hormone released from someone with chronic stress, which can which can negatively affect the body’s ability to function.

Module 2 Assignment The transactional model view of stress includes the emotional aspect of stressors and stress. This view emphasizes the relationship between the environment and behavior, and necessary adjustments and adaptations to be made to deal with stress. Per this view, how we appraise a stressor: perceive and identify it, decide how to respond to it, and evaluate the effectiveness of the response approach in reducing the stressor, determines how stress is experienced (Straub, pp. 149; Stress Mini Lecture, Topic 5).

In this essay, I am going to define what is meant by the word ‘stress’. I will use two models of stress to help me. One being from Hans Seyle and the other from Richard Lazarus. Stress can be a really hard concept to define, due to the fact that it can affect people differently and because stress means different things to different people. Everybody experiences some degree of stress in their life, but because people do respond differently, this can deliver different consequences in people’s lives.

Restate the central idea: It is good to know about the different forms of stress so people can be aware of it.

This essay demonstrates my understanding of the psychological theories and concepts which were discussed in lectures as I have applied this knowledge to the case example. I have employed two psychological topics such as the Humanistic perspective of personality and Stress and Coping theory.

INTRODUCTION: Even though stress negatively affects physical and mental abilities. Stress is the cause of tensions, overwork and increasing demands. Generally, the Anxiety is a part of our life. We live with it, manage it, or more all stress over it. Our lifestyle, the region in which we live, the economy, and our occupations can result in a lot of anxiety. Not everybody manages the same level of anxiety and there are a few elements that can affect our lives and reason us to have higher or lower anxiety levels. (Feldman, 2009)

Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce or minimize stressful events. There are two general coping strategies which have been distinguished. Problem-focused strategies are efforts to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances, where as emotion-focused coping strategies involve efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful or potentially stressful events. Typically, people use both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping in their stressful episodes, which suggests that both types of coping are useful for most stressful events (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980).

There are many challenges that we face and have to handle every single day. And, as women, we frequently have to balance the demands of work, family, children, parents, finances, and health—to name just a few. These demands are frequently referred to as “stressors” and achieving a balance is “stressful.” But multiple demands on our time and energy are a part of everyone’s life. Stress is not how many demands you have in your life, but rather how you and your body respond to these demands. For some, racing to meet a tight deadline or complete a long “ToDo” list can be positive and energizing. It’s important to learn what stress is, at what point it becomes harmful, and options for how you can respond to it. Finding the right balance is

Everybody has at least one thing in common. Can you guess what it is? If you guessed, heartbreak, you’re right, but that’s not the answer I’m looking for. The correct answer is stress. Everyone has stress in his or her life at one point or another. It’s one of many inevitable parts of life. Whether it’s busting out a research paper for Psychology at the last minute, expecting your first child to be born, to making sure you’re up in time to catch the Saturday morning cartoons, it’s clearly evident that everyone goes through stress. The real question is, how is stress handled in our society? A person is defined by how they handle the stressors in their lives and how they overcome stressful moments. This paper will explore the aspects of

Discuss Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman’s and stress and coping paradigm and in view of this paradigm explain age and individual difference in the experience and handling of stress