hey guys welcome back to my Channel today we are looking at a level psychology the optional topic of stress before we jump into the video again like always Please Subscribe I really really appreciate it like the video if you found it useful um and you can also check out a load of other psychology videos on my channel and I also have sociology and chemistry videos up on my channel as well if you happen to study this subject as well um and also if you have any questions please feel free to comment below and either myself or your fellow students will get back to you but let's just jump straight in now starting off with the physiology of stress apologies if you can hear a plane in the background [Music] um the physiology of stress is the study of the biological processes underlying stress ORS prompt a physiological response that was first described as General Adaptation Syndrome by Hans sale apology like don't don't come for me for mispronouncing anyone's names please um this has been broken down into two biological systems for short-term and long-term stress so starting off with General Adaptation Syndrome so sale in 1936 conducted experiments where rats were exposed to various stresses and observed common physiological sequences in response um so you have alarm reaction so the hypothalamus sends signal to the sympathetic nervous system SNS to release adrenaline and noradrenaline to overcome stressor then we have resistance so if the stressor hasn't gone away levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline Decline and cortisol increases to provide NG and but this cannot be maintained because it takes a lot and your body can only survive so long on cortisol then you have exhaustion so if the stressor still isn't gone the body starts running out of resources to maintain confidently elevated levels of stress hormones and sympathetic nerves activity this can manifest as physical symptoms such as low blood low blood sugar high blood pressure immunosuppression and heart disease obviously part of this is that it has research support from sale and a few other people but on the other hand essentially with sales research is that it wasn't animal study then the how how easy it is to apply that to humans is questionable but then this is broken down into two systems so you you have the sympatho medullary pathway so this is associated with acute or short-term stress so the hypothalamus sends a signal to the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system the ANS the signal triggers the Adrenal medulla to release adrenaline and noradrenaline this increases bodily activities such as heart rate breathing and non-essential activities slow down such as digestion once the stressor is gone the parasympathetic part of the ANS that reduces bodily activity and switches to rest and Digest but on the other hand we have the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal system so this is associated with chronic or long-term stress the hypothalamus starts releasing corticotropine releasing hormones crh which then tells the pituitary gland to start releasing adrenocorticotropic hormone ACTH this hormone then tells the adrenal cortex to release cortisol which provides energy is a glucocorticoid hormone that increases blood sugar by converting protein to glucose and the negative effects of cortisol in the long term include immunosuppression and increased risk of illness then we have the role of stress in illness obviously we discussed a little bit about how immunosuppression is a sign of like chronic stress um so immunosuppression means reduction in the ability of the immune system to fight off disease as it identifies foreign things like bacteria and viruses within the body and destroys them cortisol um reduce the production of the immune cells at reducing the effectiveness of the immune system key cult Glazer a towel in 1984 took blood samples from 75 medical students a month before their exams and again on the day of exams and found the immune cells were much lower on exam day where there was high stress in the short term this isn't too much of an issue but the long term it is associated with increased risk of diseases such as influenza and cancer as there are fewer immune cells to fight or forests and clear these cancerous cells stress is also associated with cardiovascular disorders so Yousef etow in 2004 compared lifestyle factors of those who had a heart attack compared to a control group who hadn't had heart attacks and found correlations between stress and heart attack this because stress causes blood pressure to increase and fat to accumulate on arterial walls also in direct mechanisms such as more likely to take up smoking as a way to deal with the stress which can also lead to heart issues again here we have plenty of research support such as calculus a towel um but like a lot of this stuff is generally is there correlation versus causation you know um can these like does this does this research clearly actually say that this relationship is there or is it just happen to be there for other reasons that that aren't in this in the research then we have a sources of stress so first up we have life changes so um major events that disrupt our normal ways of living such as death the birth moving changing job or retiring getting married or divorced Hans and Ray in 1967 came up with a social Readjustment rating scale which includes 43 examples and rates them according to the amount of stress they cause obviously practical applications to this is actually managing to deal with stress but um some according to the scale some life changes you know are relaxing and not stressful such as a holiday then we have daily hassles which are everyday irritations and annoyances such as getting stuck in traffic Neighbors playing loud music Etc in 1981 came up with the hassles and art Bliss scale including 117 examples of daily hassles defined as irritating frustrating distressing uh demands this to seek degree but to see I'm not really sure what I was meant to say but yeah apologies for any typos um characterize everyday transactions with the environment so that you know an example of this could be you know getting stuck stuck in traffic or whatever something like that like little bits and pieces um again obviously practical applications to kind of help you understand deal with these tassels um but again correlation verticalization then we have workplace dress so this relates to your workload you know how much work a person has and the height this is the more stress the amount of control a person has so the extent to which a person has influence over what work they do and how much and the less control the greater the stress and karasek in 1979 found like developed the demand control model so high workload increases risk of stress related illnesses but this reduces when they have more control again practical applications to how we can support people dealing with workplace stress and to avoid it um but there's not necessarily a correlation between level of workload and heart disease which you would expect with the the workload stress relationship which was found by Mahmoud atau in 1997. then when it comes to measuring stress you've got self-report methods and physiological methods so looking at the self-report methods we've already discussed these bits so you've got the social Readjustment rating scale so Hamilton Ray in 1967 created the SS srrs to quantify stress associated with life changes and did this by creating a list of four 43 life events and our subjects to rate how stressful each was with each you each life event given a life-change unit lcu School the highly lcu the greater their risk of stress related illnesses and if they scored over 300 this was seen to be high risk 150 to 299 moderate and less than 150 was minor again obviously there's practical application to this but due to its self-report nature it is subjective then we have the hassles and uplift scale so you counted it out in 1981 created the scale to qualify qualify um quantify stress associated with daily hassles including 117 examples of daily hassles such as concerns about weight Rising prices house maintenance and 135 examples of uplifts such as relating well to loved ones feeling healthy and completing a task High hassle schools were positively correlated with stress and health problems High uplift schools were negatively correlated with stress and health problems they basically the highly uplift School the lower stress and health problems but this actually was only seen among women which was really interesting again obviously there's a research support for the basis of this scale but like always correlation versus causation then moving on to the physiological methods so the skin conductance response so how this works is that the skin conducts electricity on a person is stressed they sweat more and therefore skin conducts more easily an example this is the polygraph test so the lie detector test electrodes are attached to fingers sending tiny electrical currents the individuals asked to sit still for 30 minutes to establish a baseline um of you know their their water sweat levels on their skin and then they are asked questions and obviously as they get stressed they sweat more which is then why it suggested that someone may be lying of course again this has a practical application of the fact that it is used as a piece of evidence in some criminal cases to or at least identify suspects but it also has its misuse it's not the most accurate um you know if you're sat in a interrogation room at a police officer you're probably going to be stressed regardless of whether you've done it or not then you have individual stresses uh individual differences in stress so firstly looking at personality types so Friedman and rosenmann in 1959 were interesting correlations between psychological personality types and cardiovascular disorders identifying certain patterns of behavior so a Taipei person is time urgent impatient rushed competitive perfectionist hostile aggressive and irritable then you have a type B person so more patient less competitive and more calm a type a person was more prone to developing heart disease but then for the personality type c so Graham Watson in 1985 so quite a few years later identified type c so this is introverted neurotic represses emotion conflict avoidance and people pleaser more prone to stress and associated with a high risk of development cancer and with studies suggesting this is due to immunosuppression of course there is supporting evidence um you know it's based off research from Friedman Roseman and Graham Watson but there is arguments the type A is too broad um with dombroski it out in 1989 finding the hostility alone predicts heart disease just as accurately as type A then you have hardiness so cabasa in 1979 identified hardness as a kind of personality type and it consists of three key features commitment so highly committed with a strong sense of purpose challenge so stresses are challenges to be overcome and grow and improve from then you have control so a Hardy individual has an internal Legacy control so essentially believing that their choices shape their life capacitor in 1979 it uses the social Readjustment rating scale and found that Hardy personality types are more resistant to stress-related illnesses even when actual stress is similar supporting evidence for this obviously from capacitor and others but the negative is that some of the three seats are more important than others in cabasa's original work they all tend to be looked at with a similar importance level but you know um challenge may be more important than commitment or commitment more important than control Etc then you have gender differences in stress so the sympathomedulary fight flight response differs between men and women tailor it out in 2000 found when responded that found women responded more calmly and protected and cared for Offspring and seems and seeked out social support AKA tent Amber friend it has suggested this difference is related to differing Ox toaster levels obviously there's evidence for this from Taylor towel but there are methodological concerns as most of the focus into of research into fight and flight responses is on males so more research into females is needed now there are four ways to cope with stress so starting off with drug therapy so you can be placed on benzodiazepines such as Valium which increases the effect of a neural transmitter called gamma aminobutyric acid or known as Gaba which in in here inhibitory neurotransmitter and by increasing this it reduces activity in the nervous system and counteracts effects of excitatory neurotransmitters such as serotonin to create a feeling of calm and relaxation and reduced anxiety and stress then you have beta blockers which reduce activity of the sympathetic nervous system by blocking beta adrenergic receptors this stops adrenaline and noradrenaline having an effect and reducing some of the physical symptoms of anxiety and stress of course there is scientific evidence to um boost these and to show their importance but of course there is side effects and addictions that come with drug therapy and also it doesn't actually address the Baseline issue of why the individual was stressed in the first place then you have a stress inoculation therapy so Mike and boom in 1985 developed this as a form of CBT with three components starting with conceptualization so identifying and understanding the stressor and negative strategies for dealing with these then you have school acquisition and rehearsals so teach techniques to deal with the stresses which can be relaxation and cognitive strategies then you have applications so practicing these new techniques using visualization or role play of course this tackles the underlying factors but like all therapy is not readily available um to a lot of people it's either expensive or something that's just not available in the area then you have biofeedback so this teaches people to identify and control the physiological processes of stress to create feelings of relaxation via operant conditioning so starting off with awareness so being aware they are experiencing the physiological symptoms of stress then control so taught techniques to control these symptoms when they occur receiving feedback from machines such as being able to see their heart rate go down on a machine and finally applications so applying these techniques in biofeedback to real life situation again tackles underlying factors but also not easily available then you have social support So instrumental support um practical help such as stressed about house renovations so a Friend helps with the task then you've got emotional support So improving someone's Mood by providing care and comfort such as listening to them as they discuss their feelings and esteem support So improving someone's confidence in their ability to deal with the stressor EG telling someone how skilled they are for a difficult work task obviously they've got practical applications because it can show how our friends and family and those we care about can support us but obviously when you're struggling with stress or any kind of emotional issues it can be difficult to reach out for support so this isn't always the most accessible option either but that's everything for today that is the stress module done and completed please of course let me know if you have any questions at all if you found this video useful please like the video and subscribe as well and check out the rest of my a-level psychology videos they're all in a nice little handy playlist for you to look at speak to you soon