Stress & Sleep-Wake Disorders
Stress and Stress-Related Disorders
I. What is Stress?
A. Stress: the pattern of responses an organism experiences
when stimuli disrupt its equilibrium or coping abilities.
B. Stressor: an internal or external event or stimulus that
induces stress.
C. Acute Stress: a temporary state of arousal with typically
clear onset and offset patterns.
D. Chronic Stress: a continuous state of arousal in which an
individual perceives demands as greater than the inner and
outer resources available for dealing with them.
II. The General Adaptation Syndrome
A. Alarm: a brief period of high arousal of the sympathetic
nervous system, which readies the body for vigorous activity.
B. Resistance: if the stressor goes on for longer than a few
minutes, the body enters a phase of prolonged but moderate
arousal.
C. Exhaustion: intense and long-lasting stress causes a
depletion of proteins in the immune system that can lead to
illness, fatigue, weakness, and possibly death.
Procrastination and Stress…
College students that procrastinate,
report significantly more symptoms
of physical illness by the end of a
semester than do those who do
not procrastinate.
Time of Semester
Early Late
Procrastinators
Nonprocrastinators
1
3
8
5
III. Coping with Stress
A. Coping: adaptive thinking or behavior aimed at reducing or
relieving stress that arises from harmful, threatening, or
challenging conditions.
B. Cognitive-Appraisal Model: a model of coping, proposed
by Lazarus and Folkman, which holds that, on the basis of
continuous appraisal of their relationship with the environment,
people choose appropriate coping strategies to deal with
stressful situations that tax their normal resources.
C. Resources Relative
to Magnitude of Threat
Model of Stress and
Activity: the relationship
between a stressor(s)
and resources; an
unhealthy level of stress
occurs when the
stressful situation is one
that a person regards as
threatening and
possibly exceeding
his or her resources.
D. Problem-Focused Coping: people attend carefully to the
stressful event and try to take effective action.
E. Emotion-Focused Coping: people try to weaken their
emotional reaction to a stressful event through relaxation,
exercise, and / or distraction.
F. Allostatic Overload: excessive stress resulting in
psychological and / or physiological damage.
G. Occupational Burnout: emotional exhaustion and a
sense that one can no longer accomplish anything related to
one’s job.
IV. The Relationship Between Personality
Characteristics and Stress
A. Self-Efficacy Expectancies: beliefs in one’s ability to cope
with challenges and to accomplish particular tasks.
B. Psychological Hardiness: a cluster of stress-buffering traits
characterized by commitment, challenge, and control.
C. Internal Locus of Control: an individual’s belief that the
outcomes in one’s life are primarily determined by one’s own
actions and choices.
D. Optimism: seeing the proverbial glass as half full rather than
half empty is linked to better physical health and emotional wellbeing.
E. Sociability
1) Social Support
2) Ethnic Identity
F. Type “A” Personality: describes a highly competitive,
impatient, hurried person who typically has an angry and
hostile temperament.
G. Type “B” Personality: designates those who are
easygoing, less hurried, and less hostile.
H. What can you do to reduce stress?
1) Self-Awareness
2) Time Management
3) A Support System
4) Regular Exercise
5) Diet
6) Relaxation Activities
7) Sleep
8) Attitude
V. Adjustment Disorder: a cognitive,
emotional, and / or behavioral reaction to one or
more changes or stressors in a person’s life that
is more extreme than would be normally
expected under the circumstances.
A. Type 5: adjustment disorder with mixed disturbance of
emotions and conduct; a mix of depression and anxiety as well
as behavioral problems.
B. Common Risk Factors
1) Being diagnosed with a serious illness
2) Preexisting psychological disorders
3) Poor adaptation to societal changes
4) Divorce or relationship breakup
5) Job loss
6) Having a baby
7) Financial problems
8) Retirement
9) Death of a loved one
10) Going away to college
C. Demographics…
D. Prevalence…
E. Complications…
1) Psychotic Break: a symptom or feature of mental illness
typically characterized by radical changes in personality,
impaired functioning, and a distorted or nonexistent sense
of objective reality.
F. Treatment for Adjustment Disorder…
VI. Personality Predictors of Severe and
Chronic Cases of Adjustment Disorder
A. The Identity Adaptation Model of Personality: a model of
identity development based on the processes of assimilation
and accommodation.
B. Identity Style: characteristic ways of confronting,
interpreting, and responding to experience.
1) Assimilative Identity Style: when one is very resistant to
change and exerts great effort to fit any unavoidable new
experiences into an existing self-concept.
2) Accommodative Identity Style: when one is very open to
change and regularly adjusts one’s self-concept to fit new
experiences.
3) Balanced Identity Style: the healthiest style, in which
identity is flexible enough to change when warranted but not
unstructured to the point that every new experience causes
the person to question fundamental assumptions about
the self.
VII. Traumatic Stress Disorders
A. Flashbulb Memories: these occur when you experience
something so emotionally shocking that you remember the
event, but as time goes by, you forget the details.
B. Acute Stress Disorder: a traumatic stress reaction in
which the person shows a maladaptive pattern of behavior for
a period of three days to one month following exposure to a
traumatic event.
C. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): a prolonged
period (months to years) of anxiety and depression following
the experience of an extremely stressful event.
1) Treatment…
VIII. Positive Effects of Stress
A. Eustress: positive stress or stressful experiences that are
sought after and experienced as enjoyable.
B. Posttraumatic Growth: positive psychological change in
response to serious illnesses, accidents, natural disasters and
other traumatic events.
Sleep-Wake Disorders
I. Stages of Sleep
A. Rapid-Eye Movement (REM): the sleeper’s eyes are
moving rapidly around under the closed eyelids.
B. Non-REM (NREM) Stages of Sleep
Stage 1: there is little eye movement, and a fair amount of brain activity.
Stage 2: a gradual transition to slow brain wave deep sleep.
Stages 3 and 4: stages of even deeper sleep.
You gradually move back through stages 3 and 2 and then have your first
brief REM episode of the night. (REM replaces stage 1 and then the cycle
of stages repeats).
A healthy adult has several 90-100 minute sleep cycles during the night.
The last sleep cycles of the night are usually comprised of alternations
between stage 2 and REM.
II. Dreaming
A. Adults awakened during REM sleep report dreams
85-90% of the time.
B. Adults awakened during NREM sleep report dreams
50-60% of the time.
C. Children less than 5 years old rarely report any dreams.
D. Dreams appear to follow REM in length; 1 minute of
REM produces a brief dream, longer periods are
associated with more complex dream stories.
E. When people are deprived of only REM sleep
(experimenters will monitor sleepers and then wake them
up only during REM sleep), their brains will engage in
more and more of it on subsequent nights. They will also
become quite irritable, anxious and distracted.
III. Disorders
A. Insomnia: Difficulties falling asleep, remaining asleep, or
achieving restorative sleep.
B. Insomnia Disorder: a sleep disorder characterized by
chronic or persistent insomnia that is often a result of an
underlying physical problem or a psychological disorder, such
as depression, substance abuse, or physical illness.
C. Hypersomnolence Disorder: excessive sleep that is
unrefreshing (a.k.a. hypersomnia).
1) Suprachiasmic Nucleus (SCN): a tiny structure in the brain that
governs the circadian cycle of sleep and wakeful states. The SCN
controls the sleep-wake cycle in part by regulating the secretion of the
hormone melatonin by the pineal gland.
D. Narcolepsy: sudden attacks of irresistible sleep during the
day.
E. Cataplexy: a sudden loss of voluntary muscle control
triggered by strong emotional experiences such as joy, crying,
anger, extreme fear, or intense laughter.
F. Sleep Paralysis: a temporary state following awakening in
which people incapable of moving or talking.
G. Hypnagogic Hallucinations: hallucinations, often
frightening, occurring just before the onset of sleep or shortly
upon awakening (a.k.a. sleep hallucinations).
H. Obstructive Sleep Apnea: involves repeated episodes
during sleep of snorting or gasping for breath, pauses of breath,
or abnormally shallow breathing.
I. Parasomnias: sleep disorders involving abnormal behavior
patterns associated with partial or incomplete arousals.
J. Sleep Terrors: involve waking up during non-REM sleep in
an extreme panic.
K. Sleep Walking Disorder: a non-REM sleep disorder
involving persistent and recurring episodes of sleepwalking in
adulthood.
L. REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: repeated episodes of
acting out one’s dreams during REM sleep either by thrashing
about or talking.
M. Nightmare Disorder: a sleep disorder characterized by
recurrent awakenings due to frightening nightmares.
N. Sexsomnia: a non-REM sleep disturbance that causes
people to engage in sexual acts such as masturbation, fondling,
intercourse, and possibly rape while they are asleep.
O. Restless Leg Syndrome: prolonged “crawly” sensations in
the legs, accompanied by strong repetitive leg movements that
can wake the sleeper.
IV. Treatments for Sleep-Wake Disorders
A. The Biological Approach
B. Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques
C. Stimulus Control