Module 5: Coping with Stress

Stress - The demand made on an organism to adapt, cope, or adjust.

Health Psychology- Studies the relationships between psychological factors and the prevention
and treatment of physical health problems.

Daily Hassles - Are regularly occurring conditions and experiences that can threaten or harm our
well-being.

Life Changes- Life changes differ from daily hassles in two ways: (a)Many life changes are
positive, whereas all hassles are negative. (b) Hassles occur regularly, whereas life changes occur
at irregular intervals.

Psychologist Albert Ellis (1913-2007) noted that our beliefs about events, not just the events
themselves, can be stressors.

A: Activating Event (something happens to or around someone)

B: Belief (the event causes someone to have a belief, either rational or irrational)
C: Consequence (the belief leads to a consequence, with rational beliefs leading to healthy
consequences and irrational beliefs leading to unhealthy consequences)

Eustress is the kind of stress that is helpful in promoting one’s growth and development by
providing sufficient challenges that allow one to become more resourceful and show initiative in
problem solving. Without some stress, life would be such a comfort zone and may lead to boredom.

Coping Strategies and Personal Ways of Coping with Stress

There are two broad dimensions of coping:

1. Problem focused coping means dealing with the actual problems posed by the stressful
situations. Being issue oriented, it is objective and geared toward fixing what is out of
order.
2. Emotion focused coping is more subjective as it considers the difficulties challenging
the feeling states of the individual, and as such aims to comfort and soothe the stressed
person. This coping style puts immediate importance to reducing distress and re-
establishing calmness or peace rather than resolving the issue or problem.

The Avoidance coping is what happens when one would rather ignore the stressors or fantasize
being in a different non-stressful circumstance either of which does not solve the issue or problem.
Social support is another resource that may assist in facilitating healthy ways of coping.
 Module 6: Mental Health Disorder
Internet Addiction - It is a common mental disorder among the adolescents is defined as the
compulsive urge to continually use the internet and impairs daily life.
Schizophrenia - It is a common mental disorder among younger generation is characterized by
abnormal social behavior and failure to recognized what is real.
✓ Delusions are fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence.
✓ Hallucinations are perception-like experiences that occur without an external stimulus.
They are vivid and clear, with the full force and impact of normal perceptions, and not
under voluntary control.
✓ Disorganized thinking (formal thought disorder) is typically inferred from the individual's
speech. Rarely, speech may be so severely disorganized that it is nearly incomprehensible
and resembles receptive aphasia in its linguistic disorganization {incoherence or "word
salad")
✓ Grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior may manifest itself in a variety of
ways, ranging from childlike "silliness" to unpredictable agitation.
✓ Negative symptoms account for a substantial portion of the morbidity associated with
schizophrenia but are less prominent in other psychotic disorders
Depression - is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how one feels, the
way one thinks and how one acts. Depression is associated with low levels of serotonin. It is
episodic, it is neurochemically mediated (basically serotonin)
➢ Signs and Symptoms: (should be present for at least 2 weeks and 5 or more symptoms
should be present) (1) Vegetative functions (2) Mood changes (3) Social isolation (4) Loss
of interest on previous interests (5) Irritability (6) Body weakness (7) Change in activity
level, cognitive abilities, concentration, and memory (8) Impaired interpersonal, social and
occupational functioning (9) Lassitude (10) Decrease libido (11) Worthlessness (12)
Helplessness (13) Hopelessness (14) Mental retardation (15) Suicidal ideation (16)
Suicide.
Anxiety is a normal reaction to danger, the body’s automatic fight-or-flight response that is
triggered when you feel threatened, under pressure, or are facing a challenging situation, But when
anxiety is constant or overwhelming—when worries and fears interfere with your relationships
and daily life—you’ve likely crossed the line from normal anxiety into the territory of an Anxiety
disorder.
Delusional disorder is a generally rare mental illness in which a person presents delusions, but
with no accompanying prominent hallucinations, thought disorder, mood disorder, or significant
flattening of affect.
Conduct disorder (CD) is a mental disorder diagnosed in childhood or adolescence that presents
itself through a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or
major age-appropriate norms are violated.
Drug addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a disease that affects a person's brain and
behavior and leads to an inability to control the use of a legal or illegal drug or medication.
Social anxiety disorder occurs a behavioral symptom like afraid of group outings, being nervous
around authority figures, avoid eye contact and social interaction.
Gadget addiction is nothing but the use/abuse of gadgets so much that it starts negatively
influencing your health and life as a whole.
Compulsive buying disorder (CBD), or oniomania (from Greek ὤνιοςṓnios"for sale" and μανία
manía "insanity"), is characterized by an obsession with shopping and buying behavior that
causes adverse consequences.
Problem gambling (or ludomania, but usually referred to as "gambling addiction" or
"compulsive gambling") is an urge to gamble continuously despite harmful negative
consequences or a desire to stop.
Suicide - Is a voluntary act of taking one’s own life. The risk of suicide attempts is higher for
women, but the risk of suicide completions is lower.
Different Perspectives in Psychopathology
 Module 7: Emotions
Feist and Rosenberg (2010) -Emotion is a brief acute change in conscious experience and
physiology that occur in response to a meaningful situation in the person’s environment. It is a
product of interaction with our environment.
Three distinct components of emotion
1. Subjective. While we might have broad labels for certain emotions such as 'angry,' 'sad,' or
'happy,' your own unique experience of these emotions is probably much more multi-dimensional.
Consider anger. Is all anger the same? Your own experience might range from mild annoyance to
blinding rage.
2. Physiological. If you have ever felt your stomach lurch from anxiety or your heart palpate with
fear, then you realize that emotions also cause strong physiological reactions.
3. Behavioral. The actual expression of emotion – such as a smile, a frown, laughter. Cultural
rules may play a role in this expression.
Biology of emotion
➢ The limbic system, which includes the hypothalamus, thalamus, amygdala, and the
hippocampus, is involved in mediating emotional response and memory.
➢ The amygdala has received a great deal of attention from researchers interested in
understanding the biological basis for emotions, especially fear and anxiety
➢ The hippocampus is also involved in emotional processing. Like the amygdala, research
has demonstrated that hippocampal structure and function are linked to a variety of mood
and anxiety disorders.

Module 8: Personal Relationship

According to Robert Sternberg, any permutation of love contains at its root three components.
They are:
• Intimacy: Feelings of attachment, closeness, typified by sharing secrets, etc.
• Passion: Feelings of sexual and romantic attraction.
• Commitment: A willingness in the short-term to create and maintain a relationship and long-
term plans to sustain the relationship.

Love relationships vary depending on the presence or absence of each of these components.
Passion refers to the intense, physical attraction partners feel toward one another. Intimacy involves
the ability the share feelings, personal thoughts, and psychological closeness with the other.
Commitment is the conscious decision to stay together.
The Color Wheel Model of Love
Lee (1973) offers a theory of love styles or types of lovers derived from an analysis of writings
about love through the centuries. As you read these, think about how these styles might become part
of the types of love described above.
➢ Pragma is a style of love that emphasizes the practical aspects of love. The pragmatic lover
considers compatibility and the sensibility of their choice of partners. This lover will be
concerned with goals in life, status, family reputation, attitudes about parenting, career issues
and other practical concerns.

➢ Mania is a style of love characterized by volatility, insecurity, and possessiveness. This lover
gets highly upset during arguments or breakups, may have trouble sleeping when in love, and
feels emotions very intensely.

➢ Agape is an altruistic, selfless love. These partners give of themselves without expecting
anything in return. Such a lover places the partner’s happiness above their own and is self-
sacrificing to benefit the partner.

➢ Eros is an erotic style of loving in which the person feels consumed. Physical chemistry and
emotional involvement are important to this type of lover.

➢ Ludus refers to a style of loving that emphasizes the game of seduction and fun. Such a lover
stays away from commitment and often has several love interests at the same time. This lover
does not self-disclose and in fact may prefer to keep the other guessing. This lover can end a
relationship easily.

➢ Storge is a style of love that develops slowly over time. It often begins as a friendship and
becomes sexual much later. These partners are likely to remain friends even after the breakup.

Module 9: Career Development and Insights to one’s development

Super’s Career Development Theory
Donald Super influenced the idea that developing a sense of self and realize that you change
over time is important when planning your career. One of Donald Super's greatest contributions
to career development has been his emphasis on the importance of the development of self-
concept. According to Super, self-concept changes over time, and develops as a result of
experience. As such, career development is lifelong.
Positive Psychology
Influenced by earlier humanist thinkers like Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, positive
psychology has continued to grow over the past two decades. Martin Seligman is often referred to
as the father of modern positive psychology.
Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

1. Physiological needs - these are biological requirements for human survival, e.g. air, food,
drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sex, sleep.
2. Safety needs - Once an individual’s physiological needs are satisfied, the needs for
security and safety become salient. People want to experience order, predictability and
control in their lives. These needs can be fulfilled by the family and society (e.g. police,
schools, business and medical care).
3. Social needs - Need to love and be loved, need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance
4. Esteem needs are the fourth level in Maslow’s hierarchy - which Maslow classified into
two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and
(ii) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige).
5. Self-actualization needs are the highest level in Maslow's hierarchy, and refer to the
realization of a person's potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak
experiences.

References:
Libed Glenda, Borres Jerwin (2018). Personal Development C and E. Publishing, Inc.
Llaneza-Ramos, Ma. Lourdes (2017). Personality Development. C and E. Publishing, Inc.
Maslow, A. H. (1987). Motivation and personality (3rd ed.). Delhi, India: Pearson Education.
Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective well-being around the world. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 354-356.
Wong-Fernandez, Barbara et al. (2016) Personality Development Reader. Sunshine Interlinks
Publishing house, Inc.