Remember how elaborative rehearsal is great for consolidation of explicit memory?
10 markers can be scary if you don't know what information to pull in and connect to the topic, so I'm making this thread for practising the connecting skills.
Eg.
" How might stress develop and impact an individual"
AN User 1:
I was thinking:
- Describe the GAS & transactional model (development)
- Risk factor for mental health (impact)
- Anxiety disorders (impact and development?)
AN user 2:
"quote"
I agree describe the GAS and transactional model. Not sure about talking about anxiety disorders - they're a bit different
I think it's important to distinguish between eustress and distress, so my list would be:
- GAS and transactional model (development)
- eustress and distress (impact)
- risk factor for mental health (impact)
- Anxiety disorders (maybe) (impact/development)
There are certainly things these two fictitious users haven't considered - so let's start off with the same prompt
" How might stress develop and impact an individual"
development of stress:
-stress as a psychobiological experience characterised by physiological and psychological experience.
-stress can be both acute/chronic, eustress/distress
-the level of stress experience is proportional to the degree to which an individual must adapt, and whether or not they perceive they have the resources available to do so.
-establish that stress is caused by stressors (perhaps talk about daily pressures and life events)
-daily pressures, when accumulated can be magnified, and lead to chronic distress
-life events: require substantial readjustment within a short period of time
-the GAS as a non-specific response to stressors, and the transactional model that emphasises cognitive appraisal.
- stress is experienced when one perceives that they do not have the resources to cope, therefore it could be good to talk about maladaptive coping strategies, ineffective coping strategies that are irrelevant to the context of the stress experience, and lack of coping flexibility.
-avoidance coping strategies that may be ineffective in the long term, and may be reinforced by the opperant conditioning principle of negative reinforcement.
-applying the same maladaptive coping strategies to stressors of different contexts, and not adapting to the stressor as a result of stimulus generalisation
Impact on an individual:
maladaptive impact
the negative effects of chronic stress can be described from a biopsychosocial perspective.
biologically: can speak about the effect of the prolonged excess cortisol in the blood stream, the exhaustion phase of the GAS, the negative effects of adrenaline. Can even mention the Holmes and Rahe social readjustment scale that proposes the relationship between readjustment, and physical illness.
The physiological stress response when inappropriately activated, can lead to the development of a mental disorder. Stress can lead to sleep disturbances (sleep onset insomnia), and thus lead to a secondary sleep disorder.
psychologically: stress can be a precipitating, and perpetuating risk factor involved in the development of a mental illness. (can speak about the stress vulnerability model. Stress may be characterised by poor self-efficacy, rumination and lack of resilience, which can all impede mental health.
socially: an individual may experience a decline in social wellbeing due to prolonged stress, poor coping flexibility may lead to social isolation, as one may refrain from seeking external help (emotion-focused coping)
-acknowledge that stress is distinct from anxiety, however the two have similarities, (stress-anxiety-phobia continuum) and thus stress can lead to an anxiety related disorder
can link stress to mental illness through the concept of cumulative risk, and establish that stress alone will not lead to a mental illness, but other peripheral factors (such as a genetic predisposition) (secondary sleep disorder) may be exacerbated by stress, and one may develop an anxiety related disorder.
adaptive impact
-the yerkes dodson curve that moderate levels of stress are adaptive, and can have a positive impact on functioning (link to eustress)
-some stress is necessary for survival (for example the fight-flight-freeze response as a survival mechanisim)
-the role of the amydala in the consolidation of emotionally arousing memories, and the adaptive effect of this.
-stress is necessary for the development of a wide range of coping strategies, coping flexibility and resilience.