Psychology Essentials: Stress, Disorders, and Treatment Approaches

Posted on Sep 19, 2025 in Psychology

Stress and Coping Mechanisms

Understanding Stress

• Stress: Circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and challenge coping abilities.

• Common stressors: Frustration, conflict, change, pressure.

Types of Stressors

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

This model describes the body’s stress response in three stages:

1. Alarm Reaction: Fight-or-flight response; physiological arousal.

2. Resistance: Coping mechanisms activate; arousal stabilizes but remains elevated.

3. Exhaustion: Body’s resources depleted, leading to disease vulnerability.

Physiological Stress Responses

• Two main brain-body pathways:

  1. Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) → adrenal medulla → catecholamines (e.g., adrenaline): increases heart rate, respiration, and blood flow.

  2. Pituitary Pathway → adrenal cortex → corticosteroids: increases energy and reduces inflammation.

Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Stress

Learned Helplessness

• Passive behavior resulting from unavoidable aversive events (e.g., giving up).

• Linked to depression.

Self-Indulgence

• Unhealthy behaviors (e.g., overeating, smoking, excessive shopping) used as escape mechanisms.

Defense Mechanisms

• Unconscious strategies (e.g., denial, repression) that distort reality to reduce emotional distress.

Catastrophic Thinking (Albert Ellis)

• Unrealistically negative self-talk like “I’ll never be happy again” leads to exaggerated stress responses.

Constructive Coping Strategies

1. Directly confronting problems.

2. Realistic appraisal of stress and resources.

3. Reappraising stressors in less threatening ways.

4. Caring for physical well-being (e.g., adequate rest, regular exercise).

Stress and Physical Health

Impact on the Body

• Increases risk of heart disease, especially in Type A personalities (hostility is the most toxic trait).

• Weakens immune function, increases inflammation.

• Can impair neurogenesis (linked to depression).

Stress Moderators

• Optimism: Linked to better coping and health outcomes.

• Conscientiousness: Associated with better habits, medical adherence, and longer life.

• Social Support: Buffers impact of stress (explicit vs. implicit support styles vary culturally).

Health-Related Behaviors

• Health-impairing behaviors: smoking, drinking, poor diet, lack of exercise, risky sex.

• People often underestimate personal risk and delay needed actions.

Stress and Coping: Quiz Examples

Understanding Psychological Disorders

Key Concepts in Psychological Disorders

• Psychological Disorder: A clinically significant disturbance in cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior.

• Diagnosis: The process of distinguishing one illness from another based on symptoms.

• Comorbidity: The coexistence of two or more disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety).

Anxiety-Related Disorders

Depressive and Bipolar Disorders

Note: People with depression often blame themselves and feel hopeless.

Dissociative Disorders

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

Core Features:

• Delusions: False beliefs out of touch with reality (e.g., grandeur, persecution)

• Hallucinations: Sensory perceptions in the absence of stimuli (e.g., hearing voices)

• Disorganized thinking/speech

• Deteriorated adaptive behavior

• Emotional disturbance (flattened, inappropriate, or volatile)

Positive Symptoms: Hallucinations, delusions, incoherence
Negative Symptoms: Flat affect, social withdrawal, poor hygiene

🎯 Example: Believing one is going to perform at a royal event = Delusion of Grandeur

Legal and Institutional Concepts in Mental Health

• Insanity: Legal term indicating inability to understand right from wrong due to mental illness

• Involuntary Commitment: Hospitalization against one’s will under specific conditions:

  1. Danger to self

  2. Danger to others

  3. Unable to care for self

Personality Disorders: Cluster System

Eating Disorders

Etiology of Psychological Disorders (Causes)

• Biological: Genetics, neurotransmitter imbalances (e.g., dopamine in schizophrenia)

• Cognitive: Irrational thinking (e.g., self-blame in depression)

• Environmental: Trauma, dysfunctional family, cultural norms

• Multifactorial Causation: Disorders emerge from complex interactions between genetic vulnerability and stress

Psychological Disorders: Quiz Examples

Therapeutic Approaches for Mental Health

1. Insight Therapies

Goal: Enhance self-knowledge for personality and behavior change
Types:

• Psychoanalysis (Freud):

  • Focus: Unconscious conflicts from childhood (especially sexual and aggressive impulses)

  • Techniques: Free association, dream analysis, interpretation

  • Concepts: Resistance (client avoids sensitive topics), transference (client projects feelings onto therapist)

• Psychodynamic Therapy:

  • Modern adaptation of psychoanalysis

  • Includes focus on past, interpersonal relationships, and recurring life patterns

• Client-Centered Therapy (Carl Rogers):

  • Focus: Self-concept incongruence

  • Therapeutic Climate:

    • Genuineness (honesty)

    • Unconditional positive regard (nonjudgmental acceptance)

    • Empathy (understanding client’s point of view)

• Group Therapy:

  • Clients support and learn from each other

  • Therapist promotes cohesiveness

• Couples and Family Therapy:

  • Focus: Social dynamics within family or romantic unit

2. Behavior Therapies

Goal: Eliminate maladaptive behaviors using learning principles
Key Methods:

• Systematic Desensitization (Joseph Wolpe):

  • Treats phobias via anxiety hierarchy, relaxation, and exposure

• Exposure Therapy:

  • Direct confrontation with feared stimuli (can include VR)

• Social Skills Training:

  • Use modeling, rehearsal, and reinforcement to improve interpersonal skills

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT):

  • Focus: Change distorted, irrational thoughts (Aaron Beck)

  • Combines verbal techniques and behavior modification

3. Biomedical Therapies

Goal: Reduce symptoms through physiological means
Types of Medications:

• Antianxiety Drugs: (e.g., Xanax) – fast relief, short-lived

• Antipsychotic Drugs: (e.g., Thorazine) – reduce schizophrenia symptoms, risk of side effects

• Antidepressants (SSRIs): (e.g., Prozac) – used for depression and anxiety disorders

• Mood Stabilizers: (e.g., Lithium) – used for bipolar disorder; require blood monitoring

Other Treatments:

• ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy):

  • Used for treatment-resistant depression

  • Involves cortical seizures; may cause memory loss

4. Additional Therapeutic Concepts

Therapy Quiz Focus: Key Takeaways

• Lithium = Bipolar

• Systematic Desensitization = Phobia treatment

• Schizophrenia = Antipsychotics

• Client-Centered Therapist Traits = Genuineness, Empathy, Unconditional Positive Regard

• Insight vs. Behavioral vs. Biomedical Therapies: Know each method’s goal and tools

• Resistance and Transference: Common in psychoanalysis

• Behavior Therapy: Focus on unlearning behavior, not finding root cause