Stress and Coping: Annotated Bibliography

Krohne H. W. (2002) Stress and coping theories . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 45: 223–236. 

Krohne, while drawing from a large variety of resources, reviews the stress and coping theories giving it a more in-depth coverage. He gives two distinctly different approaches to the subject of stress by using two theories, the systemic stress theory by Selye and the psychological stress model. The systemic theory is said to be based on physiology and psychobiology. He then goes on to delve into the coping theories, which he also breaks into two parameters which are further segmented into small, understandable approaches. 

Selye’s theory advanced by the endocrinologist Hans Selye covers the concept of systemic stress which is mostly experienced by animals externally. These basically include various environmental changes that put the animal’s body system under pressure to adapt appropriately to those changes. These changes such as increased heat or cold each have a type of specific response which he describes as a process of three stages of initial shock, countershock involving autonomic excitability followed by the stage of resistance which is also a mode of adaptation to the stressor and finally the stage of exhaustion which signifies the inability to show resistance that may lead to irreversible tissue damage and subsequent death. This is known as the general adaptation syndrome. This theory which clearly depicts stress and coping in terms of animals though was consequently adopted for other reasons, faced criticism from many other researchers who were quick to poke holes in his theory. Krohne notes that this theory later acts as an inspiration to research on critical life events, for instance, the influential hypotheses presented by Holmes and Rahe and which poses the thought that critical life events produce a challenge to organisms. 

Krohne then goes on to discuss Lazarus’ theory of psychosocial stress which are largely based on the concept of appraisal and that of coping. Appraisal according to him the realization of what is happening to their well-being while coping, he describes as the effort made to manage the situation. This theory terms stress as the relationship between individuals and their environment whereby psychosocial stress is the appraisal of an individual’s relationship with their environment and the significance of this to their well-being. According to this significance there comes the need or demand to cope appropriately. Stating that there exist different types of appraisals that are dependent on the individual’s goals, disposition, and experiences. Or basically wat matters to the and what doesn’t. this leads to the categorization of stress in three levels, harm, threat, and challenge. The rest of Kohne’s paper practically sheds light on coping practices such as the trait-oriented coping mechanisms such as repression-sensitization, monitoring and blunting. The paper ends on a future note outlining prospective areas of stress and coping which have not yet been explored fully and need research to effectively cover. 

This paper proves exclusively invaluable in the study of stress and coping since it gives a blanket coverage of the topic while giving an in-depth analysis of the very origins of stressful situations right from the study of animals and their coping methods and a brief allusion to physics and its view of the stress factor. Different modes of coping are also divided into those that display orientation toward the stressor and those that move progressively away from the stressor. Some also involve trying to ignore the existence of a stressor while some voraciously research about the stressor in a bid to know more about it. Inasmuch as this paper is purely informative, one can also pick a thing or two about how to cope with stress at various levels and hopefully improve their lives in the process It is deeply eye opening informative on this subject. 

Schneiderman N., Ironson G. and Siegel S. D. (2008). Stress and health: psychological, behavioral and biological determinants. Annu Rev Clin Psychol., 1 : 607–628. doi:   10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144141 

This paper takes gives a new perspective to this the way stress affects the functions of an individual and takes the dimension of homeostasis. Schneiderman et al. explore the effects of continued psychological stress on people of advanced age especially, given the younger individuals experience less stressful situations, and their modes of coping are viewed to be much more compared to those of old people. They, therefore, go on to discuss the relationship between psychological stress and one’s physical well-being and as an extension their vulnerability to potentially life-threatening conditions. Consequently, they note that adverse effects of chronic stressors are solely or mostly found in humans because they have a greater capacity for thought. The relationship between stress and chronic diseases, though, they note, depend on the persistence of the stress stimuli and the individual’s biological vulnerability. 

The paper as a precursor to adulthood effects of psychological stress discusses the effect of stress during childhood and the long-term effects on the psychology of the individual going forward. According to Schneiderman et al., childhood abuse, rejection, parents’ divorce and war and terrorism are examples of stressful situations covered as typical stressful situations which tend to increase general stress on individuals. It is also associated with disinterest in learning and poor performance. They then go on to link these effects to adulthood stressors which inadvertently lead to life stress, anxiety, and depression which are generally started off by major negative life events which have a huge effect on the individual such as unemployment and suicide by a relative. Another effect of stress is trauma, which is caused by life situations that threatened death or caused serious injury to the individual. These situations have been as a result been dubbed, traumatic events. 

The paper then goes on to deliberate on the variations in stress responses which depend on the variability and seriousness of the stressor. Biological responses to stressors are discussed and broken down to acute responses and the chronic responses. These involve the different bodily adaptions undertaken by the body as a precaution to future stressors and immediately a familiar stressor is seen by the individual, such as how energy is released and the hormones involved such as adrenaline for flight. The paper which very particular and well documented is concluded with the different diseases or conditions which are affected by the effect of psychological stress on bodily functions. 

This paper puts special focus on the subject of the effect of stress in the everyday lifestyle of the average human. Given the upsurge of stress related complications in the 21 st century and the proliferation of lifestyle diseases, this paper has great relevance to our daily living. Another aspect of this paper is that, despite the fact that it looks like it leans on the stress side of things, it, in fact, is a documentation of both stress and coping. The only difference is that it gives the long-term acute effects of stress and the point where the bodies’ coping mechanism gives in to the ‘pressure’ induced by particular stressors. The documentation of different lifestyle diseases and how they are caused also proves very informative. Lifestyle diseases are said to be caused by the sedentary lifestyle being adopted by most people today. Another crucial component of stress coping, namely drug abuse, has also been named as one of the major causes of lifestyle diseases. 

Naughton, F. O. (1997) Stress and Coping . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 59:525-537. 

Fumi’s paper on stress and coping mostly leans on the topic of coping with little coverage of the topic of stress. For a fairly short paper, it presents a concise view on the topic based mostly on personal convictions on this fickle topic with relevant citations from notable sources. Naughton expresses the belief that stress is primarily a process of motivation since it requires one to cope with a certain set of demands. Given the definition of motivation as a process that inspires, powers or directs a certain goal, this belief has some sort of truth in it. He then goes on to analyze the component analysis of coping giving three dimensions to it namely the physiological, the cognitive and the learned approaches. The physiological component refers to the neuroendocrine processes that accompany certain stressors while the cognitive component is based on how one mentally appraises the stressor to determine its seriousness or rather the level of stress. The final component, the learned component, is discussed as experience or the stress management methods taught to individuals to help them manage their stress levels. He also brings out the interesting bit of the learned helplessness phenomena which is related to depression. Of great importance is the introduction to a new coping theory floated at the end of the article. It is steeped in the fact that stress coping is a completely complex and multifaceted undertaking whose influence ranges from the physical, psychological and even social spheres. This new theory suggests that steps taken by an individual to mitigate one type of stress may unknowingly exacerbate the other. He gives an example of a romantic relationship which exerts some kind of stress on the individuals in the relationship to spend more time with their spouse. This leads to their alienation from their friends bringing about a different kind of stress altogether. As a conclusion, there is the general consensus that we need a particular level of stress and subsequently a corresponding optimum level of coping in order to lead a sufficiently comfortable life. 

This paper’s approach is exceedingly refreshing due to its emphasis on coping mechanisms as opposed to stress and its effects as discussed in the two previous papers. It, therefore, gives valuable insight into the different ways in which an individual would appraise and react to certain stressful situations,