Stress and Coping in Psychology

Stress and Coping in Psychology

Introduction to Stress

In psychology, stress is the physical or mental response caused by certain external stimuli which is called, stressors. Modern medicines and advanced research in the field of psychology make it possible to overcome such stresses. Stress can be caused from the sudden change of the environment or lifestyle e.g. marriage, death of any family member etc. The continuity of stress causes depression and anxiety. Those people who are internally weak and their defense system is poorly responding stressed situation, it become the cause of diseases like heart disease, asthma, obesity, diabetes, premature birth name a few. The most common symptoms of stress are feelings of anxiety, irritability, nervousness, insecurity, social withdrawal, depression, sexual dysfunction and insomnia (Folkman, 2013).

Introduction to Personality

Personality is the totality of behavioral traits, pattern of thoughts and ways of feelings. Every individual has a different set of traits. There are some common characteristics of personality which irrespective of age, location and culture include in every person. These are; consistencies, psychological processes, physiological make up, cause of actions and behaviors and it has many expressions. There are two types of personality which are given in following lines

Type-A

Those individuals who have rigid, conscious, sensitive, ambitious and impatient behavior are called to be Type-A personality. According to the Friedman, these types of personalities are common in our society and can be easily identified with the given symptoms(Shedler et al, 2010). One, they have free-floating hostility, which can be caused from simple and minor incidents. Second, they are impatient and cannot tolerate any kind of restriction like bureaucracy, rules and common barriers in the society. Third is the time urgency which causes them to be overwhelmed and overloaded. This is because; these people have a lot of work home and official work.Type B

These people are creative, exploring new concepts and ideas. They are living in less stress environment and enjoying the life at a higher level. In competition, they remain easy and perform well. If there is loss, they do not lose heart and work hard for the next attempt. Life is fun for them and participate in every sphere of life. Stress remain only for short time.

Tom Scenario

Tom has recently married and now his life is passing under regular stress. This is because of bad relation with the wife. They are fighting over tiny issues, and nothing is resolved. It looks, couple will go for divorce. In this regard, the Tom sought help from his psychology class friend in order to survive relation. His friend on the basis of psychology study suggested following ten factors, which he believes will be proved helpful for Tom.

Predictability of the stressor

Stress is one of the most common disorders, which is also defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) fifth edition. In psychology is it is known as DSM-V. Under the name of Criterion A1, there are some common symptoms of stress. On the basis of these symptoms, ...