Lecture 3: Coping & Stress Management

The process by which people try to manage the perceived discrepancy between demands and resources in a stressful situation. 应对是管理压力情境中需求与资源之间感知差距的过程

• Includes efforts to manage internal and external demands, whether successful or not 包括管理内外部需求的努力，无论是否成功
• Not a single event — involves continuous transactions with the environment 不是单次事件，是与环境的持续交互过程
• A dynamic process of continuous appraisals and reappraisals 持续评估与再评估的动态过程

Transactional / Dynamic — loops back continuously 动态交互，持续循环

• A highly adaptive strategy focused on gaining meaning from a stressful event 高度适应性策略：从压力事件中获取意义
• Involves deriving personally relevant positive meaning in the face of an experience's negative qualities — much more than "looking on the bright side" 不仅仅是"往好处想"
• Nowlan et al. (2016): PR → higher positive emotion, lower anxiety & depression in older adults 与更多积极情绪、更少焦虑抑郁相关
• PR intervention programs show success in reducing anxiety (Ockhuijsen et al., 2014) 干预项目在减少焦虑方面有效

• An adaptive strategy: describing feelings about a stressful/traumatic experience 描述对压力/创伤体验的感受
• Important aspect of emotion regulation; can be verbal or written 情绪调节的重要方面；可口头或书面
• Cepeda et al. (2008): cancer patients with more emotional disclosure → less pain + higher well-being 情感披露更多者疼痛更少、幸福感更高
• Benefits also in PTSD (Sloan et al., 2015) and eating disorders (Weber et al., 2006)

Positive adaptation or successful coping after a stressful or adverse situation — recovery without a lasting impact. 在压力或逆境后的积极适应，从压力中恢复而不留持久影响

• Sense of coherence — seeing life as manageable and meaningful 连贯感
• Optimism — expectation that good things will happen 乐观主义
• Low neuroticism / high emotional stability 低神经质/高情绪稳定性
• High extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness 高外向性、宜人性、尽责性
• Type B personality — low competitiveness, low hostility B型人格

• Social support buffers the impact of stress on health 社会支持缓冲压力对健康的冲击
• Gellert et al. (2018): high social support buffered negative effect of perceived stress on quality of life in dementia couples 在痴呆症夫妇中，高社会支持缓冲了压力对生活质量的影响
• Tend-and-Befriend (Taylor et al., 2000): social stress response mediated by oxytocin 趋向-交友反应，由催产素介导
• Providing support also benefits health: ↓ hypertension (Sneed & Cohen, 2013), ↓ depression (Creaven et al., 2017) 提供支持也有益健康

• Protective Buffering — withholding information to "protect"; maladaptive for both parties 保护性缓冲：对双方均有不良影响
• Solicitousness — helping without request; also maladaptive 过度关心：也有不良影响
• Holt-Lunstad et al. (2015) meta-analysis: loneliness +29% mortality, social isolation +26%, living alone +32% 孤独/社会隔离/独居均增加早逝风险
• Cohen et al. (1997): <4 social roles → 4× more likely to contract a cold 社会角色类型少者感冒风险高4倍

• Allen et al. (2002): pet owners showed lower stress reaction AND faster recovery than non-owners who had a friend present 宠物主人比有朋友陪同的非宠物主人压力反应更低且恢复更快
• In married couples: pet presence attenuated stress more than the spouse's presence 宠物在场比配偶更能减轻压力反应
• Mechanism: oxytocin system activation (Beetz et al., 2012) — released in both humans and animals via touch/petting and mutual gaze 机制：催产素系统激活，抚摸和对视均可触发
• Even viewing an aquarium lowers blood pressure/heart rate (DeSchriver & Riddick, 1990) 观看水族箱也可降低血压和心率

• Mechanisms: physical activity, social interaction, sunlight, ↓ pollution, "old friends" hypothesis (microorganism exposure for immune development) 机制：体育活动、社会互动、阳光、"老朋友"假说
• UBC Study (Fell, 2010): visual presence of wood lowers sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation 视觉上有木材可降低交感神经系统激活

• Lower risk of mental illness (De Vries et al., 2003) 降低精神疾病风险
• Bratman et al. (2015): 90-min nature walk → ↓ rumination + ↓ activity in depression-related brain regions vs. urban walk 90分钟自然漫步→减少反刍，减少抑郁相关脑区活动
• Jiang et al. (2016): dose-response relationship between urban street tree density and self-reported stress recovery 树木密度与压力恢复呈线性剂量反应关系
• Shinrin-Yoku 森林浴: 3-day forest bathing → ↑ natural killer cell activity (Qing, 2009) 3天森林浴后自然杀伤细胞活性增加

• Broadly refers to practices that induce a calm, peaceful, or relaxed state 产生平静或放松状态的各种实践
• Suggested to create a "relaxation response" as alternative to the stress response (Benson, 1984) 能产生"放松反应"作为压力反应的替代
• Alleviates stress, ↓ blood pressure, ↑ immune function (Barnes et al., 2004; Davidson et al., 2003; Jain et al., 2007) 减轻压力，降低血压，增强免疫功能

• Intentionally focused awareness of one's immediate inner and outer experiences 对内外即时体验的有意识关注
• Moment-by-moment attention to thoughts, emotions, sensations, surroundings 对思想、情绪、感觉、周围环境的逐刻注意
• Lack of judgment; simple observation. Combined successfully with CBT. 不加评判；简单观察；与CBT成功结合