Your Stress-Defining Moment

 
For this Discussion, review this week’s Learning Resources, including the “Defining the Stress Response Across Multiple Scientific Disciplines” handout. Then take the Holmes and Rahe stress assessment. Finally, consider any insights you had or conclusions you drew after completing the Holmes and Rahe self-evaluation.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 3 your definition of stress. Then explain why your perceptions of stressors might be relevant to Richard Lazarus’s appraisal model. Finally, explain any insights you had or conclusions you drew after completing the Holmes and Rahe self-evaluation. Be specific.

 
Readings

Course Introduction: Please read the Course Introduction located on the left navigation bar.
Course Text: Contrada, R. J. (2011). Stress, adaptation, and health. In R. J. Contrada & Baum (Eds.), The handbook of stress science: Biology, psychology, and health (pp. 1–9). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Course Text: Dhabhar, F. S. (2011). Effects of stress on immune function: Implications for immunoprotection and immunopathology. In R. J. Contrada & A. Baum (Eds.), The handbook of stress science: Biology, psychology, and health (pp. 47–63). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Book Chapter: Lovallo, W. R. (2005). Behavioral medicine and biomedicine. In Stress and health: Biological and psychological interactions (2nd ed., pp. 1–10). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
Stress and Health: Biological and Psychological Interactions by Lovallo, W. Copyright 2005 by Sage Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc., via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Book Chapter: Lovallo, W. R. (2005). Psychosocial models of health and disease. In Stress and health: Biological and psychological interactions (2nd ed., pp. 11–28). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
Stress and Health: Biological and Psychological Interactions by Lovallo, W. Copyright 2005 by Sage Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc., via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Book Chapter: Lovallo, W. R. (2005). History of the concept of stress. In Stress and health: Biological and psychological interactions (2nd ed., pp. 29–40). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
Stress and Health: Biological and Psychological Interactions by Lovallo, W. Copyright 2005 by Sage Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Inc., via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Article: American Psychological Association. (2006). Stress weakens the immune system: Friends, relaxation strengthen health. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/research/action/immune.aspx  

Article: Goh, Y. W., Sawang, S., & Oei, T. P. S. (2010). The revised transactional model (RTM) of occupational stress and coping: An improved process approach. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Organisational Psychology, 3(1), 13–20.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.
Article: Kelso, T., French, D., & Fernandez, M. (2005). Stress and coping in primary caregivers of children with a disability: A qualitative study using the Lazarus and Folkman Process Model of Coping. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 5(1), 3–10.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.
Article: Medline Plus. (2011). Stress. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stress.html  
Article: Murphy, L., Denis, R., Ward, C. P., & Tartar, J. L. (2010). Academic stress differentially influences perceived stress, salivary cortisol, and immunoglobulin-A in undergraduate students. Stress, 13(4), 365–370.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.
Article: National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearing House. (n.d.). Resources. Retrieved from http://mhselfhelp.squarespace.com/res-idx
Article: Segerstrom, S. C. (2010). Resources, stress, and immunity: An ecological perspective on human psychoneuroimmunology. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 40(1), 114–125.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.

Assessment: Wilson, D. R. (2006). Life stressor assessment. Adapted from Holmes, T., & Rahe, R. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11(2), 213–218.
The Social Readjustment Rating Scale by Holmes, T., & Rahe, R. In the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11(2). Copyright 1967 by Elsevier Health Science. Reprinted by permission of Elsevier Health Science via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Handout: Laureate Education, Inc. (2012). Defining the stress response across multiple scientific disciplines. Unpublished document.
Handout: Laureate Education, Inc. (2012). The body’s micro-response to stress. Unpublished document.
Handout: McCance, K. L, & Huether, S. E. (2010). The stress response [Figure]. In Pathophysiology: The biologic basis for disease in adults and children (6th ed., pp. 340–341). Maryland Heights, MO: Elsevier.
This article was published in Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults and Children, McCance, K.L., & Huether, S. E. Pages 340-341. Copyright 2010 Elsevier.
Handout: Wilson, D. R. (n.d.). Primary appraisal and coping.
Used with permission from Dr. Debra Rose Wilson, PhD. All rights reserved.

Website: The American Institute of Stress. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stress.org/
*Students may browse the Home page and the Topics of Interest tab without subscribing or logging into the webpage.

Media

Video: National Institute of Mental Health. (Producer). (2009). Stress in the animal kingdom: What we can learn [Video webcast]. Available from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/media/2009/sapolsky.shtml