13.6 SUMMARY

• Stressors are events and threats that place specific demands on a person or threaten well-being.
• Sources of stress include major life events (even happy ones), catastrophic events, and chronic hassles, some of which can be traced to a particular environment.
• Events are most stressful when we perceive that there is no way to control or deal with the challenge.

• The body responds to stress with an initial fight-or-flight reaction, which activates the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis and prepares the body to face the threat or run away from it.
• Chronic stress can wear down the immune system, causing susceptibility to infection, aging, tumor growth, organ damage, and death.
• Response to stress varies if the stress is interpreted as something that can be overcome or not.
• The psychological response to stress can, if prolonged, lead to burnout.

• The management of stress involves strategies for influencing the mind, the body, and the situation.
• Mind management strategies include repressing stressful thoughts or avoiding the situations that produce them, rationally coping with the stressor, and reframing.
• Body management strategies involve attempting to reduce stress symptoms through meditation, relaxation, biofeedback, and aerobic exercise.
• Situation management strategies can involve seeking out social support, engaging in religious experiences, or attempting to find humor in stressful events.

• The psychology of illness concerns how sensitivity to the body leads people to recognize illness and seek treatment.
• Somatic symptom disorders can stem from excessive sensitivity to physical problems.
• The sick role is a set of rights and obligations linked with illness; some people fake illness in order to accrue those rights.
• Successful health care providers interact with their patients to understand both the physical state and the psychological state.

• The personality traits of optimism and hardiness are associated with reduced risk for illnesses, perhaps because people with these traits can fend off stress.
• The self-regulation of behaviors such as eating, sexuality, and smoking is difficult for many people because self-regulation is easily disrupted by stress.