Psych: Stress and Anxiety

A negative emotional state characterised by nervousness, worry and apprehension and associated with activation or arousal of the body

Negative thoughts Worries Self Doubt Negative Images Difficulty Concentrating

Butterflies Shaky hands Tense Dry Mouth Yawning Needing the toilet

• Ever changing emotional state • Temporary response to a specific situation • Moment to moment changes

• Stable personality characteristic • Behavioural disposition to perceive situations as threatening • Influences demand perceptions

• Heart rate increase • Respiration increase • Skin Conductance • Biochemistry (changes in catecholamines eg adrenaline) • Self-report questionnaire (Likert Scale)

A substantial imbalance between demand and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet that demand has important consequences

Process Perceived Imbalance Acute - short lived Chronic - Long term

1) Environmental Demand (physical and psychological) 2) Individuals perception of environmental demand (amount of ‘threat’) 3) Stress Response (arousal, muscle tension, state anxiety) 4) Behavioural Consequences (performance of outcome)

1) Stress hormone - cortisol (can be sampled in blood, saliva & urine for an acute response or a hair sample that can measure chronic stress up to 6 months 2) Self report Questionnaire 3) Interview/ focus group

1) Drive theory 2) Inverted U hypothesis 3) Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) 4) Multidimensional Anxiety theory 5) Catastrophe Phenomenon 6) Direction and Intensity

1) Cognitive (negative thoughts, Attentional narrowing, Lack of concentration) 2) Affective (Feeling anxious, scared, restless, worried) 3) Behavioural (Muscle Tension, Poor Skill execution, Muscle soreness, Fatigue, Withdrawal)