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When an event is physically or psychologically challenging, it is considered a stressor, and the response to that stressor is known as strain (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). Stress itself, then, is defined to be the discrepancy between a person's physical and psychological demands and his or her biological, psychological, or social system resources (Sarafino & Smith, 2017).

Some general stressors perceived in one's daily life include demanding job responsibilities, pain from disease (i.e., arthritis), traffic, financial problems, growing up in poverty, being a victim of abuse (i.e., substance, sexual, verbal, emotional), conflicting with others, handling the death of a loved one, having low self-esteem, maintaining a constant negative perspective, having a fear of social rejection, trying to fix low relationship quality, a loss of income or one's job, the fear of failure or dealing with one's failures, caring for the medical needs of another, getting a divorce, and seeing others in stressful circumstances.

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Coping is the process in which individuals manage stressful circumstances to correct the situation, alter the perceived discrepancy, tolerate the threat, or avoid the occurrence (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). There are several coping mechanisms, though not all are guaranteed successes, which occur through continuous cognitive and behavioral transactions with the environment where appraisals and reappraisals adjust alongside shifts in the person-environment relationship (Sarafino & Smith, 2017).

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Psych.net had a questionnaire called the Stress Level Test (Self Assessment). After taking this test, I received the results, "Little or No indication of stress." This questionnaire made it known that I do not display symptoms similar to those who have high stress; instead, I exhibit minimal symptoms.

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Networks, Groups, and Local Resources for Support

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Networks, Groups, and Local Resources for Support

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Social support is the emotional or esteem, tangible or instrumental, informational, or companionship support available to an individual through people they know, such as a friend or family, as well as from groups or community organizations (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). In Arizona, several hundred resources are available for people who need support financially, suffer from a disease, need help with their children, struggle with mental health, and many other circumstances that call for assistance. Southwest Network provides individuals with an A-Z list of a majority of available resources within Arizona, some of which include the Southwest Job Network to provide employment resources, the American Heart Association for cardiovascular disease and stroke prevention, Family Resources Center for low-cost classes and activities for parents and children, and Banner Behavioral Health for mental health services (Southwest Network, 2020).

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Disclosure is when one describes their feelings, either verbally or written, about a stressful event (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). Self-disclosure is expressing personal experiences and knowledge but typically is used on a client to build up the therapeutic alliance by modeling relationship skills and opening the discussion for clients to practice appropriate responses (Sturges, 2012). A multitude of studies concerning self-disclosure see several benefits. For instance, clients reported more positive perceptions of symptoms, reduced symptoms, and a greater liking of the therapist (Sturges, 2012). Therapists who use this method have clients who are more willing to return to therapy or refer others to therapy and can use it to address behaviors that occur in a session, shape more appropriate client behavior, or reinforce improvements in client behaviors (Sturges, 2012). Not only this, but using self-disclosure demonstrates a willingness to take risks, which may then be reciprocated by the client, strengthening the client-therapist relationship (Sturges, 2012).

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The Mental Health America website had a questionnaire called the Stress Screener. After taking this test, I received the results, "You could be doing better…" This questionnaire made it known that I possibly experience stress-related health effects similar to those who have high stress. It suggested that I decrease the number of stressors to lead a healthier lifestyle to avoid detrimental long-term consequences.

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Many students share similar situations, if not the same, that cause stress in their daily life and put them at risk for disease. Stressors for a student may include: balancing job, homework, and club responsibilities, traffic (i.e., when commuting to campus), being late to class or appointments, financial problems (i.e., student loans, loss of a job, groceries), being a victim of peer pressure (i.e., substance abuse or sexual abuse), excessive noise and crowded situations (i.e., common areas filled with hundreds of people while trying to study or get somewhere), conflicting with others (i.e., roommate issues), low self-esteem from social media, fear of social rejection, not meeting one's expectations (i.e., getting a job or an A in class), relationship quality (i.e., staying in contact with old friends, new friends, significant others), exams, and interacting with higher status people (i.e., professors or managers).

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Three common coping styles for students include task-oriented, emotion-based, and avoidance. First, task-oriented coping is usually referred to as active adapting coping because it involves strategically managing the stressor through tasks such as decision-making, planning, and conflict resolution (Legg & Cohen, 2020). Examples of students using this style would be choosing a new study method after failing an exam, applying for jobs after being fired, or sitting down with a roommate to resolve an ongoing issue. Second, emotion-based coping is also an active style but can be adaptive or maladaptive based on the student's emotional reaction to a stressor (Legg & Cohen, 2020). In the adaptive form, emotion-based coping involves seeking social support, relaxation methods, and taking responsibility for mistakes (Legg & Cohen, 2020). For example, a student would call friends or family to discuss their stressors or ask for help, hang out with friends for the weekend to take a break from homework, or acknowledge that a failed test was due to a lack of studying. Contrastingly, maladaptive emotion-based coping does not reduce stress and involves behaviors such as self-harm, substance abuse, lashing out in anger, and a lack of communication (Legg & Cohen, 2020). For example, a student may begin to rely on alcohol to take the stress away temporarily, become moody from a lack of self-care, or begin to self-harm from feelings of depression and a lack of positive support. Lastly, avoidance coping is a passive maladaptive style that involves ignoring the stressor (Legg & Cohen, 2020). Strain is suppressed by not engaging with the stressor but often results in increased feelings of anxiety, anger, depression, and low self-worth (Legg & Cohen, 2020). An example of this seen in students is when they go to parties, increase hangouts with friends, or choose to watch T.V. instead of handling the stressor. Additional coping methods may include exercising, speaking with a trained counselor on campus, cutting back on the number of activities, or developing a study strategy.

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Dhabhar F. S. (2018). The short-term stress response - Mother nature's mechanism for enhancing protection and performance under conditions of threat, challenge, and opportunity. Frontiers in neuroendocrinology, 49, 175–192. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5964013/

Legg, J. S., & Cohen, T. (2020). Stress and coping styles of radiologic science students. Radiologic Technology, 91(6), 533–542.https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/eds/command/detail?vid=11&sid=eda4a96f-369c-47c3-bdd2-1c01da391066%40sdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=143839907&db=ccm

Mental Health America. (n.d.). Stress: Coping with everyday problems. https://www.mhanational.org/stress-coping-everyday-problems

Sarafino, E., & Smith, T. (2017). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. http://www.gcumedia.com/digital-resources/wiley-and-sons/2016/health-psychology_biopsychosocial-interactions_9e.php

Schneiderman, N., Ironson, G., & Siegel, S. D. (2005). Stress and health: psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants. Annual review of clinical psychology, 1, 607–628. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2568977/#S8title

Smith, K. (2019). Under too much stress? Here’s what you can do about it. https://www.psycom.net/too-much-stress/

Southwest Network. (2020). Support groups – All. http://www.southwestnetwork.org/nt19rg/result.asp?engSearch=49

Sturges, J. W. (2012). Use of therapist self-disclosure and self-involving statements. The Behavior Therapist, 35(5), 90-93. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258052482_Use_of_therapist_self-disclosure_and_self-involving_statements

Yaribeygi, H., Panahi, Y., Sahraei, H., Johnston, T. P., & Sahebkar, A. (2017). The impact of stress on body function: A review. EXCLI journal, 16, 1057–1072. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5579396/

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My personal stress includes balancing my social life, job demands, club duties, and school responsibilities. I also have financial problems such as saving up for a car while paying off student loans and saving enough money to move out and for retirement, emergencies, gifts, summer classes, and other bills. Plus, I have the stress of multiple exams mixing in with preparing for the upcoming holidays and trying to make time for myself to exercise and take care of my body.

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As mentioned previously, there are emotion-focused and problem-focused coping methods, but there are several variations of these that allow people to handle stress. For instance, proactive coping is an effort to minimize or prevent stress (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). Proactive coping includes enhancing one's social support system, learning to be an assertive individual, improving one's personal control, keeping an organized schedule through time management, exercising, and preparing for potentially stressful events (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). If effective coping methods are unachievable, a person may want to try behavioral or cognitive techniques to reduce their reaction to stress, known as stress management. Through medication, the progressive muscle relaxation technique, systematic desensitization, biofeedback, modeling, and cognitive restructuring, stress management is achieved (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). There are also the options of getting a massage, meditating, and hypnosis.

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Physiological effects involve mental, emotional, and physical aspects of the body. Physical effects involve direct material or bodily changes, while psychological (i.e., mental and emotional) effects involve how one perceives life circumstances (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). Although short-term physiological effects of stress on the body activate many systems to enable survival, such as the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neuroendocrine systems, the immune system is suppressed, which expends bodily energy (Dhabhar, 2018). The immune system immediately responds to the demands of a stressful situation that result in wounding or infection and may cause the individual to suffer from more frequent illness if not taken care of (Dhabhar, 2018). Long-term physiological effects of stress on the body alter the hippocampus's function and structure, which brings about changes in sensory, short-term, long-term, declarative, verbal, and spatial memory and may cause atrophy or neurogenesis disorders (Yaribeygi et al., 2017). Studies also show that stress negatively affects cognition, causing behavioral, cognitive, and mood disorders (Yaribeygi et al., 2017). Furthermore, the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems decrease or increase heart rate, blood pressure, and contractility and accelerate inflammation processes, respectively (Yaribeygi et al., 2017).

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To cope with stress, Psycom suggests asking oneself a few simple questions to pinpoint areas that need improvement to reduce unnecessary anxiety. The questions should address if one has a positive social network to rely on, what activities encourage mindfulness, how much sleep one gets every night, how cluttered one's daily life is, and when and how can relaxation be practiced. (Smith, 2019).

The Mental Health Awareness website suggests exercising, meditating, expressing one's feelings to another, participating in enjoyable hobbies, visualizing the stressful circumstance going successfully, learning to say no when feeling overwhelmed, setting realistic goals, and learning how to ask for help if needed (Mental Health Awareness, n.d.).

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There are several risks to stress, which increase the longer an individual is exposed to or prolongs the stressor and include, but are not limited to, the following problems: more susceptibility to illness, a longer recovery time to reach arousal base line levels, the stimulation of organs and adrenal glands through the sympathetic nervous system, general adaptation syndrome (GAS) symptoms (i.e., the impaired ability to handle new stressors, vulnerability to ulcers, high blood pressure, asthma, a weakened immune system, depleted energy, and damage to internal organs), rapid aging, memory loss, inability to pay attention, elevated physiological responses in the absence of stressors, cognitive decline, anxiety, feelings of sadness or depression, aggressive behavior, insensitivity, less sociable behavior, increased risk of heart disease, high levels of stress hormones, increased blood pressure, increased cortisol, potential premature births and babies below a normal weight, sleep difficulties, post-traumatic stress disorder, increased risk of heart attack or stroke, emotional exhaustion, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, lower life expectancy, and cancer (Sarafino & Smith, 2017).

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I currently do not have any support groups in my life that help me cope. I do, however, have several local resources available. My local resources for my personal life include my parents, siblings, and boyfriend. For my school life, I have my student counselor, people within the ACE center (i.e., tutors, LEADs, etc.), the Psych Club, Alpha Chi, and the various resources the Honors college offers (i.e., PAC development camp, FLIGHT mentorship, Honors After Dark tutoring). I have the career connections tab on my student portal to search for job or internship opportunities, my manager, team leaders, and co-workers for my work life. For my spirituality, I have the church that I used to attend or the prayer chapel at GCU.

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There are several types of short-term and long-term biopsychosocial effects of stress that include the psychological, behavioral, and biological aspects of a person. Psychologically, those who experience stress may have anxiety, depression, poor school performance, post-traumatic stress disorder, mood disorders, sleep problems, eating disorders, personality disorders, and learned helplessness (Schneiderman et al., 2005). Behaviorally, individuals may participate in more risky behaviors such as smoking or substance use, lead a sedentary lifestyle, have more antisocial behaviors, negative views toward learning, and aggression issues (Schneiderman et al., 2005). Biologically, there can be structural changes in the central nervous system, sustained increases in blood pressure, heart rate, and stroke volume, damaged arteries, plaque formation, coronary heart disease, hypertension, slower wound healing, slower recovery, inadequate antibody responses to vaccination, increased vulnerability to viral infections, and early death (Schneiderman et al., 2005).

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I cope with stress by using several different methods. The most effective ones I use are exercising my frustrations out, venting to my social network to get advice or just to talk about the situation, meditating to refocus on the problem and find the best possible solution, keeping an organized schedule by managing my time through multiple planners and a calendar, and prepare for future stressors as best I can if I am able to see them potentially occurring. Additionally, I like to take time out of my busy day to pray to God or read His word to strengthen my faith in Him and ask for the ability to handle the day's stress.

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There are two general ways to manage stress, known as emotion-focused and problem-focused coping. Emotion-focused coping aims to regulate the emotional response to a stressful situation through cognitive or behavioral methods; it involves redefining the situation to be positive or engaging in distracting activities, respectively (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). Some examples of this method are venting one's feelings, being in denial about the situation, praying, or finding meaning within the stressor. Problem-focused coping aims to alter the problem that is causing stress by reducing the demands and expanding the resources available for the situation (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). Some examples of this method are: seeking assistance or information for the situation, logically analyzing the situation, planning whom to best handle it, and taking direct action.

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I use both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping methods to manage my stress. For instance, over summer, I had a well-paying job that was only temporary but had the potential to become a permanent position if the company chose to keep me on. Unfortunately, the company did not decide to keep me as a permanent employee, and I was let go a week into the school year. To me, this was an unfair outcome. I had extended the amount of amount time I was supposed to stay on for the position by nearly four weeks, had the best statistics out of all hired employees, and noticeably improved in areas that my managers and team leaders suggested I work on without complaint. Due to this, I knew it would be a struggle to find another job that had as much flexibility and as good of pay as this one had. My stress over financials began to increase significantly. However, I took this as an opportunity to reevaluate the situation positively. Despite being dropped by the company last minute, I was grateful that I had the opportunity to gain customer service experience and knowledge on the subject of private student loans. It allowed me to gain the skills to help individuals fill out applications, work on my empathy, and better understand how interest is determined and accumulates. To solve this issue, I began applying for jobs about one to two weeks before I suspected that I would not get the permanent position. By taking that direct action and not avoiding the upcoming situation or denying it would occur, I was able to land a job at Grand Canyon University.