The science of happiness and the secrets of a meaningful life - Theme

How to live a more or less happy and meaningful life?

Table of contents of the subject

Conditions for personal happiness and contentment

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What are the conditions and elements for happy and meaningful travel, studies, jobs and life choices?

  • Happiness elements are those elements (conditions, values) that lead to a satisfied life, a satisfied group or a satisfied society.
  • These are elements that play a role in the degree of satisfaction you could have as a person or as a group of people (organization, family).
  • These elements have been in literature since ancient times. They are regarded as crucial and determining elements in the context of happiness and contentment.

What are the twelve elements for sustainable happiness and contentment?

It all adds up in feeling:

What are the 13 conditions for balance and fulfillment in study, work and private life

What are the 13 conditions for balance and fulfillment in study, work and private life

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What are the 13 preconditions for balance and fulfillment in study, work and private life

  1. Help yourself by helping others
  2. Create perspective by opening new doors
  3. Don't give up but care about something
  4. Use your empathic skills
  5. Stay with yourself and leave that herd behind you
  6. Focus on your journey and not your destination
  7. Actively deal with your negative emotions
  8. Appreciate and celebrate your small successes
  9. Let others walk their own path
  10. Establish and maintain social contacts
  11. Feel unlimited and not limited
  12. Discover your qualities, take advantage of your opportunities and avoid cliffs
  13. Seek fulfillment in study, work, travel and the world around you

Signed en researched by

  • The JoHo WorldSupporter team

 

Happiness: content and contributions about the science happiness and daily life

Happiness: content and contributions about the science happiness and daily life

Content and contributions about happiness, the science of happiness and meaningful life

Article summary of Very happy people by Diener & Seligman. (1)

Article summary of Very happy people by Diener & Seligman. (1)

What is this article about?

This is a research report of an experiment where 222 undergraduates were screened for high happiness. The upper 10% of consistently very happy people were compared with average people and very unhappy people. This study has tried to find out what some factor might be that influence high happiness: social relationships, personality and psychopathology, and variables that have been related to subjective well-being in correlational studies. It also examined whether there was a variable that was sufficient for happiness and a variable that was necessary for happiness (sufficient: everyone with the variable is happy, necessary: every happy person has the variable).

What were the results?

On a scale from 5 to 35, the very happy group scored about 30 on life satisfaction. The very happy people had virtually never thought about suicide, could recall many more good events in their lives than bad ones, and had many more positive than negative emotions on a daily basis. The very unhappy people were dissatisfied with life and had equal amounts of positive and negative affect on a daily basis. They reported this about themselves, but their friends and family also rated them dissatisfied. The average group was in the middle of these two groups. 

The biggest difference between the very happy group and the average and very unhappy group, was in their fulsome and satisfying interpersonal lives. The very happy people spent the least time alone and the most time socializing and valued their relationships the highest. Good social relationships might be a necessary condition for high happiness.

The very happy people also scored the lowest on psychopathology tests, virtually never in the clinical range. Almost half of the very unhappy group scored in the clinical range. 

Also good to note, was that the verry happy people never reported their mood to be "ecstatic", but they did score their mood with a 7, 8 or 9 most of the time.

Broader samples and longitudinal methods are needed to make strong conclusions from these results. These findings do suggest that very happy people have rich and satisfying social relationships and spend little time alone. But it is not yet clear what the causal relationship is here: perhaps happy people have better relationships because of their happiness, or happiness and good relationships are both caused by a third variable. What is clear is that social relationships might be a necessary but are not a sufficient condition for high happiness. Very happy people also experience unpleasant emotions and rarely feel euphoria or ecstacy. They are rather medium to moderatly happy most of the time.

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IBP Social Psychology Summary - Dealing with Adversity and Achieving a Happy Life -ch 12

IBP Social Psychology Summary - Dealing with Adversity and Achieving a Happy Life -ch 12

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Social and Organizational Psychology

IBP 2017-2018

 

 

Dealing with Adversity and Achieving a Happy Life

 

Stress: a contributing factor to psychological and physical health problems

  • Can stem from traumatic events, or frequent daily hassles
  • Interferes with the operation of the body’s immune system, and can be measured at the cellular level
  • Stress can be reduced by social support

Loneliness: when a person has fewer and less satisfying relationships than desired

  • If you see your personality as “fixed”: you are likely to react to rejection by cutting yourself off from others
  • If you perceive yourself as capable of change: experience rejection as an opportunity for future improvement or growth
  • Interventions related to self-change help to improve people’s resilience in the face of stress and reduce the likelihood of depression

Discrimination

  • Experiencing discrimination based on disability, sexual minorities, and weight, is associated with harm to well-being
  • Weight discrimination predicts mortality

Improving mental health

  • Regular exercise
  • Social support has shown to be beneficial for people with PTSD
  • Joining groups can foster social connectedness and help prevent depression
  • Practicing self-forgiveness

Is the legal system fair?

  • Understand potential sources of error and bias within the current system
  • Lineups used to identify criminal suspects are subject to bias if all the suspects are shown at once (simultaneous lineup)
  • In legal proceedings, defendants’ race, gender, physical attractiveness, and socioeconomic status can influence jurors’ perceptions and judgments

Happiness: often referred to as subjective well-being with four basic components:

  • global life satisfaction
  • satisfaction with specific life domains
  • a high level of positive feelings
  • a minimum of negative feelings

 

Several factors consistently account for a nations’ average happiness levels:

  • degree of social support
  • per capita income
  • healthy life expectancy
  • freedom to make life choices
  • generosity toward others
  • amount of violence
  • degree of corruption

On being happy:

  • Happy people are more community-oriented than unhappy people
  • Monetary wealth beyond a certain point does not necessarily increase happiness
  • The optimum level of well-being theory: very high levels of happiness can foster complacency or lead to unjustified overoptimism
  • Growing evidence supports the idea that happiness levels are fundamentally changeable
  • Many of the characteristics needed to be a successful entrepreneur are the same ones that contribute to happiness levels
    • Self-determination theory: entrepreneurs typically have strong intrinsic motivation

 

 

References:

Baron, R., & Branscombe, N. (2016). Social psychology (14th edition)

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Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life - Baumeister e.a. - Article

Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life - Baumeister e.a. - Article

What is this article about?

Two of the most widely held goals by which people measure and motivate themselves are happiness and a meaningful life. In this article, the relationship between these two goals is discussed. More specifically, although there certainly is (much) overlap between these two, the focus here is on the differences.

How can happiness be defined?

Happiness generally refers to a state of subjective well-being. Happiness be may narrowly or broadly focused: one can be happy to have found a lost key, but one can also be happy that the war has ended. Happiness is conceptualized and measured by researcher in at least two different manners. The first one concerns affect balance, which suggests that happiness is an aggregate of how one feels at different moment. Happiness is then defined as having more pleasant than unpleasant emotional states. The second one concerns life satisfaction, which goes beyond momentary feelings. It refers to an integrative, evaluative assessment of one's entire life. Generally, assessing both of these provides a useful index of subjective well-being.

How can a meaningful life be defined?

Meaningfulness is considered to concern both a cognitive and emotional assessment of whether one's life has purpose and value.

What is the central theorem of the theory that is being proposed in this article?

The authors suggest that the simpler form of happiness (affect balance instead of life satisfaction), at least, is rooted in nature. Every living creature has biological needs, such as wanting to survive and reproduce. Basic motivations make one to pursue and enjoy those needs. Affect balance then depends to a certain degree on whether these basic needs are being satisfied.

While happiness is natural, meaningfulness may depend on culture. In every culture language is being used as a means to use and communicate meanings. Meaningfulness, thus, makes use of culturally transmitted symbols (via language) as a means to evaluate one's life in relation to purposes, values, and other meanings that are also frequently learned from the culture. Thus, meaning is more associated with one's culture than happiness is. An important feature of meaning is that it is not limited to immediately present stimuli (as happiness is). Instead, meaningfulness refers to thoughts about past, future, and spatially

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Study Guide with article summaries for Science of Happiness at the University of Utrecht

Study Guide with article summaries for Science of Happiness at the University of Utrecht

Article summaries with Science of Happiness at the University of Utrecht

Table of content

  • Revising the adaptation theory of well-being
  • Strengths and weaknesses of self-report measures of subjective well-being
  • Is the study of happiness a worthy scientific pursuit?
  • Non-traditional measures of subjective well-being and their validity
  • Concepts and components of well-being
  • What are the possibility, desirability, and justifiability of happiness?
  • Three revolutions in the global history of happiness
  • What is well-being?
  • What is eudaimonia?
  • The relationship between cognitive outlooks and well-being
  • Affective forecasting and impact bias explained
  • Factors that might influence high happiness
  • The dark side of happiness
  • Increasing happiness
  • The Sustainable Happiness Model (SHM)
  • Using Positive Psychological Interventions (PPIs) to increase subjective well-being
  • Impact of the size and scope of government on human well-being
  • Well-being in metrics and policy
  • Subjective well-being and national satisfaction
  • Can and should happiness be a policy goal?
  • Including subjective well-being measures in government policies
  • The relationship between materialism and well-being
  • Affect and emotions as drivers of climate change perception and action
  • How pro-environmental behavior can both thwart and foster well-being
  • The relationship between social bonds and well-being
  • The relationship between social capital, prosocial behavior, and subjective well-being
  • Marriage, parenthood and well-being
  • The relationship between close relationships and health
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Summary of the Promise of Sustainable Happiness

Summary of the Promise of Sustainable Happiness

Short Summary of the Promise of Sustainable Happiness

The article suggests that, despite several barriers withholding people to increase their well-being, less happy people can successfully strive to be happier by learning a variety of effortful strategies and practicing these with determination and commitment. They use the sustainable happiness model (by Lyubomirsky, Sheldon and Schkade, 2005) as theoretical framework. According to the model, three factors contribute to an individual’s happiness level:

  • The set point

  • Life circumstances

  • Intentional activities/effortful acts that are episodic and naturally variable

The journey to happiness has always and still is of great interest, there is empirical evidence that it even leads to positive life outcomes such as a higher income and stronger relationships. The question, however, is whether people can actually attain a level of sustainable happiness.

To answer this question, we first we look at what happy and unhappy people are like:

The first thing that comes to mind is the difference between their ‘objective’ circumstances that could cause a difference in their level of happiness. Some examples include: marital status, age, sex, culture, income etc. It is shown, however, that these factors do not explain the variation in people’s level of well-being.

The article proposes that happiness and unhappiness is due to the subjective experience and construal of the world by people. They interpret their environment differently, leading the authors to explore an individual thoughts, behaviors and motivations. Happier people see the world in a more positive, and thus happiness-promoting, way. Research suggests that happy people are this way because of multiple adaptive strategies:

Construal

Research that involved having happy and unhappy people reflect on similar hypothetical situations / actual life events, revealed that happy people view these events as more pleasant, while unhappy people view these same events as unfavourable..

Social comparison

Findings suggest that people that are happy are less sensitive to feedback about another person or his or her performance (favourable and unfavourable feedback). When performing ‘better’ on a task, all participants became more confident about their skills; however when the other was better, happy people were unaffected while unhappy people were, negatively. Unhappy people seem to feel positive emotions when a peer has done worse than them, even if they both got negative feedback. When they got positive feedback but performed at a lower level than a peer, they felt negative emotions. This was the case in both individual and group settings.

Decision-making

When happy people make life-altering decisions, they tend to be satisfied with their possible options, and only express negative emotions when their sense of self is threatened. Conversely, unhappy people were generally unhappy withthe options offered to them. Happy and unhappy people also differ in how they make decisions in the face of many options. Research suggests that happy individuals are relatively more likely to be satisfied with a solution that is "good enough," while unhappy people tend to maximise the benefits of their decisions and attempt

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What is the science of happines: in 27 short summaries the most relevant articles

What is the science of happines: in 27 short summaries the most relevant articles

Summaries of 27 articles on the science of happiness

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Happiness: contributions of WorldSupporters about a happy and meaningful life

Happiness: contributions of WorldSupporters about a happy and meaningful life

Content and contributions for happiness, contentment and meaningful life

Daily advice for well being? Check out the podcast 'The Science of Happiness'

Daily advice for well being? Check out the podcast 'The Science of Happiness'

stars in the night

If you're looking for some practical tools on how to improve your well being, your happiness, this podcast will suit you! It's developed by the Greater Good Science Center, part of Berkeley University. Every episode a guest is invited who has tried one of the 60 (!) tools. Also at the end there is some information about the scientific evidence and context of that specific practice. Check it out at any of your Podcast platforms or visit https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts

Don't worry, be happy!
In my life I've learned that true happiness comes from giving. Helping others along the way makes you evaluate who you are. I think that love is what we're all searching for. I haven't come across anyone who didn't become a better person through love.

In my life I've learned that true happiness comes from giving. Helping others along the way makes you evaluate who you are. I think that love is what we're all searching for. I haven't come across anyone who didn't become a better person through love.

In my life I've learned that true happiness comes from giving. Helping others along the way makes you evaluate who you are. I think that love is what we're all searching for. I haven't come across anyone who didn't become a better person through love.

Deze quote van Marla Gibbs is naar mijn mening het beeld van een Wereldsupporter. 
 

The Happiness Advantage

The Happiness Advantage

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Who are the happiest people in the world?

When I was living in the Philippines, to me the filipinos were the happiest. And I have traveled a lot. The filipinos themselves, also said to me, multiple times, different people, they were the happiest. Time for me to dive more into the topic Happiness. 

My good friend Rebie Ramoso, who to me is an example who always thinks about others and helps others, using her own skills (design and creativity, she is an artist). She advised me to read this book, instead I watched the TED-talk by Shawn Achor. 

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

Very inspiring short and fast talk about Happiness by Shawn Achor. A topic to study more. 

Scan the positive not the negative, exercise and train your brain. Happiness and Succes, and creating a revolution. Let's start now.

what makes you happy?
Happiness quotes and statements from around the world - Theme
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SPOTLIGHT:

Countries: how to see happiness from the eyes of another country and continent

Countries: how to see happiness from the eyes of another country and continent

A bundle of contributions of WordSupporters about global happiness and the personal perspective per country and region

Happiness quotes and statements from around the world - Theme
Happiness quotes & statements gathered by contentment - The Netherlands

Happiness quotes & statements gathered by contentment - The Netherlands

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Quotes & statements from Holland by contention (the twelve elements of contentment) - The Netherlands

Self-awareness & Self-insight

  • what you say, is what you are.

Independency & Steadfastness

  • Sometimes I'm so independent I forget to listen to myself.
  • By 'Loesje' (a Dutch Quote community)

Limitlessness & Freedom

  • “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”
  • “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
  • “I've found that there is always some beauty left -- in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.”
  • By 'Anne Frank' written during wartime while hiding.

Usefulness & Meaning

  • “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
  • By 'Anne Frank'

Experience & Feeling alive

  • Did you find a coin? It will bring you luck - The Netherlands.

Helpfulness & Attentiveness

  • Vragen staat vrij. It means it is your freedom to ask, you can always ask. The other person can always say no. When you want to help people, it is also best to ask, do they want help? What kind of help? Everything starts with a question. So many things can be done with a good heart, but the effect is gone, when your help doesnt fit.

Engagement & Sense of surroundings

  • Blow away the seeds of a dandelion in one breath. You may make a wish

Goal Orientation & Sense of perspective

  • Did you hit the goalpost at football? You will win the next match

Balance & Stability

  • Doe maar normaal, dan doe je al gek genoeg: Act normal, that is already crazy enough.

Result awareness & Positivity

  • Are we going Dutch? Everyone pays for themselves. It might not seem positive, but it connects with the Dutch believe in equality. In a way it is straightforward and clear, you pay what you order, so no need to be worried about your expenses. PS only when you divide the bill and the other person has ordered more expensive drinks or food. Just remember what you ordered and give it to the person who will pay. We have a thing called Tikkie or a possibility on any bank app to send a whatsapp message with a link so people can pay back easily. To me as a dutch person, it is positive and it is going towards your own results: saving money, if that is what you are after. 

Connectivity & Contacts

  • Wat gij niet wilt dat u geschiedt, doe dat ook een ander niet. ' Het rijmpje' komt uit de Lutherbijbel van 1545. It means don't do to others what you don't want to be done towards yourself. The rhyme (in dutch) is from the Lutherbible of 1545.

Attention & Focus

  • Did you step in dog poo? It will bring you luck.
Quotes & statements from around Africa by country and contention (the twelve elements of contentment) - Africa

Quotes & statements from around Africa by country and contention (the twelve elements of contentment) - Africa

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Quotes & statements from around Africa by country and contention (the twelve elements of contentment)

Self-awareness & Self-insight

  • We are what our thinking makes us: Nigeria.
  • Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand: Guinea.
  • Those who are happy at home should remain at home.

Independency & Steadfastness

  • Examine what is said, not him who speaks: Egypt.

Limitlessness & Freedom

  • Happiness often sneaks through your door when you left the door open.
  • Dance even if the hump on your back does not allow you.

Usefulness & Meaning

  • Ubuntu: I am a person through other people. (Zulu)
    • Desmond Tutu said: “One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu, the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. We believe that a person is a person through other persons.. It is a form of humanism which can be expressed
    • "I am, like because of who we all are." Ubuntu signifies emphatically that: “The life of another person is at least as valuable as one’s own,” and that “Respect for the dignity of every person is integral to this concept.”
    • Source

Experience & Feeling alive

  • Those who are absent are always wrong: Congo.

Helpfulness & Attentiveness

  • Happiness is not perfected until it is shared.

Engagement & Sense of surroundings

  • Happiness is like a perfume, you cannot pour it all on others without allowing a few drops to fall on yourself.
  • The chameleon changes color to match the earth; the earth doesn’t change colors to match the chameleon: Senegal.

Goal Orientation & Sense of perspective

  • The big game often appears when the hunter has given up the hunt for the day.
  • The chameleon looks in all directions before moving: Uganda.
  • Anxious about the shoe, but careless about the foot.

Balance & Stability

  • If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building, or do you change the nail?
  • Who swims never sinks.

Result awareness & Positivity

  • There are no shortcuts to the top of the palm tree: Cameroon.

Connectivity & Contacts

  • Lonely is one: Masai.
  • Alone in counsel, alone in sorrow.

Attention & Focus

  • Coffee and love taste best when hot: Ethiopia.
  • He who learns teaches: Ethiopia.
The Positivity Bundle: content and contributions about optimism ..and a half full glass

The Positivity Bundle: content and contributions about optimism ..and a half full glass

Content and contributions for positivity, optimism and happy feelings

A review of the causes and consequences of optimism (summary)

A review of the causes and consequences of optimism (summary)

Seeing the glass half full: A review of the causes and consequences of optimism

Forgeard, M., & Seligman, M. (2012). Seeing the glass half full: A review of the causes and consequences of optimism. Pratiques Psychologiques, 18(2), 107-120.

The psychological trait of optimism influences how individuals perceive themselves and their environment, how they process incoming information, as well as how they decide to act based on this information. Pessimists often behave in ways that are geared towards worst-case scenarios, while optimists tend to trust that the future will be favourable. According to past research, optimism and pessimism appear to have a particularly important effect on how individuals deal with challenging and stressful events. Even so, many people dismiss the effect of optimism, calling optimists naïve or in denial. This is because pessimism and its realistic view of the world seem appealing and rational when contrasted with the popular notion that optimism equates with foolishness, naiveté or denial; however, research shows that the way in which psychologists think of optimism does not involve forced enthusiasm or denial of the truth

What is Optimism?

Anthropologist Lionel Tiger defines optimism as “a mood or attitude associated with an expectation about the social or material future – one which the evaluator regards as socially desirable, to his [or her] advantage, or for his [or her] pleasure”. This means that optimism is a cognitive, affective and motivational construct - optimists both think and feel positively about the future.

The two ways in which researchers have operationalized optimism are the optimistic explanatory style approach, and the dispositional optimism approach

Optimistic Explanatory Style

This approach, developed by Seligman et al., is inspired by the observation that most (but not all) animals and humans give up when exposed to uncontrollable stressors and remain helpless when the situation becomes controllable. This behaviour is otherwise known as "learned helplessness." Helpless is associated with a pessimistic explanatory style; pessimists believe that negatives events are always present ("things will never change in the future"), have a global effect ("this negative event has ruined my entire life"), and is the fault of their own. Pessimists also often do not take credit for good events, attributing their occurrence to luck. Additionally, they perceive positive events as short-lived (“I just performed well today but who knows what will happen tomorrow”), and only affect one aspect of their lives (“I may be good at this but I’m otherwise pretty stupid”).

The optimistic explanatory style is therefore the opposite. Optimists do acknowledge negative events, but see them as specific (“other things are still going well”) and unstable (“things will get better soon”). They think negative events in a constructive, non-fatalistic manner and trust in their ability to deal with stressful problems.

The main instruments used to assess optimistic explanatory style are the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanations (CAVE), which ask people (through open-ended questions that are eventually coded) how events are caused. In both methods, the extent to which people think

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Seeing the glass half full: A review of the causes and consequences of optimism - Forgeard & Seligman - Article

Seeing the glass half full: A review of the causes and consequences of optimism - Forgeard & Seligman - Article

What is this article about?

Optimism as a psychological trait has gained an increasing amount of interest from scientists during the past couple of decades. Various studies have shown that optimism is related to important benefits. In this study, a review is presented that summarizes the findings from this body of research.

What are the two main ways in which researchers have defined and operationalized optimism?

Optimism is a psychological trait that influences individuals perceive themselves and their environment, how they process incoming information, and how they decide to act based on that information. Optimism concerns a cognitive, affective, and motivational aspect. Whereas optimists tend to believe that the future will be favorable, pessimists tend to believe that the future will have bad events in store for them. Both optimism and pessimism therefore act as powerful cognitive filters that alter an individuals' perception of the world and influence how the individual reacts and adapts to new situations, in particular challenging and stressful events.

In psychology, a distinction can be made between two main conceptions of optimism as described in the literature: optimistic explanatory style and dispositional optimism.

Optimistic explanatory style

The conceptualization of optimism as an exploratory style was developed by Seligman and colleagues (1991). This conceptualization was inspired by the finding that most humans (and animals) give up and become helpless when they are exposed to uncontrollable stressors. After this, they act helpless even when stressors are controllable again. This phenomenon is called learned helplessness. Individuals who display learned helplessness tend to have a pessimistic explanatory style. They believe negative events are stable and have far reaching consequences ("My life is ruined now"). Often, they blame themselves for the negative events ("It is my fault"). In addition, they commonly do not take credit for positive events ("I was just lucky"). 

Opposite to the pessimistic style is the optimistic explanatory style. This is referred to individuals who never become helpless. They believe negative events are unstable ("Things will go better soon") and specific ("Perhaps this is going less well, but other things are still going well"). Optimists, according to this perspective, acknowledge the presence of bad events, but they consider them in a constructive, non-fatalistic manner.

Dispositional optimism

The second perspective is developed by Schreier and Carver (2009). Here, optimism is based on an expectancy-value model of goal pursuit, which states

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Optimism in close relationships: How seeing things in a positive light makes them so - Srivastava, McGonigal, Richards, Butler, Gross (2006) - Article

Optimism in close relationships: How seeing things in a positive light makes them so - Srivastava, McGonigal, Richards, Butler, Gross (2006) - Article

What is this article about?

The central question in this article is whether optimists and their romantic partners are more satisfied in their relationships and - if this is the case - this is due to optimists who experience greater support from their partners. It appears that couples in conflict conversations are more constructive when they are more optimistic and they solve their problems better. Optimism seems to promote a variety of beneficial processes in romantic relationships.

What are the most important concepts in this chapter?

The most important concepts in this chapter are optimism, relationship satisfaction, perceived support and close relationships.

About the effect of optimism in close relationships

What is this article about?

The central question in this article is whether optimists and their romantic partners are more satisfied in their relationships and - if this is the case - this is due to optimists who experience greater support from their partners. It appears that couples in conflict conversations are more constructive when they are more optimistic and they solve their problems better. Optimism seems to promote a variety of beneficial processes in romantic relationships.

What are the most important concepts in this chapter?

The most important concepts in this chapter are optimism, relationship satisfaction, perceived support and close relationships.

What forms social perceptions?

Social perception arises in the spirit of the person who perceives it. This can be a fact that has very real consequences for his social life. This is especially true for romantic relationships.

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The science of happiness and the secrets of a meaningful life - Theme
Article summary of Very happy people by Diener & Seligman. (1)

Article summary of Very happy people by Diener & Seligman. (1)

What is this article about?

This is a research report of an experiment where 222 undergraduates were screened for high happiness. The upper 10% of consistently very happy people were compared with average people and very unhappy people. This study has tried to find out what some factor might be that influence high happiness: social relationships, personality and psychopathology, and variables that have been related to subjective well-being in correlational studies. It also examined whether there was a variable that was sufficient for happiness and a variable that was necessary for happiness (sufficient: everyone with the variable is happy, necessary: every happy person has the variable).

What were the results?

On a scale from 5 to 35, the very happy group scored about 30 on life satisfaction. The very happy people had virtually never thought about suicide, could recall many more good events in their lives than bad ones, and had many more positive than negative emotions on a daily basis. The very unhappy people were dissatisfied with life and had equal amounts of positive and negative affect on a daily basis. They reported this about themselves, but their friends and family also rated them dissatisfied. The average group was in the middle of these two groups. 

The biggest difference between the very happy group and the average and very unhappy group, was in their fulsome and satisfying interpersonal lives. The very happy people spent the least time alone and the most time socializing and valued their relationships the highest. Good social relationships might be a necessary condition for high happiness.

The very happy people also scored the lowest on psychopathology tests, virtually never in the clinical range. Almost half of the very unhappy group scored in the clinical range. 

Also good to note, was that the verry happy people never reported their mood to be "ecstatic", but they did score their mood with a 7, 8 or 9 most of the time.

Broader samples and longitudinal methods are needed to make strong conclusions from these results. These findings do suggest that very happy people have rich and satisfying social relationships and spend little time alone. But it is not yet clear what the causal relationship is here: perhaps happy people have better relationships because of their happiness, or happiness and good relationships are both caused by a third variable. What is clear is that social relationships might be a necessary but are not a sufficient condition for high happiness. Very happy people also experience unpleasant emotions and rarely feel euphoria or ecstacy. They are rather medium to moderatly happy most of the time.

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Article summary with Very happy people by Diener & Seligman (2)

Article summary with Very happy people by Diener & Seligman (2)

What is this article about?

This is a research report of an experiment where 222 undergraduates were screened for high happiness. The upper 10% of consistently very happy people were compared with average people and very unhappy people. This study has tried to find out what some factor might be that influence high happiness: social relationships, personality and psychopathology, and variables that have been related to subjective well-being in correlational studies. It also examined whether there was a variable that was sufficient for happiness and a variable that was necessary for happiness (sufficient: everyone with the variable is happy, necessary: every happy person has the variable).

What were the results?

On a scale from 5 to 35, the very happy group scored about 30 on life satisfaction. The very happy people had virtually never thought about suicide, could recall many more good events in their lives than bad ones, and had many more positive than negative emotions on a daily basis. The very unhappy people were dissatisfied with life and had equal amounts of positive and negative affect on a daily basis. They reported this about themselves, but their friends and family also rated them dissatisfied. The average group was in the middle of these two groups.

The biggest difference between the very happy group and the average and very unhappy group, was in their fulsome and satisfying interpersonal lives. The very happy people spent the least time alone and the most time socializing and valued their relationships the highest. Good social relationships might be a necessary condition for high happiness.

The very happy people also scored the lowest on psychopathology tests, virtually never in the clinical range. Almost half of the very unhappy group scored in the clinical range.

Also good to note, was that the verry happy people never reported their mood to be "ecstatic", but they did score their mood with a 7, 8 or 9 most of the time.

Broader samples and longitudinal methods are needed to make strong conclusions from these results. These findings do suggest that very happy people have rich and satisfying social relationships and spend little time alone. But it is not yet clear what the causal relationship is here: perhaps happy people have better relationships because of their happiness, or happiness and good relationships are both caused by a third variable. What is clear is that social relationships might be a necessary but are not a sufficient condition for high happiness. Very happy people also experience unpleasant emotions and rarely feel euphoria or ecstacy. They are rather medium to moderatly happy most of the time.

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Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life - Baumeister e.a. - Article

Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life - Baumeister e.a. - Article

What is this article about?

Two of the most widely held goals by which people measure and motivate themselves are happiness and a meaningful life. In this article, the relationship between these two goals is discussed. More specifically, although there certainly is (much) overlap between these two, the focus here is on the differences.

How can happiness be defined?

Happiness generally refers to a state of subjective well-being. Happiness be may narrowly or broadly focused: one can be happy to have found a lost key, but one can also be happy that the war has ended. Happiness is conceptualized and measured by researcher in at least two different manners. The first one concerns affect balance, which suggests that happiness is an aggregate of how one feels at different moment. Happiness is then defined as having more pleasant than unpleasant emotional states. The second one concerns life satisfaction, which goes beyond momentary feelings. It refers to an integrative, evaluative assessment of one's entire life. Generally, assessing both of these provides a useful index of subjective well-being.

How can a meaningful life be defined?

Meaningfulness is considered to concern both a cognitive and emotional assessment of whether one's life has purpose and value.

What is the central theorem of the theory that is being proposed in this article?

The authors suggest that the simpler form of happiness (affect balance instead of life satisfaction), at least, is rooted in nature. Every living creature has biological needs, such as wanting to survive and reproduce. Basic motivations make one to pursue and enjoy those needs. Affect balance then depends to a certain degree on whether these basic needs are being satisfied.

While happiness is natural, meaningfulness may depend on culture. In every culture language is being used as a means to use and communicate meanings. Meaningfulness, thus, makes use of culturally transmitted symbols (via language) as a means to evaluate one's life in relation to purposes, values, and other meanings that are also frequently learned from the culture. Thus, meaning is more associated with one's culture than happiness is. An important feature of meaning is that it is not limited to immediately present stimuli (as happiness is). Instead, meaningfulness refers to thoughts about past, future, and spatially

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The Stress Bundle: summaries, suggestions and tips on stress and stress reduction

The Stress Bundle: summaries, suggestions and tips on stress and stress reduction

Content and contributions of WorldSupporters about stress and stress reduction

The Stress Bundle

Studiegids voor samenvattingen bij Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping van Sapolsky
How does stress work? - Chapter 11 - Exclusive

How does stress work? - Chapter 11 - Exclusive

This chapter explores the sources of stress, the factors that can make the experience of stress easier or more difficult, and the ways that stress influences someone's physical and mental health. The difference between distress and eustress will be explained. It will be explained what stressors are, and some stressors will be mentioned. Health psychology will be described. This chapter will also explain how personality types and attitudes can influence people's reaction to stress. Lastly, this chapter will focus on ways to cope with stress through social-support systems, cultural differences, and religious beliefs.

What is the relationship between stress and stressors?

Stress is the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging. There are a lot of different symptoms of stress, such as fatigue, sleeping problems, frequents colds, chest pains, and nausea. There are also behavioral symptoms of stress, such as eating too much, crying a lot, smoking, and drinking. Emotional symptoms can be anxiety, depression, anger, and frustration. Mental symptoms of stress include problems in concentration, memory, decision making, and sense of humor. Most people experience some stress on a daily basis.

Stress-causing effents are called stressors. There are two kinds of stressors:

  • Stressors that cause distress. These are unpleasant stressors.
  • Stressors that cause eustress. These are positive events that still make demands on a person to adapt or change.

Stressors can come from within a person or be external. External stressors are for instance environmental stressors, major life changes, but also hassles. Hassles are the daily little annoyances. We think of causes of stress as big events, but most of the time, our stress comes from little frustrations, delays, irritations, or disagreements. There are different reasons for why something is a stressor/gives us stress:

  • It puts pressure on us. Time pressure is one of the most common forms of pressure.
  • It is uncontrollable. Lack of control increases stress. 
  • It frustrates us. People are frustrated when they are blocked or prevented from achieving a desired goal or fulfilling a perceived need. 
  • It brings us in conflict between two or more competing and incompatible desires, goals, or actions. 

What are physiological factors or stress?

When the human body is subjected to stress, the sympathetic nervous system reacts. This system is better known as the 'fight-or-flight' system. Endocrinologist Hans Selye studied the sequence of physiological reactions that the body goes though when adapting to a stressor. This sequence is called the general adaptation syndrome (GAS) and consists of three stages:

  1. Alarm: the sympathetic nervous system is
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How do stress, coping, adaptation and health affect personality? - Chapter 18 - Exclusive

How do stress, coping, adaptation and health affect personality? - Chapter 18 - Exclusive

Health psychology focuses on the influence of psychological and behavioral factors on health, often in combination with the environment. Stress is central to this.

What models of personality are there?

What is the interactional model?

The interactional model suggests that personality factors determine the impact of events, because they determine how someone deals with the situation. Personality would thus influence coping. How someone deals with an event determines the degree of stress caused by that event. However, a limitation of this model is that stable coping strategies have never been found.

What is the transactional model?

The transactional model does things differently. According to this model, personality has three potential effects:

  1. Personality can influence coping.
  2. Personality can affect how the person interprets an event.
  3. Personality can influence the event itself.

It is not the event that causes stress here, but rather how it is dealt with. This model is called transactional because of the person's influence on the event and the person's appreciation. There is mutual influence.

What is the health and behavior model?

A third model is the health and behavior model. This assumes that personality does not directly influence the degree of stress or illness, but that it indirectly influences stress or illness through certain behaviors, such as unsafe sex or overeating. The less healthy someone is, the greater the chance of experiencing more stress.

What is the disease and behavior model?

Another model is the disease and behavior model. In this model, disease is explained as the presence of an objectively measurable abnormal physiological process, such as fever, high blood pressure, or a tumor. Abnormal or sick behavior is about the way people behave when they think they are sick. Personality determines the degree of sick behavior, whether or not in combination with a real illness.

According to the predispositional model, associations exist between personality and illness because of a third variable that affects both, namely predisposition. The predisposition can exist for stable individual personality differences and for specific illnesses.

What is stress?

Stress is a subjective feeling that is the result of uncontrollable and threatening events (stressors). These are often extreme situations with unpleasant consequences that cannot be influenced. Stress can be divided into low sources of stress in daily life (daily hassles) and important life events (major life events). Major life events are associated with intensity, conflict and uncontrollability. Positive things can also be very stressful, for example a marriage, a move or a promotion. People with a lot of stress in their lives have many psychological and physiological symptoms. Possible responses to stress may include palpitations, increased blood pressure, sweaty hands and feet, and

.....read more
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How can stress be managed? - Chapter 13 (4th edition) - Exclusive

How can stress be managed? - Chapter 13 (4th edition) - Exclusive

What theories about stress are there?

Stress management training is the general term for interventions developed to teach participants how to handle stress. These interventions are based on cognitive-behavioral theories of stress, which consider stress as the result of an outcome of various environmental and cognitive processes. Stress is seen as a negative emotional and physiological state that is the result of cognitive responses to events that happen to us. That is why stress is seen more as a process than an outcome.

Beck and Ellis assumed that our cognitive responses to events - not the events themselves - determine our mood and that feelings of stress or other negative emotions are the result of wrong or irrational thinking. This means that the emotions are the result of misinterpretations of events or cognitions.

Beck has identified different categories of thinking that lead to negative emotions, namely:

  • Catastrophic thinking: if an event is considered negative and possibly dangerous.

  • Over-generalization: when a negative conclusion is drawn as a result of just one incident.

  • Arbitrary inference: draw a conclusion without sufficient evidence.

  • Selective abstraction: focus on a detail outside the context.

What does stress management training entail?

The stress response model suggests a series of factors that can be changed by reducing the stress of an individual. Examples of this are:

  • Environmental events that trigger the stress response.

  • Inappropriate behavioral, physiological, or cognitive responses that occur in response to the event.

Most stress management programs focus on changing people's responses to events that happen around them. Triggers can be identified and modified using problem-solving strategies. In addition, wrong thoughts can be identified and changed by a number of cognitive techniques, such as cognitive restructuring. Hereby automatic negative or catastrophic thoughts are brought up to bring them more in line with reality.

Changing triggers

The triggers that lead to stress are different for each person. A good approach to combat stress is therefore to investigate which triggers lead to stress in a person and how these triggers can be reduced. One of the most commonly used approaches to identify and change triggers is that of Egan. Stress triggers are identified and changed through three phases:

  1. Problem exploration and clarification: what are the triggers that lead to the stress?

  2. Goal setting: which triggers does the person want to change?

  3. Facilitating action: how do they set about changing these stress triggers?

.....read more
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How to Handle Stress? 12 life hacks

How to Handle Stress? 12 life hacks

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What is stress?

75 to 95 percent of visits to the doctor are for stress-related conditions

Allostatic load: a physiological and neurological state caused by your body being on constant alert. It damages your health and cognitive performance

  • Prolonged levels of high cortisol (stress hormone) in the bloodstream lead to shrinkage of the hippocampus, which is important for long-term memory and the intake of new information
  • Stress causes a reduction in serotonin in the brain, which can lead to depression and burnout
  • The more stress we perceive, the more overactivated our amygdala becomes. As a result, chronically stressed people become hypersensitive to any potential stressor

Key to emotional regulation: strengthening your ability to handle stress and training the conscious mind to control our primitive/automatic responses.

12 life hacks to Handle Stress - Based on neuroscience

Life hack 1 to handle stress: Sleep

  • Sleeping a sufficient amount helps us withstand stresses and aggravations
  • Sleep loss:
    • makes us more short-tempered, impatient, and moody
    • diminishes our ability to judge the emotions in other people’s faces
    • interferes with decision making, productivity
    • increases our risk of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems

Life hack 2 to handle stress: Exercise

  • Engaging in regular exercise:
    • Improves our cognitive test scores
    • Enhances our long-term memory, reasoning and attention
    • Makes us better at problem-solving and fluid intelligence tasks
    • Regulates the release of serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline
    • Eases depression and anxiety
    • Makes us less tense and more refreshed

Life hack 3 to handle stress: Nature

  • Time spent in nature can improve emotional regulation and diminish stress
  • Even sitting by the window, or looking at pictures of nature can make us feel more at ease

Life hack 4 to handle stress: Food

  • Change in nutrition changes our mental fitness
  • There are certain foods that enhance our emotional well-being:
    • Nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits
    • Healthy fatty acids, such as olive and canola oils
    • Protein in moderate quantities
    • Whole-grain complex carbohydrates, such as oatmeal

Life hack 5 to handle stress: “Acting as if”

  • According to the facial feedback hypothesis, our physical expressions send signals to our brains to produce the appropriate emotional response
  • Studies have found that by simply putting a pencil in our mouth and thus being forced to smile actually makes us happier
  • Expansive posture makes us feel more confident:
    • Crossing legs instead of keeping them together
    • Draping an arm over the back of a chair instead of placing hands under legs etc.

Life hack 6 to handle stress: Physical contact

  • Physical contact in general has been shown to reduce stress more than soothing words
  • Giving or receiving a hug can trigger a huge release of oxytocin
  • Even shaking hands can release a bit of oxytocin and make us have a greater sense of connection

Life hack 7 to handle stress: Deep breathing

  • Deep breathing makes us more relaxed
  • How to do it:
    • Inhale through your nose
    • Use each new breath to expand your abdomen instead of your chest
    • When you exhale do it through your mouth, slowly

Life hack 8 to handle stress: Progressive muscle relaxation

  • This method strengthens our ability to recognize and remedy feelings of stress
  • How to do it:
    • Tense a muscle group in your body
    • Relax that muscle group
    • Move onto the next muscle group and repeat until you feel you have moved through all parts of your body

Life hack 9 to handle stress: Autogenic training

  • This practice increases our awareness and control of our autonomic nervous system, enabling us to switch from our sympathetic nervous system to the more soothing parasympathetic system
  • Ways to do it:
    • By sitting quietly and comfortably and focus on a sound, word, phrase or object
    • By consciously focusing on relaxing your body
    • By shifting your posture and moving around frequently

Life hack 10 to handle stress: Gratitude

  • A change in attitude follows a change in self-image and stress levels
  • Gratitude is about redirecting your attention, instead of suppressing something
  • 3 weeks of gratitude training has been shown to improve personal well-being, psychological health and to increase energy levels
  • Gratitude should be directed on people or things around us that make life better
  • A simple way to practice gratitude is by writing down 3 to 5 things each morning you are grateful for

Life hack 11 to handle stress: Building on Success

  • Approaching difficult tasks as challenges rather than threats has a positive effect on our emotions
  • How to do it:
    • Whenever you make a mistake, dismiss it as temporary
    • Gain support from someone you respect
    • Compare yourself favorably to your peers (“If they can do it, so can I”)
    • Celebrate your small victories

Life hack 12 to handle stress: Labeling and reframing

  • Acknowledging our feelings in words helps us regain control
  • Finding a way to interpret setbacks in a more positive way helps our emotional well-being

Source

  • Based on the book: The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better, Happier by Hans W. Hagemann and Friederike Fabritius
Welke soorten stress heb je en wat zijn de effecten op je lichaam en je geest?

Welke soorten stress heb je en wat zijn de effecten op je lichaam en je geest?

Er bestaan verschillende soorten stress, elk met hun eigen kenmerken en effecten op lichaam en geest. Hieronder bespreken we enkele van de meest voorkomende types:

1. Acute stress:

  • Dit is een kortdurende, intense stressreactie die wordt veroorzaakt door een plotselinge gebeurtenis, zoals een ongeluk, een schrikmoment of een deadline.
  • De lichamelijke symptomen van acute stress zijn onder andere een verhoogde hartslag, transpiratie, spierverspanning en een versnelde ademhaling.
  • Acute stress kan ook leiden tot cognitieve symptomen, zoals angst, paniek en verwardheid.
  • Hoewel acute stress onaangenaam kan zijn, is het in principe onschadelijk en kan het zelfs nuttig zijn. Het kan ons lichaam mobiliseren om te reageren op gevaar of een uitdaging.

2. Chronische stress:

  • Dit is langdurige stress die gedurende een langere periode aanhoudt, vaak weken, maanden of zelfs jaren.
  • Chronische stress kan worden veroorzaakt door verschillende factoren, zoals een hoge werkdruk, financiële problemen, relatieproblemen of een chronische ziekte.
  • De symptomen van chronische stress zijn vaak subtieler dan die van acute stress, maar kunnen net zo schadelijk zijn. Deze symptomen kunnen lichamelijke klachten veroorzaken, zoals hoofdpijn, spierpijn, maagproblemen, slaapproblemen en vermoeidheid. Chronische stress kan ook leiden tot psychische klachten, zoals angst, depressie, burn-out en concentratieproblemen.

3. Eustaatse stress:

  • Dit is een positieve vorm van stress die wordt veroorzaakt door opwinding, uitdaging of plezier.
  • Eustress kan ons motiveren om te presteren en te leren, en kan ons een gevoel van voldoening geven.
  • In tegenstelling tot acute en chronische stress, is eustress in principe onschadelijk en zelfs gezond.

4. Episodische acute stress:

  • Dit is een type stress die gekenmerkt wordt door frequente episodes van acute stress.
  • Mensen met episodische acute stress ervaren vaker angst en bezorgdheid, en hebben het gevoel dat hun leven chaotisch is.
  • De oorzaken van episodische acute stress kunnen divers zijn, zoals een traumatische ervaring, een angststoornis of een chronische aandoening.

5. Schadelijke stress:

  • Dit is de meest ernstige vorm van stress die kan leiden tot ernstige lichamelijke en psychische problemen.
  • Schadelijke stress kan worden veroorzaakt door extreme gebeurtenissen, zoals een natuurramp, een oorlog of een ernstige mishandeling.
  • De symptomen van schadelijke stress overlappen met die van chronische stress, maar zijn vaak intenser en langduriger. Schadelijke stress kan leiden tot posttraumatische stressstoornis (PTSS), hart- en vaatziekten, depressie en andere ernstige gezondheidsproblemen.

Verschillen tussen de soorten stress:

  • Duur: Acute stress is kortdurend, chronische stress is langdurig.
  • Ernst: Eustress is mild, schadelijke stress is ernstig.
  • Effecten: Acute stress kan ons mobiliseren, chronische stress kan leiden tot lichamelijke en psychische klachten. Eustress kan ons motiveren, schadelijke stress kan leiden tot PTSS en andere ernstige gezondheidsproblemen.
“DSM-5. Posttraumatic stress disorder.” – Article summary

“DSM-5. Posttraumatic stress disorder.” – Article summary

Image

The clinical presentation of PTSD varies. It is not entirely clear what is seen as a traumatic event and what is not. A life-threatening illness or medical condition is not seen as trauma but medical incidents can qualify as traumatic events (e.g. waking up during surgery), same as a medical catastrophe in one’s child.

Intrusive recollection is not the same as depressive rumination. Intrusive recollection applies to involuntary and intrusive distressing memories. It can be short (e.g. flashback) but can lead to prolonged stress and heightened arousal.

In PTSD, there often is a heightened sensitivity to threats. Developmental regression (e.g. loss of language) may occur in children. PTSD can lead to difficulties in regulating emotions or maintaining stable interpersonal relationships.

The lifetime prevalence of PTSD is 8.7% in the United States and the twelve-month prevalence is 3.5%. These estimates are lower in many other countries (e.g. European countries). Different groups have different levels of exposure to traumatic events. The conditional probability of developing PTSD following a similar level of exposure may differ between groups.

Cultural syndromes (e.g. ataques de nervosia) may influence the expression of PTSD. The risk of onset of PTSD and severity may differ across cultural groups as a result of:

  • Variation in the type of traumatic exposure (e.g. genocide).
  • The meaning attributed to the traumatic event.
  • The ongoing sociocultural context.
  • Other cultural factors.

PTSD appears to be more severe if the traumatic event is interpersonal and intentional (e.g. torture). The highest PTSD rates are found among rape survivors (1), military combat and captivity survivors (2) and ethnically and politically-motivated internment and genocide survivors (3). Young children and older adults are less likely to show full-threshold PTSD.

The symptoms and relative predominance of symptoms may vary over time. Symptom recurrence and intensification may occur in response to reminders of the original trauma (1), ongoing life stressors (2) and newly experienced traumatic events (3). PTSD symptoms may exacerbate as result of declining health (1), worsening cognitive functioning (2) and social isolation (3).

Individuals who continue to experience PTSD into older adulthood may express fewer symptoms of hyperarousal (1), avoidance (2) and negative cognitions and moods (3) compared with younger adults. However, adults exposed to traumatic events during later life may display more avoidance (1), hyperarousal (2), sleep problems (3) and crying spells (4) than younger adults exposed to the same traumatic event.

There are several pre-trauma risk factors for the development of PTSD:

  1. Temperamental
    This includes childhood emotional problems by age 6 and prior mental disorders.
  2. Environmental
    This includes lower socioeconomic status (1), lower education (2), exposure to prior trauma (3), childhood adversity (4), cultural characteristics (5), lower intelligence (6), minority status (7) and family psychiatric history (8).
  3. Genetic and physiological
    This includes being female and being younger at the time of trauma exposure.

There are several peritraumatic

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The Sapolski Bundle: summaries for Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers
Discovering and improving personal values, skills, qualities and emotions
Een min of meer gelukkig en zinvol leven leiden - Thema
Crossroad: region

SPOTLIGHT

 

The Stress Bundle: summaries, suggestions and tips on stress and stress reduction

The Stress Bundle: summaries, suggestions and tips on stress and stress reduction

Content and contributions of WorldSupporters about stress and stress reduction

The Stress Bundle

Studiegids voor samenvattingen bij Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping van Sapolsky
How does stress work? - Chapter 11 - Exclusive

How does stress work? - Chapter 11 - Exclusive

This chapter explores the sources of stress, the factors that can make the experience of stress easier or more difficult, and the ways that stress influences someone's physical and mental health. The difference between distress and eustress will be explained. It will be explained what stressors are, and some stressors will be mentioned. Health psychology will be described. This chapter will also explain how personality types and attitudes can influence people's reaction to stress. Lastly, this chapter will focus on ways to cope with stress through social-support systems, cultural differences, and religious beliefs.

What is the relationship between stress and stressors?

Stress is the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging. There are a lot of different symptoms of stress, such as fatigue, sleeping problems, frequents colds, chest pains, and nausea. There are also behavioral symptoms of stress, such as eating too much, crying a lot, smoking, and drinking. Emotional symptoms can be anxiety, depression, anger, and frustration. Mental symptoms of stress include problems in concentration, memory, decision making, and sense of humor. Most people experience some stress on a daily basis.

Stress-causing effents are called stressors. There are two kinds of stressors:

  • Stressors that cause distress. These are unpleasant stressors.
  • Stressors that cause eustress. These are positive events that still make demands on a person to adapt or change.

Stressors can come from within a person or be external. External stressors are for instance environmental stressors, major life changes, but also hassles. Hassles are the daily little annoyances. We think of causes of stress as big events, but most of the time, our stress comes from little frustrations, delays, irritations, or disagreements. There are different reasons for why something is a stressor/gives us stress:

  • It puts pressure on us. Time pressure is one of the most common forms of pressure.
  • It is uncontrollable. Lack of control increases stress. 
  • It frustrates us. People are frustrated when they are blocked or prevented from achieving a desired goal or fulfilling a perceived need. 
  • It brings us in conflict between two or more competing and incompatible desires, goals, or actions. 

What are physiological factors or stress?

When the human body is subjected to stress, the sympathetic nervous system reacts. This system is better known as the 'fight-or-flight' system. Endocrinologist Hans Selye studied the sequence of physiological reactions that the body goes though when adapting to a stressor. This sequence is called the general adaptation syndrome (GAS) and consists of three stages:

  1. Alarm: the sympathetic nervous system is
.....read more
Access: 
Exclusive (for members with extra services and online access)
How do stress, coping, adaptation and health affect personality? - Chapter 18 - Exclusive

How do stress, coping, adaptation and health affect personality? - Chapter 18 - Exclusive

Health psychology focuses on the influence of psychological and behavioral factors on health, often in combination with the environment. Stress is central to this.

What models of personality are there?

What is the interactional model?

The interactional model suggests that personality factors determine the impact of events, because they determine how someone deals with the situation. Personality would thus influence coping. How someone deals with an event determines the degree of stress caused by that event. However, a limitation of this model is that stable coping strategies have never been found.

What is the transactional model?

The transactional model does things differently. According to this model, personality has three potential effects:

  1. Personality can influence coping.
  2. Personality can affect how the person interprets an event.
  3. Personality can influence the event itself.

It is not the event that causes stress here, but rather how it is dealt with. This model is called transactional because of the person's influence on the event and the person's appreciation. There is mutual influence.

What is the health and behavior model?

A third model is the health and behavior model. This assumes that personality does not directly influence the degree of stress or illness, but that it indirectly influences stress or illness through certain behaviors, such as unsafe sex or overeating. The less healthy someone is, the greater the chance of experiencing more stress.

What is the disease and behavior model?

Another model is the disease and behavior model. In this model, disease is explained as the presence of an objectively measurable abnormal physiological process, such as fever, high blood pressure, or a tumor. Abnormal or sick behavior is about the way people behave when they think they are sick. Personality determines the degree of sick behavior, whether or not in combination with a real illness.

According to the predispositional model, associations exist between personality and illness because of a third variable that affects both, namely predisposition. The predisposition can exist for stable individual personality differences and for specific illnesses.

What is stress?

Stress is a subjective feeling that is the result of uncontrollable and threatening events (stressors). These are often extreme situations with unpleasant consequences that cannot be influenced. Stress can be divided into low sources of stress in daily life (daily hassles) and important life events (major life events). Major life events are associated with intensity, conflict and uncontrollability. Positive things can also be very stressful, for example a marriage, a move or a promotion. People with a lot of stress in their lives have many psychological and physiological symptoms. Possible responses to stress may include palpitations, increased blood pressure, sweaty hands and feet, and

.....read more
Access: 
Exclusive (for members with extra services and online access)
How can stress be managed? - Chapter 13 (4th edition) - Exclusive

How can stress be managed? - Chapter 13 (4th edition) - Exclusive

What theories about stress are there?

Stress management training is the general term for interventions developed to teach participants how to handle stress. These interventions are based on cognitive-behavioral theories of stress, which consider stress as the result of an outcome of various environmental and cognitive processes. Stress is seen as a negative emotional and physiological state that is the result of cognitive responses to events that happen to us. That is why stress is seen more as a process than an outcome.

Beck and Ellis assumed that our cognitive responses to events - not the events themselves - determine our mood and that feelings of stress or other negative emotions are the result of wrong or irrational thinking. This means that the emotions are the result of misinterpretations of events or cognitions.

Beck has identified different categories of thinking that lead to negative emotions, namely:

  • Catastrophic thinking: if an event is considered negative and possibly dangerous.

  • Over-generalization: when a negative conclusion is drawn as a result of just one incident.

  • Arbitrary inference: draw a conclusion without sufficient evidence.

  • Selective abstraction: focus on a detail outside the context.

What does stress management training entail?

The stress response model suggests a series of factors that can be changed by reducing the stress of an individual. Examples of this are:

  • Environmental events that trigger the stress response.

  • Inappropriate behavioral, physiological, or cognitive responses that occur in response to the event.

Most stress management programs focus on changing people's responses to events that happen around them. Triggers can be identified and modified using problem-solving strategies. In addition, wrong thoughts can be identified and changed by a number of cognitive techniques, such as cognitive restructuring. Hereby automatic negative or catastrophic thoughts are brought up to bring them more in line with reality.

Changing triggers

The triggers that lead to stress are different for each person. A good approach to combat stress is therefore to investigate which triggers lead to stress in a person and how these triggers can be reduced. One of the most commonly used approaches to identify and change triggers is that of Egan. Stress triggers are identified and changed through three phases:

  1. Problem exploration and clarification: what are the triggers that lead to the stress?

  2. Goal setting: which triggers does the person want to change?

  3. Facilitating action: how do they set about changing these stress triggers?

.....read more
Access: 
Exclusive (for members with extra services and online access)
How to Handle Stress? 12 life hacks

How to Handle Stress? 12 life hacks

Image

What is stress?

75 to 95 percent of visits to the doctor are for stress-related conditions

Allostatic load: a physiological and neurological state caused by your body being on constant alert. It damages your health and cognitive performance

  • Prolonged levels of high cortisol (stress hormone) in the bloodstream lead to shrinkage of the hippocampus, which is important for long-term memory and the intake of new information
  • Stress causes a reduction in serotonin in the brain, which can lead to depression and burnout
  • The more stress we perceive, the more overactivated our amygdala becomes. As a result, chronically stressed people become hypersensitive to any potential stressor

Key to emotional regulation: strengthening your ability to handle stress and training the conscious mind to control our primitive/automatic responses.

12 life hacks to Handle Stress - Based on neuroscience

Life hack 1 to handle stress: Sleep

  • Sleeping a sufficient amount helps us withstand stresses and aggravations
  • Sleep loss:
    • makes us more short-tempered, impatient, and moody
    • diminishes our ability to judge the emotions in other people’s faces
    • interferes with decision making, productivity
    • increases our risk of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems

Life hack 2 to handle stress: Exercise

  • Engaging in regular exercise:
    • Improves our cognitive test scores
    • Enhances our long-term memory, reasoning and attention
    • Makes us better at problem-solving and fluid intelligence tasks
    • Regulates the release of serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline
    • Eases depression and anxiety
    • Makes us less tense and more refreshed

Life hack 3 to handle stress: Nature

  • Time spent in nature can improve emotional regulation and diminish stress
  • Even sitting by the window, or looking at pictures of nature can make us feel more at ease

Life hack 4 to handle stress: Food

  • Change in nutrition changes our mental fitness
  • There are certain foods that enhance our emotional well-being:
    • Nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits
    • Healthy fatty acids, such as olive and canola oils
    • Protein in moderate quantities
    • Whole-grain complex carbohydrates, such as oatmeal

Life hack 5 to handle stress: “Acting as if”

  • According to the facial feedback hypothesis, our physical expressions send signals to our brains to produce the appropriate emotional response
  • Studies have found that by simply putting a pencil in our mouth and thus being forced to smile actually makes us happier
  • Expansive posture makes us feel more confident:
    • Crossing legs instead of keeping them together
    • Draping an arm over the back of a chair instead of placing hands under legs etc.

Life hack 6 to handle stress: Physical contact

  • Physical contact in general has been shown to reduce stress more than soothing words
  • Giving or receiving a hug can trigger a huge release of oxytocin
  • Even shaking hands can release a bit of oxytocin and make us have a greater sense of connection

Life hack 7 to handle stress: Deep breathing

  • Deep breathing makes us more relaxed
  • How to do it:
    • Inhale through your nose
    • Use each new breath to expand your abdomen instead of your chest
    • When you exhale do it through your mouth, slowly

Life hack 8 to handle stress: Progressive muscle relaxation

  • This method strengthens our ability to recognize and remedy feelings of stress
  • How to do it:
    • Tense a muscle group in your body
    • Relax that muscle group
    • Move onto the next muscle group and repeat until you feel you have moved through all parts of your body

Life hack 9 to handle stress: Autogenic training

  • This practice increases our awareness and control of our autonomic nervous system, enabling us to switch from our sympathetic nervous system to the more soothing parasympathetic system
  • Ways to do it:
    • By sitting quietly and comfortably and focus on a sound, word, phrase or object
    • By consciously focusing on relaxing your body
    • By shifting your posture and moving around frequently

Life hack 10 to handle stress: Gratitude

  • A change in attitude follows a change in self-image and stress levels
  • Gratitude is about redirecting your attention, instead of suppressing something
  • 3 weeks of gratitude training has been shown to improve personal well-being, psychological health and to increase energy levels
  • Gratitude should be directed on people or things around us that make life better
  • A simple way to practice gratitude is by writing down 3 to 5 things each morning you are grateful for

Life hack 11 to handle stress: Building on Success

  • Approaching difficult tasks as challenges rather than threats has a positive effect on our emotions
  • How to do it:
    • Whenever you make a mistake, dismiss it as temporary
    • Gain support from someone you respect
    • Compare yourself favorably to your peers (“If they can do it, so can I”)
    • Celebrate your small victories

Life hack 12 to handle stress: Labeling and reframing

  • Acknowledging our feelings in words helps us regain control
  • Finding a way to interpret setbacks in a more positive way helps our emotional well-being

Source

  • Based on the book: The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better, Happier by Hans W. Hagemann and Friederike Fabritius
Welke soorten stress heb je en wat zijn de effecten op je lichaam en je geest?

Welke soorten stress heb je en wat zijn de effecten op je lichaam en je geest?

Er bestaan verschillende soorten stress, elk met hun eigen kenmerken en effecten op lichaam en geest. Hieronder bespreken we enkele van de meest voorkomende types:

1. Acute stress:

  • Dit is een kortdurende, intense stressreactie die wordt veroorzaakt door een plotselinge gebeurtenis, zoals een ongeluk, een schrikmoment of een deadline.
  • De lichamelijke symptomen van acute stress zijn onder andere een verhoogde hartslag, transpiratie, spierverspanning en een versnelde ademhaling.
  • Acute stress kan ook leiden tot cognitieve symptomen, zoals angst, paniek en verwardheid.
  • Hoewel acute stress onaangenaam kan zijn, is het in principe onschadelijk en kan het zelfs nuttig zijn. Het kan ons lichaam mobiliseren om te reageren op gevaar of een uitdaging.

2. Chronische stress:

  • Dit is langdurige stress die gedurende een langere periode aanhoudt, vaak weken, maanden of zelfs jaren.
  • Chronische stress kan worden veroorzaakt door verschillende factoren, zoals een hoge werkdruk, financiële problemen, relatieproblemen of een chronische ziekte.
  • De symptomen van chronische stress zijn vaak subtieler dan die van acute stress, maar kunnen net zo schadelijk zijn. Deze symptomen kunnen lichamelijke klachten veroorzaken, zoals hoofdpijn, spierpijn, maagproblemen, slaapproblemen en vermoeidheid. Chronische stress kan ook leiden tot psychische klachten, zoals angst, depressie, burn-out en concentratieproblemen.

3. Eustaatse stress:

  • Dit is een positieve vorm van stress die wordt veroorzaakt door opwinding, uitdaging of plezier.
  • Eustress kan ons motiveren om te presteren en te leren, en kan ons een gevoel van voldoening geven.
  • In tegenstelling tot acute en chronische stress, is eustress in principe onschadelijk en zelfs gezond.

4. Episodische acute stress:

  • Dit is een type stress die gekenmerkt wordt door frequente episodes van acute stress.
  • Mensen met episodische acute stress ervaren vaker angst en bezorgdheid, en hebben het gevoel dat hun leven chaotisch is.
  • De oorzaken van episodische acute stress kunnen divers zijn, zoals een traumatische ervaring, een angststoornis of een chronische aandoening.

5. Schadelijke stress:

  • Dit is de meest ernstige vorm van stress die kan leiden tot ernstige lichamelijke en psychische problemen.
  • Schadelijke stress kan worden veroorzaakt door extreme gebeurtenissen, zoals een natuurramp, een oorlog of een ernstige mishandeling.
  • De symptomen van schadelijke stress overlappen met die van chronische stress, maar zijn vaak intenser en langduriger. Schadelijke stress kan leiden tot posttraumatische stressstoornis (PTSS), hart- en vaatziekten, depressie en andere ernstige gezondheidsproblemen.

Verschillen tussen de soorten stress:

  • Duur: Acute stress is kortdurend, chronische stress is langdurig.
  • Ernst: Eustress is mild, schadelijke stress is ernstig.
  • Effecten: Acute stress kan ons mobiliseren, chronische stress kan leiden tot lichamelijke en psychische klachten. Eustress kan ons motiveren, schadelijke stress kan leiden tot PTSS en andere ernstige gezondheidsproblemen.
“DSM-5. Posttraumatic stress disorder.” – Article summary

“DSM-5. Posttraumatic stress disorder.” – Article summary

Image

The clinical presentation of PTSD varies. It is not entirely clear what is seen as a traumatic event and what is not. A life-threatening illness or medical condition is not seen as trauma but medical incidents can qualify as traumatic events (e.g. waking up during surgery), same as a medical catastrophe in one’s child.

Intrusive recollection is not the same as depressive rumination. Intrusive recollection applies to involuntary and intrusive distressing memories. It can be short (e.g. flashback) but can lead to prolonged stress and heightened arousal.

In PTSD, there often is a heightened sensitivity to threats. Developmental regression (e.g. loss of language) may occur in children. PTSD can lead to difficulties in regulating emotions or maintaining stable interpersonal relationships.

The lifetime prevalence of PTSD is 8.7% in the United States and the twelve-month prevalence is 3.5%. These estimates are lower in many other countries (e.g. European countries). Different groups have different levels of exposure to traumatic events. The conditional probability of developing PTSD following a similar level of exposure may differ between groups.

Cultural syndromes (e.g. ataques de nervosia) may influence the expression of PTSD. The risk of onset of PTSD and severity may differ across cultural groups as a result of:

  • Variation in the type of traumatic exposure (e.g. genocide).
  • The meaning attributed to the traumatic event.
  • The ongoing sociocultural context.
  • Other cultural factors.

PTSD appears to be more severe if the traumatic event is interpersonal and intentional (e.g. torture). The highest PTSD rates are found among rape survivors (1), military combat and captivity survivors (2) and ethnically and politically-motivated internment and genocide survivors (3). Young children and older adults are less likely to show full-threshold PTSD.

The symptoms and relative predominance of symptoms may vary over time. Symptom recurrence and intensification may occur in response to reminders of the original trauma (1), ongoing life stressors (2) and newly experienced traumatic events (3). PTSD symptoms may exacerbate as result of declining health (1), worsening cognitive functioning (2) and social isolation (3).

Individuals who continue to experience PTSD into older adulthood may express fewer symptoms of hyperarousal (1), avoidance (2) and negative cognitions and moods (3) compared with younger adults. However, adults exposed to traumatic events during later life may display more avoidance (1), hyperarousal (2), sleep problems (3) and crying spells (4) than younger adults exposed to the same traumatic event.

There are several pre-trauma risk factors for the development of PTSD:

  1. Temperamental
    This includes childhood emotional problems by age 6 and prior mental disorders.
  2. Environmental
    This includes lower socioeconomic status (1), lower education (2), exposure to prior trauma (3), childhood adversity (4), cultural characteristics (5), lower intelligence (6), minority status (7) and family psychiatric history (8).
  3. Genetic and physiological
    This includes being female and being younger at the time of trauma exposure.

There are several peritraumatic

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