Stress and My Life
Stress is defined by most psychologists as a
psychological and physiological response to a threating or challenging
condition which requires some form of adjustment or adaptation. I would say
that I have experienced stress on a daily basis according to this definition. I
didn’t realize until I took this class and began to write the applied
psychology papers how much being homosexual has affected my life. I’m
constantly required to adjust or adapt in my daily life as a member of a
minority group in a majority culture. I didn’t however know that it was a
significant source of chronic stress. Unexpectedly, having to examine my life
experiences through the lens of psychology; has as a result strengthened my
identity as an LGBT individual.
I have experienced many stressors which are defined as
events or stimuli that produce emotional or physical stress. According to
Holmes and Rahe (1967) and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) which
measures stress by ranking different life events from most to least stressful
by assigning a point value to each event I have experienced so far in my life
jail term (63 points), personal injury or illness (53pts.), Change in financial
state (38pts.), Death of a close friend (37pts.), taking out a loan for major
purchase (31pts.), beginning or ending school (26pts.), change in living
conditions(25pts.), and change in residence (20pts.). This makes my
life stress score 293.
Many of these events didn’t come to mind until I had seen them on the list. At
293 I’m at the high end of medium susceptibility to stress-related illness. I
should at this point learn and practice relaxation and stress management
skills.
Just this past December I and my Primary Care Physician
worked together to slowly reduce and finally eliminate my taking of
anti-depressants. I had been taking 10mg of Fluoxetine once daily. I took it
upon myself to see a doctor and talk about my anxiety and depression last year
when it became too much for me to bare and friends became concerned with my
erratic behavior.
It began when I moved into the Phoenix cooperative house
and started living with 24 other individuals. I was the only LGBT male that
lived within the house at the time and was feeling a great amount of stress
from just trying to adapt or adjust to living with that large of a group of
people. There also was the extra added stress of being a member of a minority
group within a majority culture. One of the members named Ken in particular
made me to feel unsafe in my own living environment by displaying aggression
and intimidation due to the fact that he was homophobic. I myself sought help
from the group as a whole; unaware of the horrible effects that “group think”
can have on cooperative living. In addition to this I had just started to go
back to school and was also beginning to deal with the situation where I had
previously been physically and sexually been abused. I began taking the
medication as prescribed and going to a LGBT support group for physical and
sexual abuse survivors. Unfortunately, I received two anonymous text messages
threating my life and that is when I decided to leave the house I had lived in
and had worked so hard to make a home.
I know now from group therapy and psychology class that
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was the reason I was behaving so
erratically. When I would be confronted and intimidated by Ken I would
experience the symptoms of PTSD. I would have flashbacks, nightmares, and
intrusive memories as if I was actually re-experiencing my physical and sexual
abuse experience. I had increased anxiety, especially in the morning and I
would startle more easily, and I experienced poor concentration when in school
or trying to complete homework. When I decided to leave I experienced an
approach-avoidance conflict in that I knew it was necessary for me to move out
because it was no longer safe to continue living there and it was just as
equally scary to move out and to live somewhere new but there was the
possibility it may be an improvement. The price I paid for standing up for what
I believed was ethical was 24 friendships.
I didn’t realize until now how much socioeconomic status
dealt with stress. I myself came from a working-class family. The members in my
immediate family all have blue-collar jobs. I am the only one to have ever gone
on to pursue a post-secondary education. My parents are spending their
retirement in a small mobile home in Alabama. Some of the links talked about between
socioeconomic status and health are definitely present within my immediate
family, such as the higher rates of smoking, limited social networks, and less
regular patterns of eating.
I myself know now that when I respond to stress I
experience the fight-or-flight experience. When I would be confronted by ken or
another member of the Phoenix cooperative house my body’s sympathetic nervous
system would trigger a release of hormones in order to prepare my body to fight
or escape the perceived threat. Since this would occur within my living
environment I in most
cases responded because of these hormones with an aggressive fight response. I
did in some cases go for a walk along picnic point but it was a last resort as
I didn’t like being seen crying in public.
This reaction is further demonstrated by the General
Adaptation Syndrome by Hans Selye (1907-1982).
It consists of three stages the alarm stage, resistance stage, and the
exhaustion stage. In the Alarm stage the brain sends a distress signal to the
hypothalamus which stimulates the pituitary gland to pump out adrenaline. As a
result the adrenal cortex releases glucocorticoid hormones that increase the
heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels resulting in the fight or
flight response. The resistance stage is the next stage and where the adrenal
cortex continues to release glucocorticoids to help the body resist stress. The
last stage is exhaustion and it’s where all energy has been exhausted. I myself
would experience this each time I would be confronted by Ken or another member
of the house.
According to Lazarus’s cognitive Theory of Stress when in
a potentially stressful event individuals will engage in a cognitive process
which involves a primary and secondary appraisal (1966; Lazarus & Folkman,
1984). The Primary appraisal concerns the meaning and significance of the situation
and if the individual’s well-being will be affected positively, negatively, or
not at all. In my situation I would think about the harm or damage that had
already occurred, the potential for harm, damage, or loss, and the challenge of
the opportunity to grow and gain something from the experience. When doing this
you experience anxiety, fear, anger, and resentment. This is exactly what was
going through my head at the time. The secondary appraisal
is if you deem the
situation to be within your control you make a list of resources physical,
social, and psychological. I myself was in pretty good physical health, however
taking into account that when I left I would lose 24 friendships I didn’t deem
my support network to be all that great and the situation definitely took its
toll on my self-esteem. In the end however I decided in order to protect myself
from further harm it would be best for me to leave. I did so using a coping
strategy known as Problem-Focused Coping. It is where the result is a direct response
aimed at reducing, modifying, or eliminating the source of stress once and for
all.
I don’t regret my responses or decisions. I believe whole
heartedly that I did what I thought was ethical. I do think the price of 24
friendships and all the work I put forth to make the community I lived in a
home a bit high though. It’s amazing the power “group think” can have over
individuals with good intentions.
