Good Stress?

In our last blog post our guest student blog poster talked about stress. Most people think about stress as being a bad thing that occurs when negative things happen. That is only partially true. Stress can also happen when very good things happen like weddings, new jobs, the birth of our children, and vacation. A list of life events that may cause stress included in the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale includes marriage, pregnancy, retirement, marital reconciliation, gaining a new family member, change in finances, getting a mortgage, and changes in normal activity.

Stress can even be a good thing. Stress can motivate us to do things. It can help us to prepare for a test or a sporting event. It can help us ensure we are ready for a child to arrive. Stress helps us to meet the demands and accomplish things in our lives. Stress can also signal to us that we are in danger and need to get out of it. Stress might happen if you were being chased by a bear and the reaction that your body has to the stress in that case would help you to get away.

Stress becomes a bad thing when there is too much of it in our lives. Long term consequences from too much stress can include heart disease, weight gain, and depression and anxiety. The best thing you can do is monitor yourself to determine if stress is becoming too much. Signs of this can include:

·         Difficulty concentrating

·         Getting ill more often

·         Headaches

·         Irritability

·         Difficulty with sleep

·         Changes in appetite

If you experience any of these you may want to consider consulting with a mental health professional about how to more effectively manage the stress in your life.

Holmes TH, Rahe RH (1967). "The Social Readjustment Rating Scale". Journal of Psychosomatic  Research 11 (2): 213–8

Understanding Stress

This week we have another great post from our student blogger, Samantha Ege:

            We have all felt stress at some point or another. Stress feels differently for everyone. Stress may cause your chest to feel tight, may make you start sweating, and give you butterflies in your stomach. But stress is not as unfathomable as we make it out to be. Stress is the reaction after excessive strain that results when coping resources become inadequate (Deckers 168), or in other words, stress is your reaction after a traumatic event combined with a lack of coping skills. It’s important to understand the common symptoms of stress so you can pinpoint what exactly made you stress-out and how to deal with it.

            The symptoms of stress can be divided into 3 branches: physical, psychological, and behavioral symptoms. Physical symptoms refer to the body’s sympathetic nervous system, or the “fight or flight” response; they encompass the weakening of the body’s immune system (Deckers 169). Being overly stressed can cause you to experience headaches, indigestion, the common cold, or influenza (Deckers 184). Psychological symptoms are the feelings of anxiety, boredom, depression, irritability, and just an overall negative mood (Deckers 170). An individual would be a bit irritable when he or she has a lot of things on their plate. Behavioral symptoms refer to the poor life and health choices that we tend to make when we are stressed (Deckers 171). We tend to over eat and eat poorly, consume excessive amounts of alcohol and drugs, and we lose sleep.

            These symptoms communicate to your brain that you are stressed and that you need to do something about it; knowing the symptoms of stress can help you understand what gets you stressed, which are called “stressors” (Deckers 172). There are many ways to classifying types of stressors, major or minor, short-term or long-term, and distress or eustress, just to name a few. When a stressor is classified as major, it refers to something that occurs occasionally but still has a huge effect on you. For example, a death in the family would be classified as a major stressor. But when a stressor is minor, it refers to everyday hassles, or those annoying things that you have to do every day; for example that annoying coworker at your office, or doing laundry. Stress can also be classified as short-term or long-term, both terms are self-explanatory but can be explained with more detail. Short-term stress or “acute stress” possesses a short duration time and a clear endpoint, similar to the kind of stress that studying for an exam would entail. While long-term stress, or “chronic stress” occurs over long periods of time, for example a nasty divorce. And finally, stress can be defined as distress or eustress; distress is the unhealthy stress that can do sever damage to your body and mind, but eustress is the stress you need to feel when you are in dangerous situations (Deckers 173).

            An abundance of distress, especially, can lead to serious physical and psychological disorders; along with stress weakening the immune system, it can also lead to the development of Acute Stress Disorder. Acute Stress Disorder is the feeling of fear or helplessness to a traumatic event that could result death or injury, within the span of a month, for example studying for GRE for a few weeks and then taking the exam. However if it is more than one month it is classified at Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or “PTSD” as it’s commonly known as. This is the reaction to a stressful situation that results in the person experiencing distressing recollections, physiological reactivity, and social impairment along with avoiding stimulus that reminds them of the traumatic event (Deckers 180). War is a strong example for PTSD, many veterans after months, or even years, of combat experience PTSD when they come back to their home country. PTSD can be very detrimental to your wellbeing.

            There are ways to cope with stress, fortunately. According to the Appraisal Theory, formulated by Lazarus et al, in 1986, we are in charge of what stresses us out, basically. The Appraisal Theory describes primary and secondary appraisal of stress. Primary appraisal is in regards to what the event means (analyzing it), while secondary appraisal refers to how you think you can, or should, cope with it (Deckers 190). In other words, you are in control of how you react to certain situations. Also, there are two main types of coping, emotion-focused and problem-focused. Emotion-focused is focusing on the emotions that you are feeling that the moment of stress and coping in the best way to get rid of those negative feelings; which isn’t the best way to cope with stressful situations. But problem-focused coping deals primarily with fixing the problem that is causing your stress (Deckers 191-192). Furthermore, seeking social support can relieve stress, whether that is with friends, family, or a counselor, social support is very important to a person’s wellbeing (Deckers 193). And finally, according to Pennebaker, expressive writing helps alleviate stress; writing about stress occasionally can help relieve your stress, but you shouldn’t do it everyday because you don’t want to keep reliving the event you’re writing about (Pennebaker 2004).

            Understanding what stress is and how you can cope with it is vital to dealing with stress in the future, and will ultimately lead to a healthy lifestyle.

 References

Deckers, Lambert. Motivation: Biological, Psychological, Environmental. Fourth ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

Lazarus, Richard S., Susan Folkman, Rand J. Gruen, and Anita DeLongis. "Appraisal, Coping, Health Status, and Psychological Symptoms." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50.3 (1986): 571-79. APA PsycNet. American Psychological Association. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Pennebaker, James W. "Theories, Therapies, and Taxpayers: On the Complexities of the Expressive Writing Paradigm." Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice 11.2 (2004): 138-42. Wiley Online Library. Iowa State University. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

What Mindfulness Is Not...

Mindfulness seems to be one of the newest "buzz words" in modern culture. People are taking license to use the word and the concept in ways that it was not intended. A while back, a colleague  posted an article entitled "Is Mindfulness Making You Ill?" As I read the article I became increasingly frustrated with the inaccurate picture the article painted about mindfulness. I wanted to comment in this blog post about what mindfulness is not.

1. Mindfulness is not  necessarily a relaxation technique. Mindfulness can be very relaxing, peaceful, or calming. However, sometimes being present with what is currently there can cause some tension or anxiety. Mindfulness is about noticing the experience we're having in the moment, including thoughts, feelings or physical sensations.If the moment happens to be anxious or tense it doesn't mean you are necessarily doing mindfulness "wrong."
2. Mindfulness is not emptying your mind of all thought. In mindfulness we may focus our minds but we don't change what is in them. We become aware of our thoughts and learn to relate to them in a different way. The thoughts are still there. Our human minds are often busy and that is normal. When we practice mindfulness we often are practicing being aware of  and then letting go of the chatter that is in our mind. We don't try to push it away. The chatter is especially difficult when first practicing mindfulness.
3. Mindfulness is not doing nothing. In mindfulness we often strive to be accepting and non judgmental but that does not mean that we do not address things that affect our well being. Mindfulness often just creates some time and space in our thoughts for us to respond more skillfully then just reacting. So we can choose what we do instead of impulsively acting,
4. Mindfulness is not religious or a religion. Mindfulness can be beneficial for people of all races, religions, genders, and backgrounds. It does not require belief in any specific religion.
5. Mindfulness is not a panacea, a magic pill, or the fix all. Mindfulness is incredibly useful. Research has shown it to be effective at helping with stress, pain, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and many other things. It is not appropriate or applicable to everything though and it doesn't "cure" a problem but helps us to be more aware of it so we can address it. Things like trauma, suicidal thoughts, and severe eating disorders may be still more appropriately addressed with other things. 
6, Mindfulness is not difficult. Almost anyone can learn mindfulness skills with practice. They are not difficult to learn but take significant practice to develop. Much like learning anything or weight lifting, you must continuously practice in order to make progress.
7. Mindfulness is not about perfection. The goal of mindfulness is not to be perfect at it or competitive. It is about being present with our life no matter how imperfect it is. Even the most mindful people I know have moments where the struggle with being present. Their success comes in the form of returning to mindfulness after they have had an unskillful moment. It is the continued returning that is the mark of someone who is developing their practice.
8. Mindfulness is not something that should be taught by someone without their own practice. The best mindfulness teachers are people who have their own mindfulness practice and/or training. It is important that when you are learning mindfulness that there is someone available to help you deal with whatever may come up. Sometimes the best way to learn is in group classes like Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or in individual therapy.

If you would like to learn more about mindfulness many psychologists use mindfulness in their practices. There are also many websites that offer information about mindfulness, http://www.mindful.org/ is one site that provides a variety of different articles and resources.  


  

The Key to Motivation

We have another great post from our student guest contributor Samantha Ege on motivation: 

Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher in the early 1800s, stated that being motivated was “to be moved into action, or divide on a change in action” (Deckers p.2); motivation has been a popular topic for centuries and is still today. But what exactly is motivation? It’s talked about in schools, at work, and even at home; there are many definitions and branches of motivation, that have many variables contributing to it. Everyone has problems with keeping his or her own motivation, but there are ways on maintaining it.

Motivation is the reason why we do what we do and how we change our behavior. Motivation is how we complete tasks; simply, we need motivation to actually act. However, motivation alone is useless; energy, knowledge, and competence are also really important. Energy is the ability to complete an action, and it has two forms, psychological and physical energy. In other words, you must be in the right mindset and be physically able to complete a task. Knowledge is the “how,” how can you complete a task, and “competence means being capable of performing the behavior necessary to achieve a desired end” (Deckers p.9).

The ability to act is just the starting point, physically acting is where motivation is the most relevant. There are a few models that explain what can cause motivation; the most common way is dividing motivation into two categories; push and pull motivation. Push motivation is your desire to do something, usually by the effect of motives, which are internal causes of motivation; for example hunger. Pull motivation is something (externally) pulling you to do something by the work of incentive, or external causes of motivation, for instance, getting a pay check for going to work. (Deckers p.3).

There is another way you can classify motivation; motivation has internal and external causes. Internal causes are either biological, (the brain and body), psychological (the mind), or environmental (how you view your surroundings). External causes are mostly incentives – as stated earlier - there are positive incentives, that tell you to do something, and negative incentives, that tell you if you should avoid something. There are also environmental effects which is, basically, what is actually in your surroundings, not really how you interpret it.

Unfortunately, knowing how motivation works and what influences us often does not help when finding motivation is a struggle. You have probably had trouble finding motivation at least once, but there are ways to find your motivation again. Usually the reasons why we have trouble being motivated is because of the task itself. The task could be unrewarding, boring, excruciatingly long, difficult to understand, the potential rewards aren’t immediate, or the likelihood of failure is high. There are some ways that you can use to increase motivation.  One way is to visualize yourself reaching potential goals and the other is simply forcing yourself to complete the task. Visualizing the completion of goals and other tasks can help make completing a goal more probable. 

Visualization is a very powerful tool. Many of your favorite athletes may be practicing visualizing themselves winning the game or preforming well on the field. Forcing yourself to complete a task or reach a goal does not sound very appealing, however, once you have completed the task once, each time that task is required it becomes easier. Forcing yourself to complete a task is the most sure-fire way to increase your motivation. If you have ever exercised or went to a gym you likely understand this concept. Going the first time is incredibly hard but each time after is easier. With the right tools and knowledge, everyone can understand how to motivate themselves. If you are having trouble finding motivation or setting goals consider reaching out to a psychologist for assistance. 

References

Deckers, Lambert. Motivation: Biological, Psychological, Environmental. Fourth ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

Hi! I’m Samantha Ege, and I am currently a sophomore at Iowa State University. I am originally from Carol Stream Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and attended my local high school, where I was first introduced to Psychology. Majoring in Psychology and



being a research assistant this semester has opened me up to research and how I can conduct research in my everyday life. Although I am not sure what field of Psychology I was to pursue, I am positive that Psychology is the way to go.

I can't pay attention. Do I have ADHD?

Most people have difficulty with distraction at one or more times in their lives. Some degree of distraction is normal; especially in a world filled with so many wonderful distractions (excuse me while I check my iPhone).

Some people have difficulty being distracted or restless more often than not. For these people this can mean that they forget things, lose things, or are unable to focus on tasks that require sustained attention. Inattention and restlessness can be caused by many different things including: stress, depression, anxiety,  ADHD, head injury, learning problems, and even dementia. Many of these things can cause similar problems so it is important to be evaluated by a mental health professional to determine the cause of inattention. Many people see a psychologist to determine what the source of their inattention is. A psychologist can do a clinical interview and psychological testing to determine what the origins of the inattention are.

There are some indicators that psychologists use to differentiate between ADHD and other problems. A significant number of ADHD symptoms must begin before age 12 and the symptoms must cause problems in more than one area of life (school, home, work). For example, if you are in your 30's and have never had significant difficulty paying attention before but have become unable to focus at work for the last 2 months, there may be another explanation for your inattention than ADHD. Even those who have had longstanding inattention may be experiencing something like un-diagnosed anxiety or depression. This overlap in symptoms is the main reason why an evaluation by a mental health professional is so important. It can help you to obtain the correct diagnosis and decide on an appropriate course of treatment.

In my office I have seen many people who were misinformed about what ADHD testing involves. Many primary care doctors and/or psychiatrists will give parents a questionnaire that lists symptoms of ADHD like restlessness, inattention, or hyperactivity. While these are helpful in screening for ADHD they may not be conclusive measures of ADHD. ADHD testing may vary some from psychologist to psychologist but many times it will include intelligence and/or learning tests to make sure there are no intellectual or learning difficulties, a test of attention and processing, screenings for other disorders like depression, anxiety, and PTSD - in addition to a questionnaire like the one they use at the doctor's office. The benefits of psychological testing for ADHD may include:

• More accurate diagnosis
• Awareness of learning issues
• Awareness of strengths and weaknesses
• Awareness of possible other causes or contributing factors  

If you are concerned that you, a child, or another loved one may be having attention issues contact a psychologist today to ask about ADHD assessment. 

In Remembrance

The Psyowa blog is dedicated to public education and issues that are important to psychology in Iowa and in the rest of the world. This post is both about education and something that is very important to Iowa psychology. Recently, Iowa lost one of its most important psychologists. Michele Greiner of Fairfield, Iowa passed away in November of 2015. She was one of the most influential psychologists in Iowa, especially to early career psychologists. She was one of the most tireless and dedicated psychologists I know.

 When I met Dr. Greiner it was a little over 6 years ago. I had just returned to Iowa to complete my psychology training at a pre-doctoral internship at the Central Iowa VA Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. To give you some idea about  the rigor of psychology training for those of you who don’t know, psychologists complete 4-6 years of graduate schooling after their bachelor’s degree, then complete a one year supervised pre-doctoral internship, and a one year post-doctoral internship. I was looking for a post-doctoral internship in Iowa because that is where my family is from. The opportunities at the time were few. I feared I would have to move somewhere I really didn’t want to go just to complete my training. Someone suggested that I contact Dr. Greiner and I did. She welcomed me to psychology in Iowa with warmth that only Dr. Greiner could and offered as many possibilities for me to stay in Iowa as she could think of. With her help I was able to secure a position at the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center in Grinnell, Iowa.

Dr. Greiner headed an effort to create post-doctoral positions in Iowa to both serve communities in need of mental health care and early psychologists that needed training. Her work was instrumental in the creation and continuation of that vision. Because of the requirements of becoming a psychologist and the limited training opportunities in Iowa many new psychologists had been leaving the state. This is a terrible thing because Iowans lack access to mental health services. Of Iowa’s 99 counties, 89 are considered mental health professional shortage areas. Psychologists are an important part of the mental health workforce. Unfortunately, Iowa has a critical shortage of psychologists. Iowa ranks 46th in the nation in psychologists per capita. Iowa has approximately 19 psychologists for every 100,000 citizens which places it lower than the neighboring states of Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Minnesota. Equally alarming is the fact that Iowa psychologists are the oldest of Iowa’s mental health professionals. Recent data shows that 53% of Iowa psychologists are age 55 or older.

The post-doctoral program has been a collaborative effort between the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Iowa Psychological Association (IPA), with support from the Iowa Psychological Foundation (IPF) since 2007. As of the fall of 2013, the program had trained 11 psychologists who remained in Iowa providing including myself. If each of those 11 only saw 25 people per week, those 11 psychologists could reach over 14,000 Iowans per year. This program has been instrumental in increasing access to mental health services and keeping psychologists in the state.

Over the six years after I met Dr. Greiner she mentored me through my early professional journey into becoming a fully licensed psychologist and post-doctoral supervisor myself. She helped me through the sudden closing of the mental health center where I worked and helped me as I continued to grow after I left there. I served with her on the Iowa Psychological Association training committee and worked with her on the very project that helped to keep me in Iowa to create post-docs. She set an excellent example for the type of psychologist I aspire to be. She embodied hard work, professionalism, integrity, and humanity. She tirelessly traveled the entire state promoting psychology, training, and mentorship. If it were not for her many young psychologists in Iowa may not be here serving the communities that we do. Her influence has likely touched thousands of lives if not more through her work in psychology.

I wanted to dedicate this Psyowa blog post to her and all of the ways in which her life touched others. I also wanted to send out my hope that we all continue on her mission to promote psychology training in Iowa and access to mental health care for everyone. I encourage all of those who are mental health care professionals to mentor and educate when you can and I encourage all of those of you who aren’t mental health care professionals to give back to the world in your own way. It is a reminder for everyone that there are some amazing people like Dr. Greiner working quietly behind the scenes to make this world a better place. 

Psychology in Your Technology

Computer technology surrounds us. As I write this blog at a computer I have a smartphone next to me and a smart watch on my wrist. For many of us, technology is with us no matter where we go. There are plenty of arguments about whether that is a good thing or bad thing that is for a different blog post. Recently, I have discovered that many people don’t know that psychology is involved in designing new technology. There is a branch of psychology sometimes called human factors, human computer interaction, or human centered design that centers on using what we know about people and their behavior to design better technology. It is so prevalent in the field the American Psychological Association even has a page devoted to it. Companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft employ people who are educated in psychology to help design their products.

The Wall Street Journal published an article earlier this week discussing how Bank of America is using Psychology to design features for their mobile app. The company utilized psychology and customer preferences to design the way their mobile depositing system works. Because of the influence of psychology the app shows users an image of the check after it is deposited so that they feel more comfortable with the transaction.

Psychology isn’t just involved in making things like banking and chatting to your friends more user friendly either. Researchers are also trying to find ways to use technology to help people learn. Everyone learns differently and technology is one way that we can meet the needs of different learning style. The “Machine Teaching” project at the University of Washington is working on designing technology to help all different kinds of learners learn.

Joining psychology and computer science could have wide implications for our future; how we use things, how we learn, and how we communicate. Next time you log onto your favorite website or social media portal remember that psychology could be part of the reason that the site’s menu looks a certain way or that the text is a certain font. And if you ever find that a website or program is difficult to use it may need a little attention from a human factors psychologist.

Bibliography 

American Psychological Association. A Career in Human Factors and Engineering Psychology. Retrieved on 10/21/2015 from http://www.apa.org/action/science/human-factors/education-training.aspx.

Blackbourne, A. (2015) "Machine teaching" looks to design optimal individual learning style. The Badger Herald. Published online 10/14/2015. 

Nash, K.A. (2015) Bank of America Lets Human Psychology Influence Mobile Development. The Wall Street Journal. Published online 10/16/2015.