Development of the self in society: Understanding and managing stress.
• What is stress?
✓ Stress is a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs your physical and mental equilibrium.
✓ Stress is what we feel in situations we find difficult, challenging, or even frightening
when we feel we can’t cope with the situation.
✓ Stress can be internal (overall health, nutritional status, fitness levels, and emotional
well-being) or external (physical environment, relationships with others, challenges,
and difficulties in daily life.)
• Eustress (Good/Positive stress)
✓ Eustress is a positive form of stress having a beneficial effect on health,
motivation, performance, and emotional well-being.
✓ Stress that makes you ready for action as it gives you adrenalin and
energy.
• Distress (Bad/Negative stress)
✓ The term refers to extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
✓ If the stress is more than you can cope with, it is unhealthy.
You may become ill, unhappy, and depressed.
• What is a stressor?
✓ A stressor is something that causes stress in a person.
✓ A stressor is anything, an event, or person that causes stress.
• Types of stressors:
1. Physical stressor:
✓ Physical factors that affect your body.
✓ E.g. Pain, physical or sexual abuse, illness, hunger, or physical disabilities.
2. Emotional stressor:
✓ Emotional stressors are caused by your emotions.
✓ E.g. Feelings, self-esteem, personality and anxiety.
3. Environmental stressor:
✓ These are the stressors found in our surrounding environment.
✓ E.g. Natural disasters, lack of private space, pollution or noise.
4. Social stressor:
✓ Social stressors are caused by the people around you.
✓ E.g. Relationships with family or friends, social taboos, and performance
pressure on school work.
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,• The effect of stress on your body:
✓ When you feel threatened it can initiate the body’s
"fight or flight" response.
✓ The “fight-or-flight” response is the body’s
sympathetic nervous system reacting to a stressful
event.
✓ During this response, your heart rate, breathing and
sweating increase.
✓ The immune system and digestive system also slow
down.
• Symptoms of stress:
1. Physical symptoms:
✓ Muscle tension.
✓ Headaches.
✓ Stomach pain.
✓ Fatigue.
✓ Excessive sweating.
2. Behavioral symptoms:
✓ Sleeping too much.
✓ Eating more or less.
✓ Losing weight.
✓ Substance abuse.
✓ Decreased personal hygiene.
3. Emotional symptoms:
✓ Moodiness.
✓ Depression.
✓ Anxiety.
✓ Agitation.
✓ Isolation/crying.
4. Cogniitve symptoms:
✓ Inability to concentrate.
✓ Confusion.
✓ Poor attention.
✓ Memory problems.
✓ Poor problem-solving.
• Managing stress:
✓ Although stress is part of life, it becomes dangerous
when it interferes with your ability to live a normal life.
✓ Once you understand the levels and causes of your
stress in your life, you can explore ways to deal with
stress.
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,• Methods to manage stress:
1. Build a support network:
✓ A strong network of supportive friends and family members can be a big buffer
against life’s stressors.
2. Avoid stressors:
✓ Try to avoid people or situations that may cause unnecessary stress in your
life or limit the amount of time you spend with the stressor.
3. Live a balanced lifestyle:
✓ A balanced lifestyle means that you make
time for schoolwork, friends, and family, do
physical exercise, get enough sleep, and
follow a balanced diet.
✓ Exercise has been proven to have a
beneficial effect on a person’s physical and
emotional state.
4. Practise relaxation techniques:
✓ Meditation, massage, and yoga has been known to greatly help people with
stress.
5. Engage in laughter therapy:
✓ Laughter can reduce stress.
6. Implement time management:
✓ Use time to organise your life, relax and pursue your interests.
7. Seek professional help:
✓ If stress is affecting the way you function negatively, you should seek
professional help.
3
Copyright@SmartSummaries
, Development of the self in society: Relationships
• Intrapersonal relationships: “Inside”
✓ Intrapersonal communication involves all the internal thought processes, including
thinking, perception, assessment, and interpretation of events within yourself.
✓ The relationship you have with yourself.
• Interpersonal relationships:
✓ It involves at least two people and refers to the different types of verbal, non-verbal,
and physical actions or expressions that people use when they communicate with
others.
• The Johari Window:
✓ The Johari Window is a simple and useful tool for illustrating and improving self-
awareness and understanding relationships.
✓ It divides self-awareness into four windows/quadrants.
• Types of relationships:
1. Family:
✓ A family is a group of people with a certain relationship, whether through blood,
marriage, or adoption.
✓ There are 5 elements that contribute to strong family relationships:
➢ Laughter – humour is an escape valve for family tension.
➢ Leadership – family members must assume responsibility for leading the
family.
➢ Learning – families are where we learn values, skills, and behaviours.
➢ Loyalty – Strong families have a sense of loyalty and devotion toward each
other.
➢ Love – everyone has the need to love and to be loved, family is normally
where love is expressed.
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Copyright@SmartSummaries
, 2. Friends:
✓ A friend is a person you know well and for whom you have a sense of love,
respect, and trust.
✓ Reasons to appreciate friends:
➢ Acceptance – True friends will not judge you, but they will rather accept you
with all your faults.
➢ Stress – Having friends can help you deal with stress and uncertainty.
➢ Support – True friends are always there to support you in your time of need.
➢ Enrich your life – True friends can have positive influences on your
scholastic, social and personal aspects of your life.
✓ Stressors in a friendship:
➢ Peer Pressure – You have the right and duty to stand up for what you
believe in. If you’re scared of losing a friendship by standing up what you
believe in, then you’re in an unstable friendship.
➢ Bullying –
➢ Cross cultural relationships – Cultural elements may differ, and behaviour
will be challenging when you have friends with a different cultural code
3. Romantic:
✓ Developing romantic feelings and sexual attractions to others is a natural part of
growing up.
✓ Often this type of relationship can be intense and complicated
✓ Important elements in a romantic relationship:
➢ Communication
➢ Mutual respect
➢ Personal space
➢ Understanding
✓ Do’s and don’ts when ending a relationship:
Do’s Don’ts
Be true to yourself. Take time to consider your Avoid. Do not avoid the other person or the
feelings and reasons for your decision. conversation you need to have.
Prepare. Take time to think about the other Date. Never date a person to get over
person's point of view and feelings that can help someone else.
you to be sensitive.
Be honest. Tell the truth in a kind, gentle way. Respect. Do not disrespect, gossip or
badmouth your ex.
Say it in person. Breaking up through texting or Time. Do not rush into a difficult conversation
Facebook may seem easy, but you have shared a without thinking it through.
lot with the other person.
5
Copyright@SmartSummaries
• What is stress?
✓ Stress is a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs your physical and mental equilibrium.
✓ Stress is what we feel in situations we find difficult, challenging, or even frightening
when we feel we can’t cope with the situation.
✓ Stress can be internal (overall health, nutritional status, fitness levels, and emotional
well-being) or external (physical environment, relationships with others, challenges,
and difficulties in daily life.)
• Eustress (Good/Positive stress)
✓ Eustress is a positive form of stress having a beneficial effect on health,
motivation, performance, and emotional well-being.
✓ Stress that makes you ready for action as it gives you adrenalin and
energy.
• Distress (Bad/Negative stress)
✓ The term refers to extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
✓ If the stress is more than you can cope with, it is unhealthy.
You may become ill, unhappy, and depressed.
• What is a stressor?
✓ A stressor is something that causes stress in a person.
✓ A stressor is anything, an event, or person that causes stress.
• Types of stressors:
1. Physical stressor:
✓ Physical factors that affect your body.
✓ E.g. Pain, physical or sexual abuse, illness, hunger, or physical disabilities.
2. Emotional stressor:
✓ Emotional stressors are caused by your emotions.
✓ E.g. Feelings, self-esteem, personality and anxiety.
3. Environmental stressor:
✓ These are the stressors found in our surrounding environment.
✓ E.g. Natural disasters, lack of private space, pollution or noise.
4. Social stressor:
✓ Social stressors are caused by the people around you.
✓ E.g. Relationships with family or friends, social taboos, and performance
pressure on school work.
1
Copyright@SmartSummaries
,• The effect of stress on your body:
✓ When you feel threatened it can initiate the body’s
"fight or flight" response.
✓ The “fight-or-flight” response is the body’s
sympathetic nervous system reacting to a stressful
event.
✓ During this response, your heart rate, breathing and
sweating increase.
✓ The immune system and digestive system also slow
down.
• Symptoms of stress:
1. Physical symptoms:
✓ Muscle tension.
✓ Headaches.
✓ Stomach pain.
✓ Fatigue.
✓ Excessive sweating.
2. Behavioral symptoms:
✓ Sleeping too much.
✓ Eating more or less.
✓ Losing weight.
✓ Substance abuse.
✓ Decreased personal hygiene.
3. Emotional symptoms:
✓ Moodiness.
✓ Depression.
✓ Anxiety.
✓ Agitation.
✓ Isolation/crying.
4. Cogniitve symptoms:
✓ Inability to concentrate.
✓ Confusion.
✓ Poor attention.
✓ Memory problems.
✓ Poor problem-solving.
• Managing stress:
✓ Although stress is part of life, it becomes dangerous
when it interferes with your ability to live a normal life.
✓ Once you understand the levels and causes of your
stress in your life, you can explore ways to deal with
stress.
2
Copyright@SmartSummaries
,• Methods to manage stress:
1. Build a support network:
✓ A strong network of supportive friends and family members can be a big buffer
against life’s stressors.
2. Avoid stressors:
✓ Try to avoid people or situations that may cause unnecessary stress in your
life or limit the amount of time you spend with the stressor.
3. Live a balanced lifestyle:
✓ A balanced lifestyle means that you make
time for schoolwork, friends, and family, do
physical exercise, get enough sleep, and
follow a balanced diet.
✓ Exercise has been proven to have a
beneficial effect on a person’s physical and
emotional state.
4. Practise relaxation techniques:
✓ Meditation, massage, and yoga has been known to greatly help people with
stress.
5. Engage in laughter therapy:
✓ Laughter can reduce stress.
6. Implement time management:
✓ Use time to organise your life, relax and pursue your interests.
7. Seek professional help:
✓ If stress is affecting the way you function negatively, you should seek
professional help.
3
Copyright@SmartSummaries
, Development of the self in society: Relationships
• Intrapersonal relationships: “Inside”
✓ Intrapersonal communication involves all the internal thought processes, including
thinking, perception, assessment, and interpretation of events within yourself.
✓ The relationship you have with yourself.
• Interpersonal relationships:
✓ It involves at least two people and refers to the different types of verbal, non-verbal,
and physical actions or expressions that people use when they communicate with
others.
• The Johari Window:
✓ The Johari Window is a simple and useful tool for illustrating and improving self-
awareness and understanding relationships.
✓ It divides self-awareness into four windows/quadrants.
• Types of relationships:
1. Family:
✓ A family is a group of people with a certain relationship, whether through blood,
marriage, or adoption.
✓ There are 5 elements that contribute to strong family relationships:
➢ Laughter – humour is an escape valve for family tension.
➢ Leadership – family members must assume responsibility for leading the
family.
➢ Learning – families are where we learn values, skills, and behaviours.
➢ Loyalty – Strong families have a sense of loyalty and devotion toward each
other.
➢ Love – everyone has the need to love and to be loved, family is normally
where love is expressed.
4
Copyright@SmartSummaries
, 2. Friends:
✓ A friend is a person you know well and for whom you have a sense of love,
respect, and trust.
✓ Reasons to appreciate friends:
➢ Acceptance – True friends will not judge you, but they will rather accept you
with all your faults.
➢ Stress – Having friends can help you deal with stress and uncertainty.
➢ Support – True friends are always there to support you in your time of need.
➢ Enrich your life – True friends can have positive influences on your
scholastic, social and personal aspects of your life.
✓ Stressors in a friendship:
➢ Peer Pressure – You have the right and duty to stand up for what you
believe in. If you’re scared of losing a friendship by standing up what you
believe in, then you’re in an unstable friendship.
➢ Bullying –
➢ Cross cultural relationships – Cultural elements may differ, and behaviour
will be challenging when you have friends with a different cultural code
3. Romantic:
✓ Developing romantic feelings and sexual attractions to others is a natural part of
growing up.
✓ Often this type of relationship can be intense and complicated
✓ Important elements in a romantic relationship:
➢ Communication
➢ Mutual respect
➢ Personal space
➢ Understanding
✓ Do’s and don’ts when ending a relationship:
Do’s Don’ts
Be true to yourself. Take time to consider your Avoid. Do not avoid the other person or the
feelings and reasons for your decision. conversation you need to have.
Prepare. Take time to think about the other Date. Never date a person to get over
person's point of view and feelings that can help someone else.
you to be sensitive.
Be honest. Tell the truth in a kind, gentle way. Respect. Do not disrespect, gossip or
badmouth your ex.
Say it in person. Breaking up through texting or Time. Do not rush into a difficult conversation
Facebook may seem easy, but you have shared a without thinking it through.
lot with the other person.
5
Copyright@SmartSummaries
