CaseHealth, Stress, and its Management

Two months after accepting a new job, your friend Amy confides in you that she’s unhappy in her marriage. She tells you that she and her husband seem to be fighting all the time, and nothing seems to get resolved.  She tends to be very high-strung anyway (Her friends call her “Type-A Amy”) and now she feels like the stress of the constant bickering is affecting every aspect of her life, including her health. Since you’re in a Psychology class, she asks you for your thoughts on the chances of her marriage surviving and your advice about what she can do about her stress.

Assignment Expectations

Based on what you’ve read (either in the assigned readings in this module or your own Internet research), you answer her questions by addressing 10 factors that may be related to the situation.  Briefly discuss at least five of these factors (and how it may relate to Amy’s predicament) in a 4-5 page essay.

The Factors are:

• Predictability of the stressor.
• Social support (human relationships).
• Perceived (or actual) control over the stressor.
• The amount of stress
• Exercise
• Cognitive appraisal.
• Relaxation
• Explanatory style
• Personality (“Type-A”)
• The “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (Gottman)