Final answer:
Helping a patient adapt to stressors involves engaging in both physiological and psychological strategies. Significant life changes can contribute to stress and potential illness, and coping strategies can be proactive and focused on solving problems or managing emotional responses.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Stress Adaptation
The method of helping a patient to adapt to stressors, changes, or threats to their lifestyle involves physiological and psychological strategies. Physiological adaptation refers to changes like an increased heart rate in threatening situations, while psychological adaptation refers to coping strategies that are used to manage stress.
Psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe's work on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) suggests that life events requiring significant changes to a person's normal routine are stressful and can contribute to physical illness. Additionally, Hans Selye discovered the general adaptation syndrome, which is the body's nonspecific physiological response to stress, consisting of stages: initial shock, subsequent readjustment, and later depletion of physical resources leading to potential health problems.
Coping strategies, as identified by Lazarus and Folkman, fall into two categories: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. Problem-focused coping involves actively trying to solve the problem causing the stress, such as seeking tutoring assistance or directly addressing a problem at work. Emotion-focused coping includes strategies that help individuals deal with the emotional responses to stressors. In some cases, methods such as Herbert Benson's relaxation response technique may be beneficial in helping patients manage their stress.