Psychology of Stress, Health, and Coping

If you’re like most people, you have quite a few questions about stress, such as: What about a situation can make it feel stressful? Can changing my thoughts about the situation decrease the stress I’m feeling? What effects is stress having on my mind and body? Is stress making me sick? Can stress be good for me? And how can I cope with stress and grow from the experience?

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This course, Psychology of Stress, Health, and Coping, will help you find the answers to these questions and more by walking you through the scientific literature that focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of stress. Topics we will cover include why the same situation will cause some people profound stress and other people no stress at all, how stress can keep us from being the best version of ourselves, and how our bodies often overreact to stress in ways that cause short-term physical effects such as headaches and sleep difficulties, but also long-term physical effects such as chronic inflammation that makes us vulnerable to many diseases. Most importantly, we will discuss how you can lessen your stress levels, what you can do to decrease the negative impact stress has on you, and how you can grow after the stressor has ended.

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Created by the American Psychological Association, written by experts in the field, and based on decades of psychological and biological science, Psychology of Stress, Health, and Coping will be a valuable resource for anyone trying to understand stress and improve their ability to cope with it.