PSY210-Week-9-Final Project-Case Study

1. What are the causes of stress in Michael’s or Jennifer’s life? Jennifer is undergoing a great deal of pressure and stress in her home and family life.  The death of a parent, the aging and possible debilitation of the remaining parent, trying to get pregnant, a miscarriage and the high hopes of her husband and in-laws has overwhelmed her.  She is probably a Type-A personality and takes great pride in her work, so the added pressures at home affecting her work, is very problematic to her. 

1b. How is stress affecting Michael’s or Jennifer’s health? The stress in Jennifer’s life probably contributed to her miscarriage. Stress and pregnancy both take it’s toll on the body in similar ways, IE: elevated blood pressure, headaches, back ache, sleeplessness, forgetfulness. Being pregnant and under so much stress at the same time was too much for Jennifer’s body to handle. Losing the baby added additional stress with trying to please her husband and in-laws. The additional stress only caused the psychosomatic pains and illness to worsen.

1. How are these stressors impacting Michael’s or Jennifer’s self-concept and self esteem?

Jennifer had always taken great pride in doing her job meticulously and exceptionally. With the added stressors, she has been making more and more errors, thus impacting her self esteem negatively. Prior to the additional stress, Jennifer was always someone people could count on to do the job and do it well. The added stress has caused her to make more and more mistakes and not live up to her reputation.