Stress-Related Disorders Flashcards
(37 cards)
What are examples of stress-related disorders?
PTSD & Adjustment Disorder
What systems does stress affect?
Endocrine & Autonomic Nervous Systems
How does stress affect us?
When the endocrine (hormones) & autonomic nervous systems are aroused, our bodies wear down. This then can wear down our immune system.
What is post-traumatic stress disorder? (PTSD)
A stress disorder stemming from a reaction to a traumatic event and constantly reliving the trauma.
What are symptoms of PTSD?
Avoidance behavior, reexperiencing the initial trauma (by dreams or association), emotional distress, negative thoughts, impaired functioning, heightened arousal, and emotional distress.
What types of drugs would best treat PTSD?
Antihypertensives are commonly used to treat PTSD. One particular drug, Prazosin, is used to treat nightmares that occur with PTSD and helps regulate blood pressure.
What types of therapies are commonly used for clients with PTSD?
Exposure therapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing). It’s also not uncommon for loved ones of the client to be brought in, as PTSD can affect them secondarily, too.
What is adjustment disorder?
A maladaptive reaction to a distressing life event or stressor that develops within 3 months of the onset of the stressor.
What are common types of adjustment disorder?
With depressed mood, with anxiety, with mixed anxiety & depressed mood, with disturbance of conduct, with mixed disturbance of emotion & conduct, and unspecified.
What is acute stress disorder?
A maladaptive pattern of behavior for a period of 3 days to 1 month following exposure to a traumatic event.
What are symptoms of adjustment disorder?
Significant impairment in a social, occupational, or another important area of functioning (such as academic work), or by marked emotional distress exceeding what would normally be expected in coping with the stressor.
What are symptoms of acute stress disorder?
Avoidance behavior, reexperiencing the trauma, emotional distress, negative thoughts, impaired functioning, heightened arousal, and emotional numbing.
What are theories behind PTSD?
From a classical conditioning standpoint, traumatic experiences are unconditioned stimuli that become paired with neutral (conditioned) stimuli such as the sights, sounds, and even smells associated with the trauma. Ex: the battlefield, or the neighborhood in which someone has been raped or assaulted. Anxiety is the conditioned response elicited by exposure to trauma-related stimuli.
What is General Adaptation Syndrome? (GAS)
GAS is a common biological pattern of response to prolonged or excessive stress.
What are the 3 stages of GAS?
The alarm stage, the resistance stage, and the exhaustion stage.
What is the alarm stage?
This stage mobilizes the body to prepare for challenge or stress. It activates the sympathetic nervous system, which increases bodily arousal, and triggers release of stress hormones.
What is the resistance stage?
Also known as the “adaptation stage”, the body tries to renew spent energy and repair damage. Hormone release remains high, but not as high as during the alarm stage.
What is the exhaustion stage?
This stage occurs when stressors continue or new ones appear, so the parasympathetic branch of the ANS takes over and our heart and respiration stage decelerate.
What is the fight-or-flight response?
This reaction is related to the alarm stage of GAS and was thought to have helped our early ancestors. Once a threat was eliminated, they either fought off predators or fled quickly. The body then reinstated a lower level of arousal that didn’t last long.
How do “life events” affect stress?
Recent research shows a stress-illness connection by quantifying life stress in terms of life changes/life events. These changes force us to adjust and adapt to both positive (ex: a wedding) and negative (ex: death of a loved one) events, and both can be stressful in different ways.
What is acculturative stress?
Pressure that results from the demands placed on immigrant groups, indigenous peoples, and ethnic minorities to adjust to life in the “mainstream” culture.
What is the melting pot theory?
A theory for the relationship between acculturation and psychological adjustment. This theory holds that acculturation helps people adjust to living in the host culture. An example of this would be Hispanic Americans might adjust better by replacing Spanish with English and adopting values and customs associated with mainstream American culture.
What is the bicultural theory?
A theory for the relationship between acculturation and psychological adjustment. This theory holds that psychological adjustment is marked by identification with both traditional and host cultures; a person’s ability to adapt to the ways of the new society combined with a supportive cultural tradition and a sense of ethnic identity may predict good adjustment.
What are the 2 styles of coping?
Emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping.
