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Mental Health Adaptation to Stress
This deck covers key concepts related to stress, including definitions, physiological responses, coping mechanisms, and therapeutic interventions.
What is stress?
Interaction between person and environment that challenges how a person will cope.
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
What is stress?
Interaction between person and environment that challenges how a person will cope.
What is a stressor?
Anything in the environment that causes a person to have stress.
What is the difference between distress and eustress?
Distress is damaging to the individual while eustress is an outcome of a positive event.
What is the medulla oblongata responsible for?
Heart rate, Blood pressure and respiration rate
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
three-stage physical and physiologic reaction to stress
3 Stages of General Adaptation Syndrome
Alarm; Resistance; Exhaustion
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What is stress? | Interaction between person and environment that challenges how a person will cope. |
What is a stressor? | Anything in the environment that causes a person to have stress. |
What is the difference between distress and eustress? | Distress is damaging to the individual while eustress is an outcome of a positive event. |
What is the medulla oblongata responsible for? | Heart rate, Blood pressure and respiration rate |
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) | three-stage physical and physiologic reaction to stress |
3 Stages of General Adaptation Syndrome | Alarm; Resistance; Exhaustion |
Physiologic response to GAS: Alarm stage | When stressor is detected, ANS tells medulla oblongata to increase blood flow to organs which increases awareness and ability to think and respond to stressors. Blood in brain has an increase in glucose, epinephrine, and norepinephrine to assist with individual’s reaction to stressor. Reticular formation supports coordination between sensory and motor tract. Brain will alert the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. |
Limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis | Limbic area of the brain communicates with hypothalamus that stress is occurring Hypothalamus secretes corticotropin-releasing factor which alerts pituitary gland. Pituitary gland secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone that lets the adrenal cortex release cortisol. Cortisol mobilizes energy response |
Resistance Stage | Body stabilizes and returns to normal. Hormone levels return to normal PNS activity Adaptation to stressors. |
Exhaustion Stage | Individual’s body does not adapt to stress. Continues in alarm-stage format until body becomes exhausted and cannot sustain the changes. |
Locus of control | Hypothesis based on how individual’s will respond to a task with regard to their own sense of goal attainment. Includes thoughts, beliefs, aptitudes, culture and value. |
Internal control | Internal control is something they can contribute to their success. Tend to have better outcomes, becomes more motivated and less likely to conform to social influences. |
External control | External control is a task completion beyond their control. More likely to conform to social influences. |
Social Readjustment Rating Scale | consists of 43 stressors that are assigned a point value. The greater the number of points, higher probability of developing illness |
Interventions to promote health in face of stress | • Assess for causal factors and coping skills • Identify stress and type of stress • Humor • Compartmentalization • Exercise • Healthy diet • Sufficient sleep • Prevent isolation • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) • Stop, Divert and Reframe |
Compartmentalization | • Patient leaves stressor in designated space. • It allows time for people to process before leaving it in space. • Most taught to patients |
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) | • Psychological problems are based on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking and unhelpful behavior. • People can learn better ways of coping with them. |
Disorders that can benefit from CBT | • Anxiety • Depression • Panic Attacks • Addictions • Eating Disorders • Anger • Phobias |
Interventions that can help the exhaustion stage of GAS | • Exhaustion stage manifests itself in the forms of illnesses like infections, headaches, hypertension, asthma attacks, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, anxiety disorders and other chronic conditions. It can also cause death. • Assess the individual’s stress and the factors leading up to it. • Assess chronic conditions • Teach patients to conserve their energy and relaxing techniques. • Provide pain medications and reassess for headaches. • Ensure patients are compliant with their medications such as BP meds. • Ensure patients are getting the appropriate interventions for their infections, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, anxiety, etc. |
Stop Divert and Reframe | • Stop- interrupt the negative train of thought • Divert- think about something that will rapidly decrease stress • Reframe- reinforce what you can do to reduce the stressor. |
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction | helpful to teach individuals a generic method of relaxation by concentrating on breathing rhythm. |
CBT patient education Thinking patterns. | • Learning to recognize one’s distortion in thinking that causes problems • Gain better understanding of behavior and motivation of others. • Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations. • Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities |
CBT patient education Behavioral patterns. | • Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them. • Using role playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others. • Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body |