Ch. 5 Stress and Mental Health Flashcards
What is Stress?
external demands placed on an organism;
organism’s internal biological and psychological responses to such demands
Stress is a ____________ component of multiple DSM diagnostic disorders
significant
6 Factors Predispositioning a Person to Stress
1) Nature of stressor
2) Experience of crisis
3) Life changes
4) Individual perception of stressor
5) Individual stress tolerance
6) Lack of external resources and social supports
Characteristics of Stressors
1) Severity
2) Chronicity (how long)
3) Timing
4) Degree of Impact
5) Level of knowing what to expect
6) Controllability (unpredictable? unanticipated?)
What is a crisis?
When stress exceeds adaptive capabilities of a person or group
How does crisis differ from stress?
Stress does not necessarily overwhelm someone’s ability to cope
What is resilience?
the most common reaction to loss or trauma
no one factor that determines resilience
5 Factors linked to resilience
1) Older age
2) higher education
3) economic resources
4) positive life outlook (post-traumatic growth)
5) self-confidence
Some DSM disorders are triggered by exposure to major life stressors like…
Adjustment disorder
Some DSM disorders are triggered by exposure to a traumatic event (acute or chronic) like…
acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder
Trauma and stressor related disorders characterised as
psychological disorders resulting from stress or trauma
Stress/ trauma is a _______________ cause for diagnosis, but it is not a ______________ cause, because not everyone who experiences stress/ trauma will develop a stress- related disorder
necessary; sufficient
What is adjustment disorder and how is it characterized?
-a psychological response to a major common stressor (e.g unemployment)
“Experiencing more stress than would normally be expected in response to a stressful life event and/or having stress that causes significant problems in relations, at school, or work”
When does adjustment disorder occur?
within 3 months of the stressor occurring
Symptoms of adjustment disorder disappear when stressor __________ or person ____________.
ends; adaps
There are also important qualifiers of adjustment disorder, such as “______ ___________ _________”, “_________ ____________”, and “_____________ ____ ___________.”
with depressed mood; with anxiety; with disturbance of conduct
How does the DSM-5 define and characterize a traumatic event?
*exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence
-a direct experience or witnessing it happen to
someone else, in person
-learning that something traumatic happened to a
loved one (e.g. murder), but does not include natural/
medical death
- repeated or extreme exposure to details of
traumatic events (e.g. first responders; combat
nurses; trauma therapists/ case workers; crime scene
cleaning)
** does not include electronic media or pictures,
unless work-related and frequently
What is acute stress disorder?
a diagnostic category for use when symptoms develop shortly after traumatic even and last from 3 days to a month
When can people receive treatment for acute stress disorder?
immediately
Diagnosis of acute stress disorder may evolve to PTSD if symptoms persist past ______ ___________.
one month
What is the clinical description of PTSD?
persistent post-traumatic stress causing distress and/or impairment
symptoms have been going on for at least one month
What are the four PTSD symptom categories that must be present for diagnosis?
1) Re-experienceing
2) Avoidance
3) Negative changes in cognitions and mood
4) Arousal and reactivity
1) Re-experiencing (four PTSD symptom categories)
-nightmares, intrusive images, physiological reactivity to trauma reminders
-flash backs
2) Avoidance (four PTSD symptom categories)
-efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or reminders of trauma
-avoiding benign people, places, situations
3) Negative alterations in cognitions and mood (four PTSD symptom categories)
-detachment, shame, anger, distorted blame of self/ others
-overgeneralized beliefs about danger
4) Arousal and reactivity (four PTSD symptom categories)
-hypervigilance, excessive responses when startled, aggression, reckless behavior
Must have at least _____ of the PTSD symptoms from ____ _________ categories for daignosis.
9; all 4
PTSD is commonly misperceived as ____________ reactions to traumatic experiences.
common
PTSD is a disorder of _____-___________ from trauma.
non-recovery
Originally ____________ psychological effects after trauma persist and become ______________ and cause significant distress and/or impairment (e.g ducking for cover at the sound of any loud noise is adaptive in combat, but likely maladaptive for the 4th of July).
adaptive; maladaptive
For acute stress disorder, you must have ____+ symptoms total which are consistent with PTSD
9+
For PTSD, you must have at least ___ or ___ symptoms in each of the 4 symptom categories.
1 or 2
Treatment for acute stress disorder are…
short-term psychotherapy and/or antidepressants
Treatment for PTSD is…
longer, yet time-limited, psychotherapy and/or antidepressants
The lifetime prevalence rate of PTSD in the US is ___%
6.8% (7%)
There are higher rates of PTSD in ___________ despite finding that ________ are more likely to be exposed to violent events and serious accidents.
women; men
Comparing natural and human disasters, there is higher risk of developing PTSD if…
human intention caused the event
WWI: PTSD was known as…
“shell shock”
WWII: PTSD was known as…
“operational fatigue” & “war neuroses”
In Korean and Vietnam Wars, PTSD was known as…
“combat fatigue”
Rates of PTSD (7-13%) for Afghanistan and Iraq wars were similar to…
Gulf & Vietnam wars
Sociocultural factors for PTSD
-membership in minority groups
-socioeconomic inequalities likely a major factor
-returning to a negative and unsupportive social environment
-many vietnam vets
