Depressive Disorders/understanding responses to stress Flashcards
Major depressive disorder
Presents with a history of one or more major depressive episodes. The symptoms interfere with the person’s social or occupational functioning and in some cases may include psychotic features.
Mood disorder
A category of disorders characterized by disturbances of mood that range from elation to depression and interfere with normal functioning
Dsythymic disorder
A mild to moderate mood disorder characterized by a chronic depressive depressive syndrome that is usually present for many years. The depressive mood disturbance is hard to distinguish from the person’s usual pattern of functioning, and the person has minimal social or occupational impairment.
Anergia
Lack of energy or passivity.
Psychomotor agitation
Constant involvement in some tension-relieving activity, such as constantly pacing, biting one’s nails, smoking, or tapping one’s fingers on a tabletop
Psychomotor retardation
Extreme slowness of and difficulty in movements that in the extreme can entail complete inactivity and incontinence.
Vegetative signs of depression
Significant changes from normal functioning in those activities necessary to support physical life and growth, such as eating, sleeping, elimination, and sex, during a depressive episode.
Hypersomnia
The spending of increased time in sleep, possibly to escape from painful feelings; however, the increased sleep is not experienced as restful or refreshing
Anhedonia
Loss of ability to experience joy or pleasure in living.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Noninvasive treatment modality that uses MRI-strength magnetic pulses to stimulate focal areas of the cerebral cortex.
Vagus nerve stimulation
Pacemaker like device is implanted surgically into the left chest wall from which a thin, flexible wire is threaded up and wrapped around the vagus nerve on the left side of the neck. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve is thought to boost the level of neurotransmitters, improving mood and the action of antidepressants.
Stressors
Psychological or physical stimuli that are incompatible with current functioning and require adaptation.
Fight or flight response
Body’s way of preparing for a situation an individuals receives as a threat to survival. Results in increased blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output.
General adaptation syndrome (GAS)
The body’s organized response to stress, as elucidated by Hans Selye. It progresses through three stages: 1- the stage of alarm, 2- the stage of resistance, 3- the stage of exhaustion.
Distress
A negative, draining energy that results in anxiety, depression, confusion, helplessness, and fatigue. Can be caused by such stressors as a death in the family, financial overload, or school/work demands.
Eustress
Positive, beneficial energy that motivates and results in feelings of happiness, hopefulness, and purposeful movement.
Psychoneuroimmunology
Study of the links among stress, the immune system, and disease
Physical stressors
Include environmental conditions (e.g., trauma and excessive cold or heat), as well as physical conditions (e.g., infection, hemorrhage, hunger, and pain).
Psychological stressors
Include such things as divorce, loss of a job, unmanageable debt, the death of a loved one, retirement, and fear of a terrorist attack, as well as changes we might consider positive, such as marriage, the arrival of a new baby, or unexpected success.
Coping styles
Discrete personal attributes that people have and can develop to manage stress
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)
A method of decreasing anxiety in which the individual tenses groups of muscles as tightly as possible for 8 seconds and then suddenly releases them
Benson’s relaxation techniques
Techniques that allow a patient to switch front the sympathetic mode of the autonomic nervous system to a state of relaxation by focusing on a pleasant mental image in a calm and peaceful environment.
Guided imagery
A process whereby a person is led to envision images that are both calming and health enhancing and can be used in conjunction with Benson’s relaxation technique.
Meditation
A discipline for training the mind to develop greater calm and then using that calm to bring penetrative insight into one’s experience.
Biofeedback
A technique for gaining conscious control over unconscious body functions, such as blood pressure and heartbeat, to achieve relaxation or the relief of stress-related physical symptoms; involves the use of self-monitoring equipment.
Mindfulness
A centuries old form of meditation that emphasizes awareness of ourselves and our mental activity from moment to moment.
Cognitive reframing
A process of changing the individual’s perceptions of stress be reassessing a situation and replacing irrational beliefs.
Journaling
Keeping a diary which may be informal or part of a treatment plan of daily events, activities and feelings.
