Stress and Coping - EXAM I Flashcards
beneficial stress
eustress
type of stress that causes problems emotionally and physically
distress
meditation prayer mindfulness exercise social support
stress relieving techniques
can occur in any individual who has had exposure to a trauma severe enough to be outside the range of normal human experience. It can also occur in people who have witnessed an unbearable event, not just someone who has personally been a victim. The most common element in all of these experiences is the individual’s extraordinary helplessness or powerlessness in the face of overwhelming circumstances.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
characterized by intrusive reexperiencing of the initial trauma/flashbacks.
-avoidance
-persistent negative alterations in cognition and mood
-alteration in arousal and activity
(symptoms must last longer than a month to be considered for a diagnosis. symptoms often begin within a few months after the initial trauma, but a delay of months or years is not uncommon.)
Post traumatic stress disorder
feeling of apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or dread resulting from a real or perceived threat whose actual source is unknown or unrecognized.
Anxiety
healthy life force that is necessary for survival. Provides energy needed to carry out the tasks involved in living and striving toward goals.
normal anxiety
precipitated by an imminent loss or change that threatens and expected response to stress. Crisis involves the experience of ____ anxiety.
acute anxiety
differs from normal anxiety in terms of duration, intensity, and disturbance in a person’s ability to out of proportion to the threat, persists after the threat is resolved, becomes generalized to benign situations or occurs in the complete absence of stressors.
pathological anxiety
reaction to a specific danger, and more often the body reacts with surges of autonomic arousal necessary for fight or flight, thoughts of immediate danger, and escape behaviors.
Fear
occurs in the normal experience of everyday living. A person’s ability to perceive reality is brought into hyper focus. Person sees, hears, and problem solves more effectively. Person may have slight discomfort, become restless, irritable, or exhibit mild tension relieving behaviors (i.e. biting nails, tapping foot, etc)
mild anxiety
as anxiety increases, the persons perceptual field narrows, and some details excluded from observation. The person sees, hears, and grasps less information. They may demonstrate selective inattention which is when only certain things in the environment are seen or heard. Learning and problem solving can still take place, but not a optimal level. Symptoms, heart pounding, increased HR and RR, diaphoretic, somatic symptoms (GI upset, HA, etc), voice tremors.
Moderate Anxiety
perceptual field is greatly reduced. The person may focus on one particular detail or many scattered details. learning and problem solving skills aren’t possible at this level, and the person may be dazed or confused. Symptoms: increased severity of somatic symptoms, trembling, heart pounding, hyperventilation, and feelings of impending doom.
Severe anxiety
most extreme from and results in markedly disturbed behavior. Person is not able to process events in the environment and may lose touch with reality. May exhibit confusion, screaming, shouting or withdrawal. Hallucinations of false sensory perceptions may occur. Physical behavior may be erratic, uncoordinated, and impulsive. Extreme psychomotor agitation may lead to exhaustion.
panic level of anxiety
considered a healthy defense mechanism in which selfless concern for the well being of others. Receive gratification either vicariously or from response to others.
altruism
