Stress & Psychopathology

Question 1

What was the prediction made by the WHO regarding stress and death

Answer 1

Illnesses that are directly or indirectly related to stress would be the second leading cause of death over the next 2 decades

Question 2

What are some diseases associated with increased stress

Answer 2

Metabolic disease
Cardiovascular disease
Diabetes
Other psychopathology like MDD, anxiety, psychosis and burnout

Question 3

According to Statistics Canada, _____ of people between ages ___ and ___ years old reported that most days they are quite a bit or extremely stressed

Answer 3

23%, 18, 34

Question 4

What are the top stressors

Answer 4

Work, money, relationships, health

Question 5

Who were two important historical figures that began talking about stress and in what way

Answer 5

Hippocrates: psychosocial stress and asthma
Hans Selye: borrowed the term from engineering but now means the way the body reacts to external stimuli and change

Question 6

How is stress explained in engineering

Answer 6

Forces acting upon a structure that exceed that structure’s ability to respond/cope/adapt

Question 7

What is the difference between a stressor and stress

Answer 7

Stressor: external demand (actual or perceived danger) that poses a challenge to homeostasis
Stress: physical or psychological response to the stressor - there is variance in how people respond
- stress always and necessarily reflects the interaction between organism and environment across time

Question 8

If a situation is appraised as stressful what happens according to the SAM pathway

Answer 8

1. The hypothalamus activates the Sympathetic Adrenomedullary System (SAM)
2. Fight or flight response is activated - adrenaline and noradrenaline are secreted
3. HR increases, Pupils dilate, blood pressure increases, digestion slows and glucose consumption increases

Question 9

If a situation is appraised as threatening what happens according to the HPA axis

Answer 9

1. Hypothalamus activates the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA axis
2. CRH released by hypothalamus, ACTH released by pituitary, Cortisol released by adrenals
3. Fight or flight response - inhibit the immune system

Question 10

Which system is faster: SAM or HPA axis

Answer 10

SAM

Question 11

What is allostatic load

Answer 11

The cost of always mobilizing the stress systems - chronic activation of the stress systems

Question 12

When does stress become problematic

Answer 12

When it is chronic - more detrimental and start to see physical and psychological consequences

Question 13

What is being referred to: “there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so”

Answer 13

Our appraisal of the situation is what becomes important

Question 14

What are some functions of cortisol

Answer 14

Critical for everyday
Need an increase of cortisol in the morning to wake up and decrease at night to fall asleep
Needed for brain maturation

Question 15

True or false: too little cortisol is just as bad as having too much

Answer 15

True

Question 16

What is the hippocampus’ role in relation to stress

Answer 16

Important in memory and stress regulation
Shares reciprocal connections with the hypothalamus
High concentration of cortisol receptors in the hippocampus
Acute stress suppresses hippocampal activity
Chronic stress results in decreased hippocampal volumes and decreased dendritic arborisation
Altered function which can result in cortisol hypersecretion

Question 17

What is the prefrontal cortex’s role in relation to stress

Answer 17

Important for decision making, working memory, self-regulatory behaviours, mood, impulse control
Slow to develop which makes it vulnerable to disruptions - rapid development during adolescence and into 20s
Repeated stress exposure causes dendritic shortening
Chronic stress exposure associated with decreased volume (structural or functional) of the prefrontal cortex

Question 18

True or false: there is increased recognition that certain properties of stressors may be more closely linked with disease risk

Answer 18

True

Question 19

What are the properties of stressors that have been more strongly linked to the development of some psychiatric conditions like depression

Answer 19

Stressors that are perceived as uncontrollable, unpredictable, severe

Question 20

What do we need to tease apart if we want to predict who will develop psychopathology after exposure to a stressor

Answer 20

Severity of the event and the person’s subjective interpretation of the event

Question 21

Stressors can be ____ or _____

Answer 21

Acute or chronic

Question 22

True or false: some types of stressors are more strongly associated with some forms of disease than others

Answer 22

True

Question 23

True or false: the timing of the stress doesn’t matter

Answer 23

False
Earlier life stress has a bigger impact because the system is developing

Question 24

What are the 5 general patterns observed with regard to Early Life Stress (ELS) and mental disorders in the population

Answer 24

1. ELS is common
2. ELS increases risk for developing a lifetime mental disorders compared to no ELS
3. ELS is associated with virtually all commonly occurring forms of psychopathology - appears to be non-specific
4. ELS is associated with increased vulnerability to psychopathology that persists across the life course
5. ELS explains a substantial proportion of mental disorders onsets in the population (about 30%)

Question 25

A study was done in an orphanage to examine ELS being associated with increased vulnerability yo psychopathology that could persist across the life course. What did they find?

Answer 25

Even the children who were adopted into loving families and developed well, were at a higher risk for developing psychopathology later in life. This could suggest the potential permanent damage of the HPA axis

Question 26

What are the potential mechanisms of risk to stress

Answer 26

Early life is a critical period of brain development and stress exposure may disrupt this development - ex: the level of cortisol in moms matters for the developing brain Exposure to stress early in life may lead to persistent dysregulation of stress response systems including the HPA-axis and ANS functioning

Question 27

What can be said about fetal exposure to maternal stress

Answer 27

Maternal stress during pregnancy increases risk for post-natal complications and emotional and behavioural problems in infants, children and adolescents This could be passed from on via fetal programming

Question 28

What is fetal programming

Answer 28

Maternal stress may be transmitted to the fetus through high levels of glucocorticoids Cortisol may pass through the placenta and/or stimulate receptors on the placenta to increase cortisol production Infants may develop stress responses systems that are hypersensitive to threat

Question 29

What can be said about an infant’s hypersensitivity to threat

Answer 29

Basal cortisol levels and cortisol reactivity are greater in infants exposed to higher levels of maternal stress

Question 30

What did the study by Yong Ping et al. (2015) do and find?

Answer 30

Study procedure: Examined effects of prenatal maternal stress from a natural disaster on offspring cortisol reactivity with pregnant women from the 2008 Iowa food They rated the mothers’ objective exposure to stress and collected perceived stress Collected saliva samples from their toddlers before and after a mother-baby separation tasks Results: The more severe the mothers’ objective exposure and subjective stress from major flood during pregnancy, the greater the child’s cortisol reactivity increase in response to stress - this effect was mostly seen in young girls

Question 31

True or false: multiple studies from around the world reported increases in symptoms of depression across the course of the pandemic (a real world stressor) but these increases were not evenly distributed

Answer 31

True

Question 32

What did the Fitzpatrick et al. (2020) study find as a risk factor for the depression rates due to the pandemic

Answer 32

Social isolation, female gender, food insecurity, Hispanic ethnicity, unemployment

Question 33

What did the Freeman, Carpentier, & Weinberg (2023) study find regarding neural reward response in the covid VS pre-covid group

Answer 33

Both groups have the same level of baseline neural response to reward - high response At follow-up the pre-covid group shows the same pattern but the covid group shows virtually no neural response to reward

Question 34

What can we say about social support

Answer 34

It is linked to 50% reduction in mortality risk Loneliness is associated with higher BP and increased waking cortisol levels Helps people recover faster from recent life stress exposure Social evaluative stress is the most robust predictors of HPA-axis activation

Question 35

When children were given a variation of the TSST was there cortisol response buffered through social support when in the presence of a stranger or a parent

Answer 35

In the presence of a parent

Question 36

True or false: in a study, social buffer by a romantic partner was only effective for the men in the study unless their was physical contact then the women benefitted

Answer 36

True

Question 37

How can pet ownership buffer stress

Answer 37

Pet-owning coronary patients have higher one-year survival rates Elderly people with pets make fewer visits to the physician People with pets show less HR reactivity during lab stressors There is evidence that is doesn’t have to be your pet

Question 38

True or false: physical exercise can protect against hippocampal degeneration associated with chronic stress

Answer 38

True

Question 39

True or false: regular exercise is associated with reduced physiological reactivity to psychological stressors

Answer 39

True

Question 40

Is it true that exercise can improve mood and has a stronger effect for people who start out in poorer physical health

Answer 40

Yes, it is true

Question 41

Some evidence that walking for ______ hours a week can significantly improve mood

Answer 41

2-4

Question 42

Mood improvements even after _____ minutes of ______ high intensity exercise

Answer 42

10, self-selected

Question 43

What did the study by Klaperski et al. (2013) find regarding the HR reactivity and cortisol reactivity in response to the TSST in relation to people’s physical activity level

Answer 43

Those who were moderately or vigorously active showed less HR and cortisol reactivity in response the the TSST

Question 44

What is controlled breathing good for

Answer 44

Slows down physiological reactivity - can help students during exam stress

Question 45

What can we say about sleep in relation to stress

Answer 45

Sleep deprivation increases allostatic load - increases BP and evening cortisol Chronic sleep deprivation can affect hippocampal volumes Alters mood and cognitive control Associated with increased rates of illness, accidents, lower life expectancy 7-9 hours of sleep per night is optimal for 18-64 year olds

Question 46

What could we do if we want to improve our sleep quality and sleep duration which would have positive downstream consequences

Answer 46

Improve our sleep hygiene