Understanding Stress and Arousal: Impact on Psychological and Physical Well-being

Stress and Arousal - Components of stress - Stressor - Event that creates demands - Causes fear when viewed as threatening - Stress response - Person’s reactions to demands - Extraordinary stress and trauma - Can play a central role in certain psychological disorders - Stress and psychological disorders - Acute stress disorder - Posttraumatic stress disorder - DSM-5 lists these as “trauma and stressor-related disorders.” - Stress and physical disorders - DSM-5 lists these under “psychological factors affecting medical conditions.” Stress and Arousal: The Fight-or-Flight Response - Features of arousal and fear are set in the Hypothalamus - Two important systems are activated - Autonomic nervous system - An extensive network of nerve fibers that connect the central nervous System to all other organs of the body - Endocrine system - A network of glands throughout the body that release hormones - Two pathways by which ANS and the endocrine system produce arousal and fear reactions - Sympathetic nervous system pathways - Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal pathway Acute and Posttraumatic Stress Disorders - Acute stress disorder - Symptoms begin within four weeks of event and last for less Then one month - Posttraumatic stress disorder - Symptoms may begin either shortly after event, or months or years afterward - As many as 80 percent of all cases of acute stress disorder develop into PTSD - Aside from differences in onset and duration, symptoms of acute stress disorders and Are almost identical. - Increased arousal, anxiety, and guilt - Reexperiencing the traumatic event - Avoidance - Reduced responsiveness and dissociation - Checklist - A person is exposed to a traumatic event – death or threatened death, severe injury, or Sexual violation - A person experiences at least one of the following intrusive symptoms - Repeated, uncontrolled, and distressing memories - Repeated and upsetting trauma-linked dreams - Dissociative experiences such as flashbacks - Significant upset when exposed to trauma-linked cues - Pronounced physical reactions when reminded of the event - Triggers - Combat - Disasters and accidents - Victimization - Sexual assault and rape - Terrorism - Torture - Why do people develop acute and posttraumatic stress disorders? - Biological factors - Brain – body stress pathways - Brain’s stress circuit - Inherited predisposition - Childhood experiences - Chronic neglect or abuse - Poverty - Parental separation or divorce - Catastrophe - Personal styles - Social support systems - Severity and nature of the traumas - Why do people develop acute and posttraumatic stress disorders? - Personal styles - Preexisting high anxiety and negative worldview versus resiliency and positive Attitudes - Social support systems - Weak family and social support system Dissociative Disorders - Group of disorders triggered by traumatic event - When such changes in memory lack a clear physical cause, they are called “ Dissociative” disorders - One part of the person’s memory typically seems to be dissociated, or separated, From the rest - Dissociative amnesia - Inability to recall important information, usually of an upsetting nature, about one’s Life - Memory loss much more extensive than normal forgetting and is not caused by Physical factors - Often the amnesia episode is directly triggered by a specific upsetting event