CHAPTER 5: Stress and Physical and Mental Health

CHAPTER 5: Stress and Physical and Mental Health
Teaching Objectives
1. Define stress, and learn about how stress presents as a psychiatric disorder.
2. Differentiate and provide an example of a stressor, stress, and coping; describe the basic categories of
stressors, and discuss factors that increase or decrease a person's vulnerability to stress.
3. Review ways to measure life stress and discuss the importance of resilience.
4. Explain the role cortisol and other hormones play in stress reaction and why extended contact can be
problematic over the longer term.
5. Explain the interactions between the nervous system, the immune system, and behavior, and describe
psychoneuroimmunology's relationship to all three.
6. Explain what cytokines are, how they work, and why researchers are so excited about them.
7. Discuss the connection between the mind and body when it comes to health.
8. Explain why negative emotional states can impair the functioning of the immune system and the
cardiovascular system.
9. Explain the correlation between stress, depression, and the immune system functioning.
10. Review the treatment modalities for stress-related physical disorders.
11. Characterize the DSM-5 diagnosis of adjustment disorder and describe three major stressors and the
consequences that increase the risk of adjustment disorder.
12. Characterize the phenomenon of combat-related stress and of PTSD in connection with battlefield stress.
13. Summarize what is known about the major features of reactions to catastrophic events.
14. Explain the risk factors in the development of PTSD.
15. Understand PTSD from a sociocultural point of view.
16. Outline the factors that appear to influence combat-related stress problems and describe the long-term
effects of PTSD.
17. Summarize the approaches that have been used to treat or to prevent stress disorders and evaluate their
effectiveness.
18. Discuss the issue of using psychotropic medications to treat PTSD.
19. Discuss the process of psychological debriefing and the challenges faced when studying disaster victims.
20. Review the impact trauma has on one’s physical health.
21. Outline the DSM-5current diagnostic criterion for PTSD and discuss how it differs from the DSM-IV-TR
criteria.
Chapter Overview/Summary
Health psychology is the sub discipline of the field of psychology that focuses on the effects of stress and other
psychological factors in the development and maintenance of physical health problems. Behavioral medicine is an
approach to physical illness that is concerned with how psychological factors cause physical health problems. Stress
is an inevitable part of life; all situations, positive and negative, can be stressful. Stressors can be placed into one of
three categories: frustrations, conflicts, and pressures. A person’s response to stressful situations depends not only
on the severity of the stressor but also on the person’s perceptions, preexisting stress vulnerabilities, and amount of
external resources and social supports. Conflict situations can be characterized as approach-avoidance, doubleapproach, or double-avoidance. People’s stress responses can be viewed as task-oriented or defense-oriented.
Among the consequences of extreme or prolonged stress can be extensive physical and psychological problems.
When we are stressed, the autonomic nervous system responds in a variety of ways. One consequence of
stress is increased production of cortisol. High levels of this stress hormone may be beneficial in the short term but
problematic if the levels remain high over the longer term. In the immune system, specialized white blood cells
called B-cells and T-cells work together to respond to antigens such as viruses and bacteria. T-cells are assisted by
macrophages.

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