Acute Stress Response Cheryl Welch Liberty University Abstract The purpose of this paper is to define and explain the acute stress response and acute stress disorder. Clarify the differences between the two conditions and offer review of treatments and symptoms associated with both. Therapies and interventions are reviewed and explored for effectiveness in resolving symptoms and preventing post-traumatic stress disorder. The acute stress response (ASR) refers to psychological and physiological responses to stressful events. These responses are displayed by emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes.
They can be life events, such as the loss of a spouse, catastrophes, such as a natural disaster, or ongoing daily problems. Chronic stress is more likely to be produced as the result of the daily hassles or the ongoing problems of daily life (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987; Matud, 2004). When faced with a stressor, an individual will either consciously or unconsciously make an appraisal to determine how they will be affected and identify type of stress they face; a current harm, a potential threat or a stressful challenge with potential benefits (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987). During a ‘secondary appraisal’ an individual will decide which coping mechanism to adopt. Coping is the way individuals respond to stress and, according to Lazarus and Folkman (1987) can be either problem-focused, trying to change a situation, or emotion-focused, trying to change the way a person feels or thinks about a situation.
In addition, those who undergo or encounter prolonged exposure to a series of traumatic instances and long lasting unnatural functions of emotional and social occurences tend to develop a more complicated form of PTSD called C-PTSD or Complex Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Individuals who suffer from PTSD tend to re-experience the traumatic event or events in some way and because of this they attempt to avoid certain places, people related to the incident and things that remind them of the event. PTSD sufferers are also extremely sensitive to normal life
The purpose of this paper is to provide a communication plan for an emergency situation, in particular the sudden death of a family member, define how communication changes in times of crisis, provide techniques to reduce stress during those times and finally provide solutions to potential communication challenges. Communication in a crisis Crises are traumatic events that happen on a public and private level and affect individuals differently. Often when individuals experience a crisis they react with raw emotion rather than meaningful actions. "People experience crisis as over-whelming, traumatic, and personally intrusive. It is an unexpected life event challenging an individual's sense of self and his or her place in the world" (Arnold & Boggs, 2011. p 434).
Stress is composed of many factors and is often described as any feelings of nervousness or anxiety. It has been established that there is a direct positive relationship between stress and the severity and occurrence of athletic injuries (Hanson, McCullagh & Tonymon, 1992). The research provided in this paper examines what causes stress and what causes the stress levels to vary in an individual. The researchers are trying to identify the cause of stress and what moderates the stress levels in an individual. Many situations can produce a stressful response and researchers have attempted to determine why it will leave an athlete more vulnerable to injury.
a. There is a mistaken assumption that anyone experiencing a traumatic event will have PTSD. This is far from true. Studies vary, but confirm that only a fraction of those facing trauma will develop PTSD (Elliott 1997, Kulka et al 1990, Breslau et al 1991). b. a history of PTSD when it came to experiencing problems with alcohol abuse or dependence.
Individuals do this to make the pain go away which ultimately they really just defense mechanisms (Gottdiener, Murawski, & Kucharski, 2008). “According to psychoanalytic conflict theory, defense mechanisms are activated when the individual experiences any form of displeasure, especially anxiety or depressive affect” (Brenner, 1982). Failures of ego control are related to individuals with substance use disorders. “Ego control refers to the efforts of the individual to control thoughts, emotions, impulses and ability to perform tasks and attention processes” (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004, p. 2). The article also addresses the result of consistent failures in ego control.
These results suggest that in favour of psychological intervention, task-focused coping strategies are the more adaptive of coping strategies. It may also suggest that psychologically minded individuals may use more effectual coping strategies. Future research should aim in gathering a more representative sample of a non-clinical population and employ a measure more reliable than online surveys. The relationship between coping and psychopathology, both anxiety and depression, is centre of an immense amount of research (Endler & Parker, 1990; Hovanitz, 1986). Coping styles and the forms of psychopathology (depression and anxiety) have been found to be implicated in the measure of psychological mindedness (PM; Nyklicek, Poot, & Opstal, 2010; Nyklicek & Denollet, 2009).
In the following, transactional model is used to illustrate how my interpersonal evetnt(s), as a stimulus event, turning to stress after undergoing primary and secondary appraisals. The key premise of Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model is primary appraisal, secondary appraisal and coping strategies mediate the relationship between stressor (which is the stimulus event) and the individual’s stress outcomes. This model’s central principle is, a potentially stressful event(i.e. stimulus event) will trigger the primary appraisal process. Primary appraisal is an initial evaluation which refers to an individual who assesses whether an event is relevant to himself/herself and the degree of threat regarding to his or her wellbeing(Goh, Yong, Wah and Sawang, Sukanlaya and Oei, Tian, 2010), values, beliefs and experience(Lazarus & Folkman, 1994).
Final Draft Bradley J. York Western Governor’s University Abstract Physical health of patients who have a mental illness continues to be much worse than that of patients who do not have a mental illness. Ways to improve the physical health of patients with a mental illness should be explored. One example of this is to research whether mental health and primary health care should be integrated within the primary health care setting. Much research has been conducted which proves that integration of mental health and primary health care is beneficial because it leads to improved outcomes for patients, reduced medical costs, increased provider satisfaction, and reduced stigma associated with having a mental health disorder. The author of this paper performed a literature review of integrated mental health and primary health care research to determine whether integration leads to the above listed results.