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8: Stress and Stress-Related Disorders

  • Page ID
    111151
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    • 8.0: Introduction
      The page discusses the various sources of stress nurses face, such as long hours, high workloads, and managing complex medical conditions, which can impact their physical and mental health. It also highlights the stress associated with nursing education, including application processes, financial concerns, and academic responsibilities. Understanding stress and its effects is crucial for nursing students, helping them manage their own stress and support patients through recovery.
    • 8.1: Homeostasis, Stress, and Adaptation
      This section explores homeostasis in relation to stress, highlighting the body's adaptive responses to internal and external stimuli to maintain stability. It details the role of various body systems in achieving homeostasis, emphasizing their interdependence. Stress is defined as a disruption to the body's normal state, with positive and negative effects. Stressors are individual triggers of stress responses, influenced by multiple factors.
    • 8.2: Causes and Types of Stress
      This section focuses on understanding stress and stressors, crucial for nurses in patient care. Stress is described as normal, with people experiencing it differently based on physical, psychological, and emotional factors. Stressors are categorized as internal or external and can be acute or chronic. Physical stressors affect the body directly, while psychosocial stressors relate to mental and emotional responses. Stress varies with age, where coping skills differ between children and adults.
    • 8.3: Stress and Disease
      The page discusses stress, covering its role as a response, a transaction, and a stimulus for disease. Stress is dynamic, influenced by personal, social, and environmental factors, and can lead to clinical manifestations if not managed properly. The transactional model explores varied responses based on individual differences. Stress is linked to diseases such as anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, and more, with stress responses potentially exacerbating these conditions.
    • 8.4: Physiological Response
      This section delves into the body's physiological response to stress, focusing on the roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. It explains the brain's interpretation of stress, outlining how the sympathetic response prepares the body for "fight, flight, or freeze" actions. It also covers the effects of chronic stress on health, highlighting the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary response.
    • 8.5: Psychological Response
      The page focuses on understanding the appraisal and coping mechanisms for stressful events, highlighting the impact of stress on psychological, behavioral, and cognitive functions. It emphasizes the role of nurses in assessing stress responses and creating care plans using the clinical judgment measurement model. Various coping strategies, both adaptive and maladaptive, are discussed in the context of their impact.
    • 8.6: Inflammation- Cellular Response to Stress
      The document provides an overview of the body's cellular response to stress, focusing on cellular function, feedback mechanisms, and inflammation. It explores how cells adapt or respond to stress through processes like apoptosis and autophagy, and the role of telomeres in cell longevity. The text outlines positive and negative feedback loops in maintaining homeostasis, such as the roles of oxytocin and insulin. It discusses inflammation types, systemic responses, and chemical mediators.
    • 8.7: Role of Stress in Family Health
      This section emphasizes the significance of family health, highlighting how stress impacts both individuals and the family unit. It discusses the role of nurses in supporting family-centered care, promoting effective communication, and offering resources to combat stress. Family dynamics influence stress management, with nurses acting as mediators and advocates to enhance family support and education.
    • 8.8: Pharmacotherapy and Complementary and Alternative Medicine
      This page provides an overview of stress and its management, focusing on both pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments. It highlights the nurse's role in recognizing stress symptoms and providing suitable interventions, whether through medication or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The text details the types of medications used, like SSRIs and anxiolytics, and touches on the controversial use of medical marijuana.
    • 8.9: Summary
      The page discusses the concepts of homeostasis, stress, and adaptation in the human body. It outlines the causes and types of stress, differentiating between physical and psychosocial stressors that can affect homeostasis. Stress is shown to have potential impacts on disease when not managed properly. The physiological and psychological responses to stress are examined, highlighting the role of nurses in assessing and addressing patient stress.
    • 8.10: Key Terms
      This page provides definitions and brief explanations of various terms related to stress and stress responses, such as acute stress, chronic stress, stress adaptation models, and the role of the autonomic nervous system. It also covers related concepts like adaptive and maladaptive behavior, antigen response, and integrative medicine.
    • 8.11: Assessments
    • 8.12: References
      This page contains a list of references related to stress, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, psychiatric aspects, and medical fields, highlighting studies, reviews, and definitions from various journals, books, and articles. These references provide insights into the roles of stress and coping mechanisms, the biological responses to stress, the implications of inflammation in diseases like Alzheimer's, and the socio-economic impacts of stress among Americans.


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