Concepts of Stress
This is an event or stimulus that disrupts the person’s sense of equilibrium.
What is a stressor?
This term refers to the body’s regulation of systems needed to maintain a steady state.
What is Homeostasis?
When the level of stress from a stressor reaches a threshold that threatens homeostasis, it is strong enough to activate this.
What is the General Adaptation Syndrome?
Maria, a 63 year old patient, is managing her chronic pain by staying active with prescribed exercises, engaging in hobbies like knitting, and maintaining a positive outlook supported by regular family check-ins. Despite concerns about her future capabilities, she expresses confidence in her recovery, focusing on incremental progress and available support. This patient exhibits
What are effective coping strategies?
A 75-year-old patient with advanced malnutrition struggles to cope with the stress of a new diabetes diagnosis, exhibiting heightened anxiety and difficulty adhering to treatment plans due to weakened physical and cognitive reserves. The nurse recognizes that. these two factors are affecting the patient's stress response.
What are Age and Nutritional Status?
**Age, nutritional status, and genetic inheritance were identified to affect a person’s response, and great variation among individual responses to the same stressor was recognized.
Stress that is beyond the ability of the affected person to cope with or adapt to effectively, which can cause physical illness or emotional dysfunction.
What is Distress or Negative Stress
Stress triggers this response to ensure muscles are properly oxygenated, but be careful it might just take your breath away.
What is an increased respiratory rate?
In the Alarm stage of GAS this secretes Epinephrine.
What is the Adrenal Medulla?
During a counseling session with the nurse, James, a patient recovering from heart surgery, dismisses his persistent anxiety about future complications by joking about the seriousness of his condition and insisting he’s not worried at all. James is exhibiting, this.
What are defense mechanisms?
**These are often unconscious, protective methods patients use to cope with their condition. In our scenario, James is using humor and denial to manage his underlying fears and anxiety.
A patient undergoing chemotherapy confidently expresses optimism about their treatment, saying they feel well-informed and equipped to handle the side effects due to their strong support system and understanding of the treatment plan, which helps them find purpose in their recovery process. This patient is demonstrating.
What is a Strong Sense of Coherence?
**Sense of coherence (SOC) is a personality trait that reflects how well someone understands, feels in control of, and finds meaning in their life and experiences.
1. Strong SOC: likely to recognize and utilize resources in a stressful situation
2. Low SOC: likely to be overwhelmed
This concept refers to the process by which a person determines a stressor as a threat or a challenge.
What is stress appraisal?
Your eyes experience this when preparing to fight or fly from a perceived threat.
What is pupil dilation?
If stress is not relieved or the resources are inadequate to meet persistent demands, the body advances to this stage.
What is Exhaustion
A patient recovering from a recent surgery, feeling frustrated and angry about their extended hospital stay, directs their irritation towards the nurse by snapping at her over a minor issue with their meal tray. Despite the nurse's calm reassurance and attempts to address the concern, the patient continues to express their discontent through unwarranted complaints and harsh remarks, clearly redirecting their more profound frustration with their situation onto someone less directly involved. This patient is engaging in this defense mechanism.
What is Displacement?
**Displacement: Redirecting negative emotions perceived as unacceptable
This term refers to the affected person’s attribution of meaning to a stressful event, influences the expression of their stress response, and reflects the complex psychological processing involved.
What is Stress Appraisal?
This type of stress can be motivational and helps to develop effective coping and adaptation. It is thought to be essential for normal growth and development.
What is Eustress or Positive Stress
This concept is a physiologic response to stress by activation of the autonomic nervous system.
What is the Fight-or Flight Response
In this Stage of GAS the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and autonomic nervous systems are activated, successively triggering responses in the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine and immune systems.
What is the Alarm stage?
After receiving a challenging cancer diagnosis, Mark regularly attends a support group and practices mindfulness meditation to manage his feelings of fear and sadness. The nurse observes that these strategies are best described as.
What are emotion-focused coping strategies?
**These strategies are helping Mark ease his emotional distress and maintain a sense of calm.
When both a nurse and a patient experience the same stressful situation in a hospital, the nurse, accustomed to frequent high-stress environments, handles the situation with calm and quick problem-solving. At the same time, the patient exhibits significant anxiety and difficulty coping. This factor affecting the stress response is best categorized as.
What is the Frequency and Intensity of Stress Exposure?
The nurse’s frequent exposure to stress and developed adaptive skills contrast sharply with the patient's less experienced response.
Stress is an autonomic psychologic or emotional response to an internal or external environmental challenge, which is automatic and typically beyond a person’s resources or ability to respond. Stress can be categorized into three different types which include.
What are physiologic, psychological, and sociocultural
Prolonged levels of stress can be challenging for this system, especially when your body is fighting a Cold war.
What is the immune system?
In the resistance stage, the initial responses are lessened as this system reverses this stimulation, and stabilization occurs.
What are parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic stimulation
Emily, a 38-year-old patient who is struggling with managing her diabetes, actively schedules regular consultations with her dietitian and starts a detailed food and glucose monitoring plan to control her blood sugar levels better. Emily is engaging in this type of coping strategy.
What is a Problem-Focused technique?
**Emily is using problem-focused coping techniques to directly address and manage her health challenges. These techniques are aimed at altering or removing the stressor.
There are a multitude of factors that influence stress; one laboratory result that can be used to measure physiological stress in patients is this.
What is Cortisol?
**Found in the blood, urine, and saliva, cortisol is the standard for laboratory assessment of physiologic stress