Psychological and psychophysiological stress disorders

Axia College Material Appendix D Psychological and Psychophysiological Stress Disorders Stress can be the root cause of psychological disorders. Name four symptoms shared by acute and posttraumatic stress disorders.
According to Adelman and Legg (2009), the four symptoms shared by acute and posttraumatic stress disorders are: reliving intrusive thoughts or images of traumatic events through nightmares or flashbacks; avoidance of the situations related to the traumatic event; reduced responsiveness characterize by numbness and detachment; and increased arousal manifested by nervousness and alertness (p. 119).
2. What life events are most likely to trigger a stress disorder?
Life events which are most like likely to trigger a stress disorder are acts of war or terrorism, natural disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis, fires, earthquakes, and floods), battling life-threatening illness, and human acts of violence and abuse (Goulston, 2011, n. p.).
3. Traumatic events do not always result in a diagnosable psychological disorder. What factors determine how a person may be affected by one such event?
Factors which determine how a person may be affected by trauma include: the immediacy, duration, proximity, and degree of personal injury related to the traumatic event; personal factors such as age, gender, characteristics, culture, and ethnicity; biological and genetic factors; social support; and childhood experiences (Adelman & Legg, 2009, p. 118).
4. What are the four stages in meeting the psychological needs of disaster victims?
The four stages in meeting the psychological needs of a disaster victim are heroic stage, honeymoon stage, disillusionment stage, and reconstruction stage. The heroic stage meets the demands of the disaster victims by immediate medical care and psychological debriefing and support from family and friends. The honeymoon stage focuses at interventions which will end stress reactions such as placing the victims in a shelter where they can talk and share their traumatic experiences. The disillusionment stage aids at therapy to gain perspective of the traumatic event by ventilating their escalating emotional stress through crisis interventions. The reconstruction stage is geared towards returning
the disaster victims to their usual and normal functioning in life (Doherty, 2007, p. 12).
5. What is the link between personality styles and heart disease?
Having a Type A personality style increases the risk for coronary heart disease because of the self-imposed and intense reactions to stress. Type A’s are perfectly ambitious, hardworking, and time conscious. They are highly competitive and easily irritated. The frequent stress encounter increases the heart rate and blood pressure and gradually contributes to coronary heart disease (Weiten, 2011, p. 427).
6. List and briefly describe four psychological treatments for physical disorders.
1. Cognitive behavioral therapy – Positive reframing is an example of a cognitive behavioral therapy. In this therapy, clients are taught to turn negative messages into positive messages during a panic episode (Videbeck, 2010, p. 234). For instance, instead of saying, “ I’m stress! My heart is pounding and my blood pressure is escalating. I think that I’m going to die,” say instead that you are just anxious or tired.
2. Hypnosis – This approach puts the patient in sleeplike state to direct the client to behave in a certain manner and recall or suppressed traumatic events (Videbeck, 2010, p. 234).
3. Relaxation training – Relaxation reduces stress and anxiety through a nonchemical approach. Clients are instructed to perform exercises and the different muscle groups involve in exercise and relaxation. Clients are also then instructed to tense those particular muscles and then release the tension. In this way, stress and anxiety are reduced because clients tend to focus on whole body relaxation (Videbeck, 2010, p. 234).
4. Biofeedback – In performing this intervention, a machine is needed to provide individual and continuous reading in relation to involuntary body activity. Because of the provided reading materials, the individual is able to gain control over activities Videbeck, 2010, p. 234).
References
Adelman, D. S. & Legg, T. J. (2009). The Psychology of Disasters. Disaster
Nursing: A Handbook for Practice (p. 115-132). Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, LLC.
Doherty, G. W. (2007). Fundamentals. Crisis Intervention Training for Disaster
Workers: An Introduction (p. 5-12). Michigan: Loving Healing Press.
Goulston, M. (2011). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder for Dummies (n. p.). Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Videbeck, S. L. (2010). Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, and Stress-Related Illness.
Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (5th ed.) (p. 226-248). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins).
Weiten, W. (2011). Stress, Coping, and Health. Psychology: Themes and
Variations (8th ed.) (p. 414-447). California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.