Preview

Stress Adaptation Case Study

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
703 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Stress Adaptation Case Study
Chapter One: The Concept of Stress Adaptation
1. How are the body’s physiological defenses affected when under sustained stress? Why?

While under sustained stress the body’s physiological defenses are affected in many ways. For example, the hypothalamus responds to sustained stress by stimulating the pituitary gland to release a number of different hormones such as adrenocorticotropic hormone, vasopressin, growth hormone, thyrotropic hormone, and gonadotropins. As a result of the release of these hormones, the body responds by an increase in the following: blood pressure, fluid and sodium retention, gluconeogenesis, and basal metabolic rate. On the other hand, these hormones also cause a decrease in the following: immune response, inflammatory
…show more content…
In the view of stress as an environmental event, what aspects are missing when considering an individual’s response to a stressful situation?

One aspect that is missing is an individual’s view of the specific event due to the fact that people react to life events in a variety of ways depending on how stressful the individual perceives that life event. Another aspect that is missing, is the person’s coping mechanisms or strategies and the support system that is available to him/her when the specific event takes place.

3. In their study, what event did Miller and Rahe find produced the highest level of stress reaction in their
…show more content…
When this occurs the observer may label that behavior as a mental illness. Furthermore, the concept of cultural relativity refers to how observers label behavior as either normal or abnormal based on their own understandings of what is considered culturally normal to themselves and within their society.

2. Describe some symptoms of panic anxiety.

Some symptoms of panic anxiety are the inability to focus, a loss of contact with reality, hallucinations, desperate actions, ineffective communication with others, feelings of terror, misperceptions, and extreme withdrawal.

3. Jane was involved in an automobile accident in which both her parents were killed. When you ask her about it, she says she has no memory of the accident. What ego defense mechanism is she using?

Jane is using the ego defense mechanism of repression.

4. In what stage of the grieving process is the individual with delayed or inhibited grief fixed?

A person with delayed or inhibited grief becomes fixed in the denial stage of grief.

Chapter Three: Theoretical Models of Personality

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The very concept of Psychology states an individual undergoes psychosomatic hardships at various points in their lives. Whether it be economic burden, divorce, or the death of a loved one individuals face periods of emotional turmoil. Furthermore, individuals may experience reactions such as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, which are frequently referred to as the five stages of grief. However, due to grief’s non-linear nature, every person will handle the sentiments with a different approach.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most studies of the relationship between stress and the immune system have focussed on acute(i.e. short lived) stressors and have found a decrease in immune cell function.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During strenuous times, our body undergoes many physiological changes in order to aid our survival, and this is an inherited function (Canon’s ‘fight or flight’ theory). Stress in small doses, in fact is needed and useful to humans, however long term stress can take its toll on the body. The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model was developed by Selye to explain the effects of exposure to stressor. The GAS model consists of these 3 stages; Alarm – when our HPAC and SAM pathways are activated, causing stress related hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to be releases into blood, which in turn, converts to glucose, giving the body a sudden surge of energy, allowing ‘fight or flight’ like behaviours, until the stressor is gone and the parasympathetic nervous pathway activates, allowing us to calm down. Resistance – When the stressor remains however the person appears unaffected on the outside, but internally the stress related effects are occurring, e.g. stress hormones still being released and a continued elevation in heart rate. The resistance stage can harm health, as the immune system is not as effective. However the body attempts to resist disease. Further stressors make this much harder. Exhaustion – stressor still persists (and would now be referred to as Chronic stress) and Selye claimed that the body’s defences can no longer cope with the demands that are made, resources are drained, causing a drastic fall in blood sugar levels, and our adrenal glands no longer function properly. However this is inaccurate, which is a criticism of the GAS model, as while the body is ‘exhausted’ in terms of full ability, it could still perform if immediate action and release of energy was needed. It is also believed that many of the long lasting effects of raised stress hormones is what causes stress related illnesses, rather than the body’s sources being depleted. The study lacks ecological…

    • 968 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Grieving is a difficult process no matter what the circumstances. Most people look to their family and friends for the support they need during a time of bereavement at the death of a loved one. There seems to be a great need to make a connection with someone who is living when one experiences death. This connection or attachment with others seems to enhance one’s ability to cope with grief as one tries to make some sense of the situation. The goal of this attachment according Bowlby is to maintain an affectional bond with another person. (Bowlby, 1980). Anything or anyone who interrupts this bond throws the system out of balance. If death is the factor to upset the “homeostasis” of the relationship then the grieving person needs to connect with another significant person in order to help maintain some semblance of balance or make meaning of a difficult situation. Various attachments are developed throughout life in order for the needs of safety and security to be maintained. When these attachments aren’t able to be maintained due to incredibly difficult circumstances, the acute grief becomes a chronic debilitating condition called complicated grief.…

    • 2860 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Unmothered” by Ruth Margalit was an article written in The New Yorker about what it was like losing her mother. Margalit’s mother was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer after thinking she had a cough and a “pulled” muscle in her leg. After her mother’s diagnosis she began to think somewhat selfishly, “The truth is, I was thinking, selfishly, about myself. That my mother would never see me marry. That she would not know my children. That the following summer I would turn twenty-eight -her lucky number- and she might not be there” (Margalit). According to Margalit, she believes that she experienced both anticipatory grief, mourning before death, and delayed grief, a postponed reaction to the death. She explains that the day her mother was diagnosed she grieved. Right after Margalit began graduate school at Columbia she received a call from her sister saying that her mother was getting sick very quickly, she knew she needed to get home as fast as she could. Margalit later was thinking about her grieving process and realized that she didn’t experience delayed grief but rather that “grief keeps odd hours,…

    • 983 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grief is an emotional suffering that someone is feeling when someone or something is taking away. (Wikipedia) Elizabeth Kubler-Ross introduced the five stages of grief based on patients facing terminal illness. These steps are typical, but everyone doesn’t go through each stage. You don’t go through the stages in order and they should know that it is normal. The mindset of the individual will depend on the severity of grief they may go through. Grief can last from days to years and the person isn’t aware of this. They may restart their grieving process on holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Healthcare provider interact with people who are experiencing and dealing with grief every day. Stress and grief are normal reactions when someone has died, diagnosed with a critical illness, or even sent home on hospice knowing that death is imminent. “Grief is a normal and natural internal reaction to a loss of any kind. Grief is the conflicting feelings caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior” (Athan, 2011). In this paper the author will discuss Kubler-Ross’ 5 stages of Grief; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stress can have many definitions, the NHS describes it as: stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure (2012) and some may describe it as when our demands outweigh our response. A stressor is anything that is likely to ‘set off’ your stress levels, when a person is feeling overwhelmed or they cannot cope with an event or situation (whether it be physical or psychological).…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These stages don’t always occur sequentially, and you might experience some stages over and over again. Intentionally focusing on healing from grief will empower you to reach acceptance.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Five Stages of Grief

    • 7125 Words
    • 29 Pages

    Denial in grief has been misinterpreted over the years. When the stage of denial was first introduced in On Death and Dying, it focused on the person who was dying. In this book, On Grief and Grieving, the person who may be in denial is grieving the loss of a loved one. In a person who is dying, denial may look like disbelief. They may be going about life and actually denying that a terminal illness exists. For a person who has lost a loved one, however, the denial is more symbolic than literal.…

    • 7125 Words
    • 29 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grief

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The loss of a loved one can be very distressed that some people look for psychological aid. Because of people feeling alone and not knowing how to continue on in life they look for sources that can guide them thru the grieving process, depending on the person’s belief they turn to their church for guidance and counseling. Others just turn to Psychologist and end up taking anti-depressants as their source of aid. The early grief theorists (Freud, Lindemann, and Bowlby) assumed that grief became pathological when attachments to the deceased were prolonged (separation does not occur)(The Grief Process p.56) There…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    HNC Social Care Grief & Loss

    • 3657 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Denial - on first hearing of the death there may be disbelief. The person may hang on to the hope that the deceased will walk in as normal. Numbness and shock may also be felt. Again, this particular process can be applied to any kind of loss not just death.…

    • 3657 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Grief and Loss

    • 2492 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Grieving is a personal and highly individual experience. How we grieve depends on many factors, including personality and coping style, life experience, faith, and the nature of the loss. The grieving process takes time. Healing happens gradually; it can’t be forced or hurried – and there is no “normal” timetable for grieving. Some people start to feel better in weeks or months. For others, the grieving process is measured in years. Whatever grief experience, it’s important to be patient and allow the process to naturally unfold. (Bowlby 1977)…

    • 2492 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The process of grief is multifaceted, with bereaved individuals experiencing major physical, emotional, and cognitive changes. Barbato and Irwin (1992) suggested that grief is a state in which the bereaved person has lost someone or something of personal value. When faced with this loss, the most powerful forms of attachment behaviour are activated in an attempt to reinstate the relationship. Worden…

    • 3387 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Grief is not essentially classified medically as a mental illness, however the symptoms are similar to depression. Although there is currently an exemption for bereavement in the diagnostic criteria that allows for such symptoms to persist for up to two months after the death of a loved one, more than two months of persistent and pervasive depressive symptoms maybe diagnosed as a major depressive disorder (MDD) in the context of bereavement. These symptoms may include a depressed mood, anxiety and sadness, lack of interest in re-engaging in the world or of forming new relationships. This exemption acknowledges that while grieving can look and feel virtually identical to depression, it is also recognised that it is not depression, as we know it. The new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) will remove the bereavement exemption from the diagnostic criteria and the very appropriate reaction to the death of a loved one described above may be diagnosed as MDD.…

    • 3290 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays