Stress And Its Relationship To Health And Illness

To discuss the relationship between stress and health status, it is first necessary to define the term "stress." This is not a mundane issue, because the term "stress" is popularly used to refer to a wide range of physiological changes, psychological states, and environmental pressures in the health/illness literature. Stress was first described as a biological syndrome by Selye (1936, p. 32): Experiments on rats show that if the organism is severely damaged by acute non-specific nocuous agents such as exposure to cold, surgical injury, production of spinal shock ... a typical syndrome appears, the symptoms of which are independent of the nature of the damaging agent ... and represent rather a response to damage as such.

Stress is a physical response to an undesirable situation. Mild stress can result from missing the bus, standing in a long line at the store or getting a parking ticket. Stress can also be severe. Divorce, family problems, an assault, or the death of a loved one, for example, can be devastating. One of the most common sources of both mild and severe stress is work. Stress can be short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic). Acute stress is a reaction to an immediate threat -- either real or perceived. Chronic stress involves situations that aren't short-lived, such as relationship problems, workplace pressures, and financial or health worries. Stress is an unavoidable consequence of life. As Hans Selye (who coined the term as it is currently used) noted, "Without stress, there would be no life". However, just as distress can cause disease, it seems plausible that there are good stresses that promote wellness. Stress is not always necessarily harmful. Winning a race or an election can be just as stressful as losing, or more so, but may trigger very different biological responses. Increased stress results in increased productivity up to a point. This new book deals with the dazzling complexity of this good-bad phenomenon and presents up-to-date research from throughout the world.

A comprehensive work that brings together and explores state-of-the-art research on the link between stress and health outcomes. Offers the most authoritative resource available, discussing a range of stress theories as well as theories on preventative stress management and how to enhance well-being Timely given that stress is linked to seven of the ten leading causes of death in developed nations, yet paradoxically successful adaptation to stress can enable individuals to flourish Contributors are an international panel of authoritative researchers and practitioners in the various specialty subjects addressed within the work

Stress in Health and Disease presents the principal pathways mediating the response to a stressor. It discusses the clinical background of cross-resistance and treatment with stress-hormones. It addresses the diseases of adaptation or stress diseases, diagnostic indicators, and functional changes. Some of the topics covered in the book are the concept of heterostasis; stressors and conditioning agents; morphology of frostbite; characteristics manifestations of stress; catecholamines and their derivatives; various hormones and hormone-like substances; FFA, triglycerides and lipoproteins; morphologic changes; and hypothalamo-hypophyseal system . The gastrointestinal diseases of adaptation are covered. The schizophrenia and related psychoses is discussed. The text describes the manic-depressive disease and senile psychosis. A study of the experimental cardiovascular diseases and neuropsychiatric diseases is presented. A chapter is devoted to the diseases of adaptation in animals. Another section focuses on the shift in adenohypophyseal activity and catatoxic hormones. The book can provide useful information to scientists, doctors, students, and researchers.

Stress and Your Health: From Vulnerability to Resilience presents an evidence-based evaluation of the various effects of stress, along with methods to alleviate distress and stress-related illnesses. Examines myriad stressor effects and proven ways to alleviate stress in our lives Covers a wide range of stressor-related topics including therapeutic strategies to deal with stress and factors that hinder treatment of stress Makes difficult biochemical and immunological concepts accessible to a non-specialist audience Addresses many of the factors that cause individuals to be more vulnerable to the impact of stressors and at increased risk for pathology

"This is a highly entertaining book about a very serious topic. Beautifully written, funny and organized in a way that students and the general public will understand complex notions about stress." - Sonia Lupien, Director of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress, University of Montreal "Perfect for my stress and cognition module, accessible and informative, great level of detail." - James Byron-Daniel, University of the West of England, Bristol An Introduction to Stress and Health is the first textbook to fuse the psychosocial with newer behavioural neuroscience perspectives. It provides a broad perspective of the multiple biological processes influenced by stressful events, the conditions that allow for either exacerbation or diminution of these stressor effects, and the pathological conditions that can emerge as a result of stressful events. Anisman systematically reviews the key research over the past 30 years and presents his insights in a lively, interesting pedagogical fashion to allow you to fully appreciate the diversity of the field of stress and its impact on our health. Key features include: A consideration of the value of numerous therapeutic strategies to diminish distress and stress-related pathologies. An exploration of many new conceptual perspectives relevant to stress processes and pathology. Information is presented in an easy-to-read manner with lots of pointers to the key concepts to remember. An Introduction to Stress and Health is an indispensable text for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in health psychology, stress, health and illness.

As the population of older Americans grows, it is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Differences in health by racial and ethnic status could be increasingly consequential for health policy and programs. Such differences are not simply a matter of education or ability to pay for health care. For instance, Asian Americans and Hispanics appear to be in better health, on a number of indicators, than White Americans, despite, on average, lower socioeconomic status. The reasons are complex, including possible roles for such factors as selective migration, risk behaviors, exposure to various stressors, patient attitudes, and geographic variation in health care. This volume, produced by a multidisciplinary panel, considers such possible explanations for racial and ethnic health differentials within an integrated framework. It provides a concise summary of available research and lays out a research agenda to address the many uncertainties in current knowledge. It recommends, for instance, looking at health differentials across the life course and deciphering the links between factors presumably producing differentials and biopsychosocial mechanisms that lead to impaired health.

This book is designed to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. The focus on behaviour and empiricism has produced a text that is better organized, has fewer chapters, and is somewhat shorter than many of the leading books. The beginning of each section includes learning objectives; throughout the body of each section are key terms in bold followed by their definitions in italics; key takeaways, and exercises and critical thinking activities end each section.