STRESS REACTIONS

By: Jeanne Sayson and Genelyn Roux BSN IV

General Information:
The term "Stress Reactions" covers a wide

variety of conditions marked by general distress or a mixture of symptoms from mild emotional upset to high distress. A stress reaction to be concerned about is one that is in response to a fairly serious life event and where the reaction doesn't settle down, or show signs of settling down fairly soon after the stressful event is over.

 Stress reactions are often referred to as normal reactions to abnormal events. When symptoms begin to develop, it should be taken as a strong signal from the body that you are reaching your limit and capacity and that a period of rest or

change is necessary. As tough and resilient as people are, the lifestyles, fitness and demands on us in modern life have generally made daily living pressured, strained and fast paced. That is not to say that there are not many rewards from a daily life that requires you to be active, productive and perform at your peak level. In order to be flexible and adaptable to the stresses and strains, we need to have a reserve capacity in energy, emotional resilience and ability to act, thus protecting our mental and emotional well being.

As with other mental and emotional health conditions the following key questions are useful in judging whether your health has been compromised: Does the condition cause you problems with normal sleep? Does the condition cause you to have a loss of normal energy and ability to do things? Is there a significant change to your appetite and other body functions? How much has the condition reduced your ability to function in your normal daily roles? Have others close to you noticed and commented on changes in you?

Clinical Symptoms:
Anxiety and depressive features from mild to

severe degrees. As with all such conditions you should not try to diagnose yourself, but if you are not functioning well in your normal roles and environment you are encouraged to see a Physician or another mental and emotional health professional

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Feeling a very depressed mood most of the day,

nearly every day for the past two weeks and this being a significant change from normal functioning. Reduced interest or pleasure in all, or almost all activities of the day, nearly every day. Significant changes to body weight and appetite Insomnia or hypersomnia (sleeping too much) nearly every day. Agitation or very slowed down nearly every day Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day. Feelings of worthlessness, or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day. Reduced ability to think or concentrate, or make decisions.

Acute Stress Reaction

Exposure to a serious traumatic event. Sense of numbing, detachment or absence of normal emotional responses Reduced awareness of surroundings such as being in a daze Persistent re-experiencing of the event through images, flashbacks, dreams Avoidance of reminders of the event and related conditions Increased symptoms of anxiety and arousal

Adjustment Disorders
These are very common occurrences in

response to stressful life events, or a diminished coping capacity due to other factors. Emotional and behavioural symptoms occur within three months of the onset of the stressor. Adjustment problems can occur with anxiety, depressed mood, conduct problems or a combination of these symptoms.

What Helps:
Stress Reactions can be serious conditions that require outside

professional help and may be well treated with short- term use of medications. Left without the opportunity to heal properly, stressful states can grow to become more serious mental and emotional health problems for the individual. What a lot of people tend to forget about is that their stress reaction is felt not only by themselves but effects those closest to them as well. Spouses, children and co-workers are all touched to some degree by the effects of a stress reaction and the coping response the person shows to the stress or trauma. By forgetting that others are effected, or by refusing to seek help for poor coping with stress, there is often a substantial risk that secondary problem issues will develop in the relationships that the person has and this can create marital conflict, problems at work and difficulties with the behaviour of children. When these secondary problems emerge, they compound the stress and add significantly to the weight of the burden that the effected person has to carry. This then raises the risk of the development of more serious mental and emotional health problems developing.

 Coping with stressful conditions or the ability to manage traumatic

events really should be a part of everyday healthy lifestyle. In the same way that we try to look after bodily health through exercise and nutrition, we should be attending to our mental and emotional health with strengthening, and developing those conditions that most protect us from the harmful effects of stressful events and trauma. These conditions include: Mental, emotional and bodily rest Moderate physical activity Positive and rewarding activities Good relationships with a few key friends to act as a safety net Skills at relaxation or other meditation and stress reduction abilities Balanced attitudes and thinking to create a fair appreciation of the good and the bad in your life. Reliable and supportive spiritual beliefs and philosophy of life and living With a sound daily healthy lifestyle that provides for balance in these areas each day, coping with stressful events is likely to be much easier. A persons ability to manage stressful or traumatic events will be greater, managing demanding lifestyles will be better, personal resilience will be greater and a reserve capacity will be available when it is needed.

What Doesn't Help:

Acting out behaviour with temper outbursts as a cry for help rarely leads to the satisfying help and feeling of relief that people are looking for. Instead, it often causes a greater concern by those close to you and they begin to lose trust in your ability to look after yourself. Or, it causes others to become angry with you for acting out badly and can cause the very opposite reaction to that which you want by others distancing from you or blaming you. Another important aspect of coping with stressful and traumatic events is that some people will expect others to come to the rescue without being asked. This is often a mistake. Those close to you often don't quite know what is the right thing to do and will wait for you to give cues that ask for help or give direction for what you want them to do. When this doesn't occur as you expect it to, people can become disappointed in others and angry. This often leads to acting out with behaviour that is designed to get their attention and cause them to act with sympathy, compassion and provide an interest in your difficulties but often has the opposite effect. It is worth mentioning that some people rely on alcohol, marijuana, other street drugs and over-the-counter drugs to help cope with stress and strain. These may provide for some short-term relief but when used consistently they tend to become less effective, can create addiction and can worsen coping abilities.

Critical incident stress management (CISM)

) is an adaptive, short-term psychological helping-process that focuses solely on an

immediate and identifiable problem. It can include pre-incident preparedness to acute crisis management to post-crisis follow-up. Its purpose is to enable people to return to their daily routine more quickly and with less likelihood of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.[1] More recent studies, however, call the efficacy of CISM into question, and suggest that it may in fact be harmful

Stress management:
-refers to a wide spectrum of techniques

and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's levels of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of improving everyday functioning.

THE END , Thank you for

listening..