ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
SIXTEENTH EDITION
James N. Butcher/ Jill M. Hooley/ Susan Mineka
Chapter 5
Stress and Physical and
Mental Health
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What Is Stress?
Stress
• External demands placed on
an organism
• Organism’s internal biological and
psychological responses to
such demands
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Stress and the DSM
Stress and DSM
• Significant component of multiple DSM
diagnostic categories
• DSM-5: Trauma- and stressor-related
disorders
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Factors Creating Predisposition
to Stress
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Characteristics of Stressors
Severity
Chronicity
Key characteristics
of
stress involve:
Timing
Degree of impact
Level of expectation
Controllability
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Characteristics of Stressors
Life changes
Crises
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Perception
of benefits
Stress and the Stress Response
Two of body’s systems respond
when stressor is perceived
• Sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM)
system
• Hypothalamic-pituitary adrenocortical
(HPA)
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Figure 5.1: The Hypothalamic-PituitaryAdrenal (HPA) Axis
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Biological Costs of Stress
Allostasis
• Is process of adaptation or
achieving stability through change
• Results in wear and tear on body
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The Mind-Body Connection
Psychoneuroimmunology
• Study of interaction between nervous
system and immune system
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The Mind-Body Connection
True or False?
Stress may cause overall vulnerability to
disease.
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Understanding the Immune System
Protects body from
such things as
viruses and
bacteria
Immune system
Provides
leukocytes: front
lines of defense
Communicates with
brain via cytokines
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Figure 5.2: Immune System Responses
to a Bacterial Infection
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Stress, Depression, and
the Immune System
Depression
• Associated with compromised immune
function beyond stressors that
precipitated depression
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Stress and Physical Health
Many psychological factors can
affect relationship between stress
and health
• Optimism
• Negative affect
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Cardiovascular Disease
Study in this
area includes:
Hypertension
Coronary heart
disease
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Risk and
causal factors
Hypertension
Hypertension involves persisting systolic
and diastolic blood pressure
Chronic hypertension
and disease
Hypertension and
ethnicity
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Hypertension and
anger management
Figure 5.3: Defining Hypertension
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Coronary Heart Disease
How would you define coronary
heart disease?
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Certain personality
patterns are linked
Risk and Causal Factors in
Cardiovascular Disease
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Type A
Type D
Treatment of Stress-Related
Physical Disorders
Biological
interventions
Psychological
interventions
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Biological Interventions
Surgical
procedures
Lipid-lowering
medications
Aspirin or other
anticoagulants
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Antidepressant
medications
Psychological Interventions
Biofeedback
Relaxation
and
meditation
Emotional
disclosure
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Cognitivebehavior
therapy
Stress and Mental Health
Some DSM
disorders are
triggered by
exposure to stress
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Adjustment
disorder
Posttraumatic
stress disorder
Stress and Mental Health
Adjustment Disorder
• Maladaptive response to common
stressor within 3 months of stressor
• Symptoms disappear when stressor
ends or person adapts
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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Definition
Causes
Clinical description
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Prevalence of PTSD
in General Population
• Lifetime prevalence rate in the U.S. is
6.8%
• Higher rates in women despite finding that
men are more likely to be exposed to
traumatic events
What contributes to this gender
difference?
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Rates of PTSD After Traumatic Experiences
Military combat
Prisoner of war, concentration
camp, and torture experience
Traumas caused by human
intent
Accidents or natural disasters
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Causal Factors in
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
True or false?
Not everyone exposed to a trauma will
develop PTSD!
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Causal Factors in
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Individual
risk factors
Nature of
trauma
Sociocultural
risk factors
Causal
factors
may
include:
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Individual Risk Factors
How many can you name?
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Individual Risk Factors
High cognitive
ability (IQ) may
lower risk of
PTSD
Biological
differences
may play a role
in likelihood of
developing
PTSD
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Sociocultural Factors
In combat-related trauma:
•
•
•
•
Justification for combat
Identification with combat unit
Esprit de corps
Quality of leadership
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Prevention and Treatment
of Stress Disorders
Psychological
debriefing
Prevention and
treatment of
stress disorders
Challenges in
studying crisis
victims
Trauma and
physical health
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Prevention
Advanced preparation of stressor
• Military service
• Medical procedures
• Relationship termination
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Treatment for Stress Disorders
Approaches to treatment include:
• Telephone hotlines
• Psychological first aid
• Crisis intervention
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Psychological Debriefing
Strategies for relief of PTSD
symptoms
• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
• Medications
• Cognitive-behavioral treatments
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Challenges in
Studying Crisis Victims
Challenges
Traumatic
events cannot
be predicted
or controlled
by researchers
Variables of
interest are
difficult to
assess
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Funding can
be difficult to
obtain
Trauma and Physical Health
Relatively new
area for
physical
research
Studies indicate
that trauma is
bad for body as
well as mind
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Unresolved Issues
The motivation for studying
trauma stress
The role of advocacy for trauma
victims in trauma stress studies
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