Description
Book SynopsisStress 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
Trade Review“This is a worthwhile read, especially for those wanting to gain a good grounding in the subject of stress.” (The British Psychological Society, 1 October 2015)
Table of ContentsPreface xiii
Acknowledgments xvi
1 Stressors, Stress, and Distress 1
What this book is about 1
What do we mean when we talk about stressors? 3
The characteristics of stressors: comparing apples, oranges, and lemons 5
Chronic stressors and allostatic overload 10
Before you go… 11
2 Individual Differences in Relation to Stressors and Stress Responses 12
Vulnerability and resilience 13
Genetic influences 13
Age 17
Sex 18
Personality differences in relation to stress responses 18
Previous stressor experiences 19
Stress generation 19
Before you go… 20
3 Appraising Stressful Events 21
Appraising stressors 22
Guidance through primary and secondary appraisals 22
Thinking fast and slow 22
Guideposts and anchors 25
Appraisals based on what others think 27
Appraisals in relation to learning, memory, automaticity, expectation, and habit 28
Positive and negative emotions 30
Gauging stressors 31
Before you go… 33
4 Coping with Stressors 35
First responses to stressors 36
Coping methods 36
Personal growth and finding meaning 38
Social support 40
Loneliness 40
Unsupportive interactions 42
Social rejection 44
Forgiveness and trust 46
Empathy 48
Before you go… 48
5 Hormones and What They Do 50
What’s a hormone? 51
Linking hormones and behaviors 51
The hormonal stress response 54
Hormones of the autonomic nervous system 54
The hypothalamic]pituitary]adrenal (HPA) axis and glucocorticoids 55
What cortisol (corticosterone) does for us 55
The cortisol/corticosterone response to an acute stressor 55
Cortisol variations in humans 56
Yesterday’s stressors influence today’s responses 59
A cacophony of hormones associated with stress, eating and energy regulation: leptin, ghrelin, CRH, and neuropeptide Y 60
Oxytocin and positive responses 62
Estrogen and testosterone 64
Before you go… 67
6 Neurotransmitter Processes and Growth Factors 69
Neuronal and glial processes in relation to challenges 70
Stressors influence neurotransmitter functioning 72
Acetylcholine (ACh) 72
Serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine 75
Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH): beyond the HPA system 76
Glutamate 78
Gamma]aminobutyric acid (GABA) 79
Cannabinoids 79
Neurotrophic factors 80
The past influences the future 82
Before you go… 83
7 Immunological Effects of Stressors 84
A brief look at how the immune system works 85
Cells of the immune system 86
Immune memories 87
Cytokines: messenger molecules of the immune system 88
Immune–hormone interactions 88
Stress, brain processes, and immunological changes 91
Cytokine changes in response to stressors 93
Before you go…. 93
8 Stress across the Life Span 95
Connections over time 96
Prenatal experiences 96
Biological correlates of prenatal stress in humans 98
Consequences of prenatal infection in animals and humans 99
Stress experienced early in life 101
Transitional periods 104
Older age 106
Before you go… 107
9 Cardiovascular Disease 108
Coronary artery disease (CAD) 109
The heart’s response to a challenge 109
Psychosocial factors associated with heart disease 110
The influence of stressors on heart disease 110
Job strain 112
Depressive illness and heart disease 113
Socioeconomic status (SES) 114
Sex]dependent trajectories for heart disease 114
Personality factors and heart disease 115
Type A personality 115
Type D personality 116
Physiological stress responses associated with heart disease 116
Sympathetic nervous system reactivity 116
Inflammatory processes in heart disease 117
Stress, pathogen burden, and heart disease 118
Obesity, cytokines, and heart disease 119
Before you go… 120
10 Diabetes 121
Type 1 diabetes 122
Type 2 diabetes 122
Stressor influences in relation to the development of Type 2 diabetes 123
Immune factors in Type 2 diabetes 126
Genetic contributions 127
Before you go… 127
11 Stress, Immunity, and Disease 128
Immunity and illness 128
Allergies 129
Infectious illness 130
Stressors influence vulnerability and the course of infectious illness 133
Autoimmune disorders 134
Exacerbation of autoimmune disorders by stressful experiences 137
Before you go… 137
12 Stress and Cancer: Cancer and Stress 138
The cancer process 139
The stress–cancer link 141
Implication for cancer treatment 144
Stress stemming from cancer 145
Treating cancer]related distress 147
Before you go… 148
13 Depressive Illnesses and Cognitive Mistakes 149
What is depression? 150
Depressive subtypes 152
Cognitive theories of depressive disorders 153
Helplessness 153
Hopelessness 154
Depression from an evolutionary perspective 156
Depression from a neurochemical vantage 158
Neurobiological explanations of depressive disorders 158
Serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in relation to depressive disorders 159
Gene and environmental interactions 160
Reward processes in depression: dopamine and anhedonia 161
Depression and anxiety: corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) as a player in depression 162
Coordination and discoordination of neuronal process: gamma]aminobutyric acid (GABA) 163
Growth factors and depression 164
Inflammatory processes and depressive disorders 165
Before you go… 169
14 Fretting over Anxiety Disorders 171
A plague of anxiety disorders 172
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) 172
Panic disorder 173
Obsessive]compulsive disorder (OCD) 174
Phobias and social anxiety 177
Before you go… 178
15 Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 179
Acute stress disorder 180
Posttraumatic stress disorder 180
Vulnerability and resilience 181
Neuroanatomical underpinnings of PTSD 182
Biochemical determinants of PTSD 184
CRH and corticoids in relation to PTSD]related memories 185
Norepinephrine and serotonin and PTSD]related memories 187
GABA and the extinction of fear responses in PTSD 187
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) and resilience 188
Before you go… 188
16 Addictions and Forbidden Fruits 190
What’s an addiction 190
Stress as a provocateur in the addiction process 191
Reward and aversion in relation to addiction: a multistep process 191
Dopamine in relation to stress and reward 192
Corticotropin hormone in relation to stress and addiction 193
Can eating become an addiction? 195
An integrated perspective 195
Treatment for addictions 196
Before you go… 197
17 Coping with Illness, Caregiving, and Loss 199
How might illness come to affect health? 200
Major physical illnesses 201
What patients know and what they need to know 201
Appraising and coping with illness 202
Personal control, decision]making, and trust 203
Social support and unsupportive interactions in the face of illness 204
Mood changes associated with illness 205
Adjustment to chronic illnesses: psychological resilience in the face of illness 206
Stress associated with caregiving 207
Loss and grief 208
Before you go… 209
18 The Workplace for Better or Worse 211
Job]related distress 212
Status and job strain 212
Burnout 212
Absenteeism and presenteeism 212
Bullying in the workplace 213
Social support in the workplace 215
Trust in the workplace 216
Unemployment 216
Time management and juggling 217
Before you go… 218
19 Transmission of Trauma across Generations 220
Traveling across generations 221
Parental stress influences on children 221
Intergenerational effects of trauma: beyond poor parenting 222
Environments modify gene actions 223
The case of epigenetic effects 223
Collective and historic trauma 226
Before you go… 229
20 Stress Reduction through Cognitive and Behavioral Strategies 231
Prelude to dealing with stress 232
Relaxation training 233
Exposure therapy 233
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) 234
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) 237
Meditation 237
Mindfulness 238
The default mode network 240
Positive psychotherapy (PPT) 241
Giving and receiving 242
The social cure 243
Before you go… 244
21 Drug Remedies to Attenuate Stress and Stress]Related Disorders 246
Something about drug treatments 247
Placebo and nocebo responses 247
Selecting the right treatment and related caveats 249
Treating depression 250
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) 250
A cocktail of acronyms: SNRI, NDRI, NaSSA, MAOI 253
Ketamine 256
Deep brain stimulation 257
Anti]inflammatory agents 258
Treating anxiety disorders 259
Treating PTSD 259
Herbal (naturopathic) treatments 262
Before you go… 266
22 Epilogue 267
It’s OK to go now… 267
References 269
Index 272
