The Promise of Applying Systems Theory and Integrative Health Approaches to the Current Psychosocial Stress Pandemic (original) (raw)
Related papers
Psychological Stress as a Public Health Problem: How Much Do We Know?
Community Health Studies, 2010
There is growing evidence that social and environmental stressors increase susceptibility to a range of diseases, including common causes of both morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, stress is only rarely seriously considered to be a significant risk factor for disease in the public health arena. As a result, attempts at developing rational communitybased strategies and policies to deal with stress have been isolated or uncoordinated. There appears to be a number of reasons for this situation. Firstly. the strength, validity and reliability of the data relating stress to many disease outcomes has been highly variable. This has mainly been due t o a number of methodological difficulties inherent in this type of research. Secondly, stress management programs often focus on altering the individual response to stress, rather than focusing on changing the social environment to either reduce stressor load or improve the range of coping resourccs available in the community. Thus, this type of activity is often seen as falling within the realm of 'curative' primary health care rather than as a matter for public health policy. Thirdly, since stress is often considered to be synonymous with 'major life events'the view is often held that because these events are largely unpreventable very little can be done at a public health level. This paper considers these ISSUCS and reviews the current definitions of stress, theories of disease causation, major methodological issues in research, evidence relating stress to a range of disease outcomes and the scope for intervention at a community rather than an individual level.
A systems approach to stress, stressors and resilience in humans
Behavioural brain research, 2014
The paper focuses on the biology of stress and resilience and their biomarkers in humans from the system science perspective. A stressor pushes the physiological system away from its baseline state toward a lower utility state. The physiological system may return toward the original state in one attractor basin but may be shifted to a state in another, lower utility attractor basin. While some physiological changes induced by stressors may benefit health, there is often a chronic wear and tear cost due to implementing changes to enable the return of the system to its baseline state and maintain itself in the high utility baseline attractor basin following repeated perturbations. This cost, also called allostatic load, is the utility reduction associated with both a change in state and with alterations in the attractor basin that affect system responses following future perturbations. This added cost can increase the time course of the return to baseline or the likelihood of moving i...
Academia Letters, 2022
©2022 by the authors-Open Access-Distributed under CC BY 4.0 knowledge of reality and active control over oneself are aspects of fundamental importance in order to avoid high levels of physical and psychological stress or chronic fatigue [1]. The inability to plan, to anticipate future events, and to exert control, at least partially, over external variables inevitably generates stress and tension. Subsequently, this condition can generate more or less discomfort depending on the subjective evaluation of the individual which is strongly influenced by the individual's stable personality traits. In fact, subjective experiences are never unique: stimuli endowed with the same stressful power do not necessarily cause the same reaction in different individuals, while stressful conditions of varying degrees can induce the same response in different people. The current health emergency is characterized by multiple factors (distance, difficulty in traveling, decrease or loss of work, loss of a family member or loved one, symptoms related to the disease itself or to the long-covid, etc.) and each person is likely to be more or less sensitive to each of these. It is hypothesized that people affected by one or more of these stressors, and especially if affected by what makes them vulnerable, may show signs of psychological distress. Generally, we refer to stress conceptualizing it as a response of the organism through which it tries to adapt to different conditions of balance by trying to overcome or endure them [1]. This response is part of the General Adaptation Syndrome [2], that consists in three phases: alarm reaction, resistance, and final exhaustion, with a recovery of the psychophysical balance or, conversely, the development of a psychopathological or physical disorder caused by the loss of coping ability and normal functioning. The stress response is characterized by physiological and hormonal hyper activation that allows the individual to cope with the stressor by mobilizing the body's energy resources. Specifically, the Sympathetic Autonomic Nervous System (SANS) induces the release of neurotransmitters such as Adrenaline and Norepinephrine which promotes the mobilization of glucose, the increase in heart rate, and blood pressure. At the same time, the activation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis favors the release of these so-called stress hormones, which enhances physical and cognitive performance. However, all of this has a cost, and if protracted over time, the health of the individual will become endangered because of the consequences on the cardiovascular system and immune system. Specifically, the researchers of the field agree with the fact that psychological stress, through the activation of the HPA axis and the Autonomic Nervous System, would also have an effect on the immune-inflammatory processes. So, the concentration of cytokines in the blood can trigger a series of allergic reactions [3]. Moreover, this aspect is interesting if we consider the adverse effects, which stress can exacerbate, in response to contrast media or vaccine inoculation, for example.
A Stage Model of Stress and Disease
Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2016
In this article, we argued that the term stress has served as a valuable heuristic, helping researchers to integrate traditions that illuminate different stages of the process linking stressful life events to disease. We provided a short history of three traditions in the study of stress: the epidemiological, psychological, and biological. The epidemiological tradition focuses on defining which circumstances and experiences are deemed stressful on the basis of consensual agreement that they constitute threats to social or physical well-being. The psychological tradition focuses on individuals' perceptions of the stress presented by life events on the basis of their appraisals of the threats posed and the availability of effective coping resources. The biological tradition focuses on brain-based perturbations of physiological systems that are otherwise essential for normal homeostatic regulation and metabolic control. The foci of these three traditions have informed elements of a...
A Social Neuroscience Perspective on Stress and Health
Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2012
Psychological stress is a major risk factor for the development and progression of a number of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, and major depression. A growing body of research suggests that long-term, stress-induced activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis may lead to increases in inflammation, which is known to play a key role in the pathophysiology of a variety of diseases. Furthermore, the burgeoning fields of social neuroscience and health neuroscience have begun to identify the neurocognitive mechanisms by which stress may lead to these physiological changes. Here we review the literature examining the neurocognitive correlates of stress-induced SNS, HPA, and inflammatory responses. Specifically, we summarize the results of neuroimaging studies that have examined the neural correlates of stress-related increases in SNS, HPA, and inflammatory activity. A set of neural systems involved in threat processing, safety processing, and social cognition are suggested as key contributors to stress-related changes in physiology. We conclude by offering suggestions for future research in the exciting new field of health neuroscience. Keywords neuroimaging; social neuroscience; stress; health; inflammation "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling Psychological stress is commonplace in modern life. Within a day, a person is likely to endure many types of stressful experiences: From minor stressful events, such as giving a presentation at work or taking a midterm exam, to major life events, such as a serious argument with a partner or the loss of a job. All of these stressors can take place against a backdrop of chronic stress, such as serious financial debt or ongoing relationship difficulties. Indeed, stressful experiences are the norm, not the exception, in the lives of most individuals. Far from being a mere nuisance that may impact our feelings of happiness, stress contributes to disease risk and early mortality. Indeed, stress has been linked with the development or progression of a number of major diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, and major depression (Cohen et al., 2007; Juster et al., 2010; Slavich et al., 2010a). The past thirty years of research have seen vital developments in our understanding of the physiological mechanisms that may explain how stress influences health. These studies generally point to pathways that include stressed-related activation of the sympathetic
Stress Discourse and Western Biomedical Ideology: Rewriting Stress
Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 2003
Popular psychosocial theories of stress and coping are based on an empiricist paradigm and a Western biomedical framework that reflect Western ideologies and values about health and illness. Problems associated with this discourse lie mainly in the ideologies that emphasize naturalism, individualism, rationalism, and objectivity. We suggest that stress and coping theory should be concerned with the ways in which power relations and social institutions produce the meaning of stress. The inclusion of alternative discourses that attend to the micro and macro social and historical factors is necessary for the further development of stress and coping theory and practice.
2017
This paper explores the effects and links between the deterioration of the cardiovascular system and heart disease due to physiological stress. Furthermore, this document will divulge the links between high blood pressure (hypertension) and physiological stress as well as obesity and cholesterol levels. This paper examines studies from various well respected scientists and cardiologists. Furthermore, this paper unravel how acute stress can and will build up over an individual’s lifetime and lead to cardiovascular issues. In addition, this article will explain the difference between eustress and distress and their effects on the cardiovascular system. This paper will also include an explanation of how modern healthcare affects the heart and surrounding organs. In the same way, this paper will illustrate the effects and links between physiological stressors (acute and chronic) on the heart and heart disease, while bringing awareness to the topic of stress and suggest ways to cope with...
The Stress Influence on Population Health
International Journal of Biomedicine and Helthcare, 2024
Background: The term stress refers to the internal state of the organism (sometimes labeled as "load"), an external event ("stressor"), an experience created by the transaction of a person and the environment. Stress is an extremely used term in all areas of human activity. It is a natural phenomenon and a companion of mankind since its very existence. Although a large number of professional and scientific articles related to the concept of stress and reaction to stress have been published during the last 60 years, various authors state that not all concepts are clearly and unambiguously defined in this field. Objective: The aim of this paper is to present different theories of stress and to familiarize the reader about the consequences of everyday stress on human health. Methods: The subject of research is stress and its impact on health in today's modern world. The type of research on this topic is based on a retrospective and descriptive method based on the use of published articles in the PubMed and Scopus index databases. Results and Discussion: Therefore, different theories of stress define differently the concept of stress, reactions to stress, coping with stress and the consequences of a stressful event. Studies on stress was started by Hans Selye in the thirties of the 20th century. Understanding stress as the organism's reaction to various physical and physiological stressors, Selye also became the originator of the first, so-called of the reductionist model in the study of stress. Another theoretical approach in the concepts of stress boils down to the explanation that stress is determined by the nature of the stressor. This paradigm has been offered since the late sixties of the 20th century and is called the interactionist model of stress. At the same time as the interactionist model, a third, transactional model in the study of stress ap peared, created by Richard Lazarus. According to this model, the consequences of a stressful transaction are the result of the interplay of personal and external factors that continuously affect each other. Conclusion: The stress is a state in which the psychophysical balance of the organism is disturbed and which, in order to adapt, requires additional efforts. Circumstances that cause stress are also called stressors. Among the psychological changes characteristic of stress, the most pronounced are changes in the sphere of emotional processes. Emotional reactions characteristic of stress are most often anxiety, anger and sadness, and shame, guilt, oversaturation can also occur. After a traumatic or other intense stress (related to losses or diagnosed with an incurable disease), emotional flattening can occur. Changes in psychological functioning during stress can be so intense that they take on the dimensions of a psychological crisis.