Avoidance Of Stressors Research Articles

Anaesthetic Management of a Patient with Multiple Acetyl CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency: A Case Report

Multiple acetyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of amino acid, fatty acid, and choline metabolism. It is a mitochondrial disorder with defective electron transfer flavoproteins or electron transfer flavoprotein dehydrogenases. They are vital for β-oxidation of fatty acids, an essential fuel for skeletal and cardiac muscles. It is also an important source of energy during starvation for the brain. Acute deterioration of these patients can occur during stressful periods like starvation, surgery, infection, and exercise. The anaesthetic management is a challenge with special emphasis on minimizing starvation, ensuring hydration and glucose supplementation, and considering the various effects of anaesthetic agents on the mitochondrial function. The anaesthetic management of a patient with multiple acetyl CoA dehydrogenase scheduled for modified radical mastectomy is described. General anaesthesia can be administered safely in these patients with special emphasis on hydration, glucose supplementation, avoidance of stressors, and monitoring of metabolic status.

Reframing the individual stress response: Balancing our knowledge of stress to improve responsivity to stressors.

Although responses to stressors have both adverse and positive consequences on health, many believe that stress is entirely negative. Research revealed that negative beliefs about stress can hinder well-being and result in the avoidance of stressors. Stress-optimizing interventions that target various stress appraisal processes may be a useful tool to reframe how individuals understand and respond to stressors. The current study extends previous findings on stress reframing and sought to examine the extent to which the presentation of information about stress outcomes may influence the individual to respond to subsequent stressors. Seventy-seven undergraduate students (96% female) were randomized into one of four reframing conditions (balanced stress outcomes, negative stress outcomes, positive stress outcomes, and control) and underwent a psychosocial stressor. Results highlight similarities between balanced and positive framings of stress across measures of heart rate and blood pressure, whereas subjective ratings of stress and electrodermal activity suggest balanced framing may be efficacious in attenuating stress. Findings are discussed in the context of differing stress-optimizing interventions and consider the complexities of the individual stress response.

Gender Differences in the Relationships Among Parenting Styles and College Student Mental Health

Objective: Levels of student depression may increase as stress increases; parenting styles may be one indirect source of stress. The authors examined the role of parenting style in relationship to student stress, anxiety, and depression, with focused attention on gender differences. Participants: Participants were 290 undergraduate students (58% female, mean age = 19). Methods: Cross-sectional design. Participants completed surveys containing measures of parenting styles, college stress, anxiety, and depression. Results: Anxiety and stress acted as mediators between some maternal parenting styles and female student depression. No mediational relationships were found for male student ratings. Conclusions: Daughters may be more susceptible to the influences of maternal parenting styles, which can either prepare or fail to prepare them for management and avoidance of stressors that are encountered during the college transition. College counseling centers and student affairs personnel may wish to focus attention on the instruction of self-management and problem-solving skills for incoming students.

Preoperative stress. Research approach and methods of treatment

The scientific approach to preoperative stress includes the identification of stressors and the measurement of stress responses. The stress responses include physiological (sympathetic nervous system, hypothalamic--hypophyseal and adrenocortical system), psychological (anxiety, depression etc.) and behavioural ones. The choice of variables to be measured should allow answers for our questions, i.e., they must be adequate and economic, without or only minimal disturbance of the preoperative situation. The value of physiological and biochemical parameters is often overestimated. Their assessment is indicated in special scientific settings. For simple questions such as premedication studies, the measurement of blood pressure and heart rate is sufficient. Anxiety should be self-estimated by the patient, using visual analogue scales, questionnaires or adjective check lists. Depression and other emotional stress responses can be assessed if necessary. For physicians and nurses, an observation of the patient's behavioural stress responses is a useful criterion for assessing patient stress. One important stress-reducing approach is prevention: identification and avoidance of stressors. This includes organisation and a high degree of self-control by the medical personnel. Premedication with benzodiazepines is the most successful pharmacological approach.

Survivors: A Review of the Late-Life Effects of Prior Psychological Trauma

The author reviews the literature on the epidemiology, symptom picture, and treatment of elderly patients who have encountered serious psychological trauma earlier in life. Data are predominantly derived from studies of aging Holocaust survivors and combat veterans from World War II, the Korean Conflict, and Vietnam, Survivor syndromes persist into old age, but patterns of expression vary. Holocaust survivors appear to have adapted well to instrumental aspects of life, whereas combat warriors may show less functional life-adaptation. Persisting symptoms in all groups include marked disruptions of sleep and dreaming, intrusive memories, impairment of trust, avoidance of stressors, and heightened vulnerability to various types of age-associated retraumatization. There is a deficiency of controlled treatment studies of traumatized elderly patients, but successful group, individual, and family clinical interventions have been described.

Cognitive coping, affective distress, and maternal sensitivity: Mothers of children with Down syndrome.

This study investigated relations among maternal cognitive coping style (approach-avoidance), affective state, and sensitivity. Fifty-six mothers and their children with Down syndrome were followed for 2 years. Cognitive coping and affective distress inventories were administered and sensitivity was rated on the basis of mother-child observations. Results indicated that approach and avoidance have been widely studied under different designations and are stable across time. These cognitive coping variables may mediate the stress of parenting a child with a disability in complex ways. Mothers with a strong tendency to monitor stressors report greater affective distress than do mothers who adopt a less vigilant coping style. At the same time, cognitive avoidance ofstressors and affective distress reduce the behavioral sensitivity of the mother toward her child.