High Levels Of Acute Stress Research Articles

L’évolution des facteurs prédictifs de la détresse psychologique des étudiants en contexte de Covid-19 : un modèle d’équation structurelle exploratoire

IntroductionStudents are at risk for mental health issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of lockdowns as a means to curb the spread of the disease have had an impact on this population, as observed in many international studies. However, few studies have investigated the longitudinal impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on students’ mental health. ObjectiveWe explored the relation between individual characteristics of students, context of life, difficulties in emotion regulation and psychological distress over the first two lockdowns in France during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology160 university students (90% female, mean of 24 years old) responded to an online questionnaire at three times points: once during the first lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in march 2020, a second time after this lockdown and a third time during the second lockdown. Difficulties in emotion regulation, psychological distress, acute stress, academic concerns, financial resources, and exchanges with professors were measured. ResultsAn exploratory structural equations model was developed to investigate the factors related to psychological distress (χ2=1459.18, df=1064, CFI=0.910, RMSEA=0.049, SRMR=0.068). During both lockdowns, psychological distress was explained by academic concerns and lack of emotional clarity and acceptance. An indirect and negative significant relation was identified between financial difficulties, lack of exchanges with professors during the first lockdown, emotion clarity and experienced psychological distress during the second lockdown. Repeated measures ANOVAs identified high levels of acute stress during both lockdowns and a diminution during the deconfinement indicating an impact of sanitary measures on student's mental health. ConclusionCoherently with the Bruchon-Sweiser translational model of stress, emotion regulation capacities seem to have a central and moderating role in the experience of the pandemic for students. They would benefit greatly from appropriate therapeutic interventions in this pandemic situation and in general.

The downstream effects of COVID-19: a call for supporting family wellbeing in the NICU.

Parents of NICU infants are a vulnerable population from a psychological perspective, and often experience high levels of acute stress, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. The added burden of the current SARS CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) pandemic is likely to exacerbate these issues, with potential implications for the wellbeing of infants and families in the short- and long-term. In this paper, we propose utilizing the stress contagion framework and consider how psychosocial stress can “spill over” into the parent-infant relationship domain, which can impact child development and family wellbeing longer term. As the effects of the pandemic will likely persist well beyond the acute stage, we offer advocacy points and general guidelines for healthcare professionals to consider in their quest to mitigate stress and build resilience in NICU families.

The Impact of Acute Stress Physiology on Skilled Motor Performance: Implications for Policing.

Investigations of police performance during acutely stressful situations have primarily focused on higher-order cognitive processes like attention, affect or emotion and decision-making, and the behavioral outcomes of these processes, such as errors in lethal force. However, behavioral outcomes in policing must be understood as a combination of both higher-order processes and the physical execution of motor skills. What is missing from extant police literature is an understanding of how physiological responses to acute stress contribute to observed decrements in skilled motor performance at the neuromuscular level. The purpose of the current paper is to fill this knowledge gap in the following ways: (1) review scientific evidence for the physiological (i.e., autonomic, endocrine, and musculoskeletal) responses to acutely stressful exposures and their influence on skilled motor performance in both human and animal models, (2) review applied evidence on occupationally relevant stress physiology and observed motor decrements in performance among police, and (3) discuss the implications of stress physiology for police training and identify future directions for applied researchers. Evidence is compelling that skill decay is inevitable under high levels of acute stress; however, robust evidence-informed training practices can help mitigate this decay and contribute to officer safety.

Terrorism, Acute Stress, and Cardiovascular Health

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 (September 11, 2001) present an unusual opportunity to examine prospectively the physical health impact of extreme stress in a national sample. To examine the degree to which acute stress reactions to the 9/11 terrorist attacks predict cardiovascular outcomes in a national probability sample over the subsequent 3 years. A national probability sample of 2729 adults (78.1% participation rate), 95.0% of whom had completed a health survey before 9/11 (final health sample, 2592), completed a Web-based assessment of acute stress responses approximately 9 to 14 days after the terrorist attacks. Follow-up health surveys reassessed physician-diagnosed cardiovascular ailments 1 (n = 1923, 84.3% participation rate), 2 (n = 1576, 74.2% participation rate), and 3 (n = 1950, 78.9% participation rate) years following the attacks. Reports of physician-diagnosed cardiovascular ailments over the 3 years following the attacks. Acute stress responses to the 9/11 attacks were associated with a 53% increased incidence of cardiovascular ailments over the 3 subsequent years, even after adjusting for pre-9/11 cardiovascular and mental health status, degree of exposure to the attacks, cardiovascular risk factors (ie, smoking, body mass index, and number of endocrine ailments), total number of physical health ailments, somatization, and demographics. Individuals reporting high levels of acute stress immediately following the attacks reported an increased incidence of physician-diagnosed hypertension (rate ratios, 2.15 at 1 year and 1.75 at 2 years) and heart problems (rate ratios, 2.98 at 1 year and 3.12 at 2 years) over 2 years. Among individuals reporting ongoing worry about terrorism post-9/11, high 9/11-related acute stress symptoms predicted increased risk of physician-diagnosed heart problems 2 to 3 years following the attacks (rate ratios, 4.67 at 2 years and 3.22 at 3 years). Using health data collected before 9/11 as a baseline, acute stress response to the terrorist attacks predicted increased reports of physician-diagnosed cardiovascular ailments over 3 years following the attacks.

Use of hair cortisol as a biomarker for chronic stress in pregnancy

Background Both chronic stress and depression, when left untreated during pregnancy, are associated with deleterious maternal and neonatal health effects. Depressed pregnant women have been shown to exhibit high levels of acute stress, via validated biological markers. No such biomarkers exist for chronic stress. Methods In this pilot study, we prospectively enrolled 50 women (25 pregnant/depressed, 25 pregnant/non-depressed), each of whom provided a scalp hair sample and completed two validated questionnaires to measure their levels of depression (CES-D) and chronic stress (PSS). Hair samples were analyzed for cortisol levels using ELISA and measurements were confirmed via HPLC. Results Chronic stress correlated strongly with depressive symptoms in all patients (rs=0.86, p<0.000001). In depressed patients, both PSS and CES-D scores were significantly negatively correlated with hair cortisol levels (rs=−0.40, p<0.05 and rs=−0.39, p<0.05 respectively). In contrast, PSS scores of non-depressed patients were significantly positively correlated with hair cortisol measurements (rs=0.36; p<0.05). Conclusions Stress and depression were highly correlated, suggesting that women who were depressed were also chronically stressed. However, women who were most depressed and most stressed appeared to have the lowest levels of hair cortisol, suggesting that different mechanisms modulate stress in depressed and non-depressed pregnant women. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2005) 77, P69–P69; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2004.12.155