NUR 253 MENTAL HEALTH EXAM 2
STUDY GUIDE 2024 UPDATE ALREADY
GRADED A| STUDY TO PASS!!
● Physiological responses to stress and stress management
○ Everyone experiences stress at some point, IT IS IMPORTANT TO
UNDERSTAND THE PATIENTS SUPPORT SYSTEM
○ Severe stress is unhealthy, it weakens biological resistance to psychiatric
disorders.
○ The nurses role is to recognize how the stress affects your patient
■ Identify and intervene to reduce stress by:
● Promoting a healthy environment
● Facilitating successful coping
● Developing future coping mechanisms
● Early stress response
○ Stressors are the physiological or psychological stimuli that causes a stress
response
○ General adaptation syndrome:
■ Alarm stage: initial, brief, adaptive response (flight or fight) to the stressor.
● This stage is very intense and cannot be tolerated for long periods
of time
■ Resistance stage: occurs if the threat continues, sometimes called the
adaptation stage. Sustained and optimal resistance to the stressor
occurs.
■ exhaustion stage: occurs when attempts to resist the stressor prove futile.
At this point resources are depleted and the stress becomes chronic.
● Can lead to illnesses including anxiety, depression, sleep
disorders, heart disease, and weight gain
■ Bad stress vs. good stress
● eustress( GOOD): positive energy that motivates an individual and
results in feelings of happiness, hopefulness, and purposeful
movement.
○ Examples: vacation, birth of a baby, marriage, favorite
sport
● Distress (BAD): draining energy that results in anxiety, depression,
confusion, helplessness, hopelessness
○ Examples: death, divorce, financial overload
○ Mediators of the stress response
■ Physiological stressors: environmental conditions
● Example: trauma, heat/cold, infection, hemorrhage, pain, hunger
■ Psychological stressors: can be positive or negative
● Example: marriage, divorce, unemployment, retirement, terrorist
attack
, ■ Perception: the way we see things, or feel things. The perception of the
stress determines the emotional and psychological behaviors.
STUDY GUIDE 2024 UPDATE ALREADY
GRADED A| STUDY TO PASS!!
● Physiological responses to stress and stress management
○ Everyone experiences stress at some point, IT IS IMPORTANT TO
UNDERSTAND THE PATIENTS SUPPORT SYSTEM
○ Severe stress is unhealthy, it weakens biological resistance to psychiatric
disorders.
○ The nurses role is to recognize how the stress affects your patient
■ Identify and intervene to reduce stress by:
● Promoting a healthy environment
● Facilitating successful coping
● Developing future coping mechanisms
● Early stress response
○ Stressors are the physiological or psychological stimuli that causes a stress
response
○ General adaptation syndrome:
■ Alarm stage: initial, brief, adaptive response (flight or fight) to the stressor.
● This stage is very intense and cannot be tolerated for long periods
of time
■ Resistance stage: occurs if the threat continues, sometimes called the
adaptation stage. Sustained and optimal resistance to the stressor
occurs.
■ exhaustion stage: occurs when attempts to resist the stressor prove futile.
At this point resources are depleted and the stress becomes chronic.
● Can lead to illnesses including anxiety, depression, sleep
disorders, heart disease, and weight gain
■ Bad stress vs. good stress
● eustress( GOOD): positive energy that motivates an individual and
results in feelings of happiness, hopefulness, and purposeful
movement.
○ Examples: vacation, birth of a baby, marriage, favorite
sport
● Distress (BAD): draining energy that results in anxiety, depression,
confusion, helplessness, hopelessness
○ Examples: death, divorce, financial overload
○ Mediators of the stress response
■ Physiological stressors: environmental conditions
● Example: trauma, heat/cold, infection, hemorrhage, pain, hunger
■ Psychological stressors: can be positive or negative
● Example: marriage, divorce, unemployment, retirement, terrorist
attack
, ■ Perception: the way we see things, or feel things. The perception of the
stress determines the emotional and psychological behaviors.
