A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response


Book Description

This updated edition covers a range of new topics, including stress and the immune system, post-traumatic stress and crisis intervention, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), Crisis Management Briefings in response to mass disasters and terrorism, Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), spirituality and religion as stress management tools, dietary factors and stress, and updated information on psychopharmacologic intervention in the human stress response. It is a comprehensive and accessible guide for students, practitioners, and researchers in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, medicine, nursing, social work, and public health.




The Impact of the Human Stress Response


Book Description

The Impact of the Human Stress Response: The biologic origins for human stress is a humanitarian work intended to educate the public world wide about the true costs of preventable human stress. It is priced so that most people world wide can access this information affordably. Millions or lives are lost every year and trillions of dollars are wasted world wide because of our preventable exposure to modern stressors. Dr. Wingo examine one of science's burning issues - the epidemic of stress related diseases, disability, and early death currently ravaging the Western world. Preventable stress is devastating our health and destabilizing our communities.But what exactly is ?stress? And what gives it the potential to cause so much damage? In a groundbreaking account twenty years in the making, researcher and biologist Dr. Mary Wingo explains the root causes of modern stress, and how it harms our bodies, as well as our communities.Understand the root causes of stress and learn how to manage it effectivelyFind out why the stress response is essential for helping you adapt to your environmentProtect your health ? learn how to avoid over-loading your body's stress responseSharing astonishing insights into the way we cope with everything from excessive multitasking to social unrest, Dr. Wingo tells a fascinating story of how humans alter their physical states and how our bodies literally open or close their biological borders with the environment to help us adapt. Using simple, everyday language, Dr. Wingo vividly illustrates our current understanding of how the stress response works, and presents a how-to manual of science-based effective stress management. If you've ever wondered how you adapt to your environment and why constant exposure to stress is dangerous - this is a book you must read.




Handbook of Human Stress and Immunity


Book Description

In 1964, George Solomon coined the term psychoneuroimmunology. In the intervening 30 years, this term has emerged into a dynamic field of study which investigates the unique interactions between the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. The Handbook of Human Stress and Immunity is a comprehensive reference for this dynamic new field. Focusing on how stressors impact the central nervous system and the resulting changes in immune responses, the Handbook is the first to describehow stress specifically affects human immune systems. It discusses how stress generally makes people more susceptible to infection, how personal support systems can counteract the physiological effects of stress, and how stress, or lack of stress, affects the aging process. Chapters are authored by the leading names in the field and cover such diseases as autoimmune disease, viral pathogenesis, herpes, HIV, and AIDS.




Time Pressure and Stress in Human Judgment and Decision Making


Book Description

Some years ago we, the editors of this volume, found out about each other's deeply rooted interest in the concept of time, the usage of time, and the effects of shortage of time on human thought and behavior. Since then we have fostered the idea of bringing together different perspectives in this area. We are now, there fore, very content that our idea has materialized in the present volume. There is both anecdotal and empirical evidence to suggest that time con straints may affect behavior. Managers and other professional decision makers frequently identify time pressure as a major constraint on their behavior (Isen berg, 1984). Chamberlain and Zika (1990) provide empirical support for this view, showing that complaints of insufficient time are the most frequently report ed everyday minor stressors or hassles for all groups of people except the elderly. Similarly, studies in occupational settings have identified time pressure as one of the central components of workload (Derrich, 1988; O'Donnel & Eggemeier, 1986).




Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide


Book Description

Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide is the first volume to be written on the neuropeptide PACAP. It covers all domains of PACAP from molecular and cellular aspects to physiological activities and promises for new therapeutic strategies. Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide is the twentieth volume published in the Endocrine Updates book series under the Series Editorship of Shlomo Melmed, MD.




The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality


Book Description

This book develops and tests an ecological and evolutionary theory of the causes of human values—the core beliefs that guide people’s cognition and behavior—and their variation across time and space around the world. We call this theory the parasite-stress theory of values or the parasite-stress theory of sociality. The evidence we present in our book indicates that both a wide span of human affairs and major aspects of human cultural diversity can be understood in light of variable parasite (infectious disease) stress and the range of value systems evoked by variable parasite stress. The same evidence supports the hypothesis that people have psychological adaptations that function to adopt values dependent upon local infectious-disease adversity. The authors have identified key variables, variation in infectious disease adversity and in the core values it evokes, for understanding these topics and in novel and encompassing ways. Although the human species is the focus in the book, evidence presented in the book shows that the parasite-stress theory of sociality informs other topics in ecology and evolutionary biology such as variable family organization and speciation processes and biological diversity in general in non-human animals.




Stress and Human Performance


Book Description

The pace of life in our high technology world has quickened. Industries that do not become more efficient, often by requiring a faster production turnaround with less slack, are superseded. Because of this, workers face an environment in which they must perform under more time pressure and under greater task load, in which stress is more prevalent, and in which consequences of poor performance are more critical than ever before. The dominant, if unstated, psychoanalytic paradigm underlying much stress research over the past fifty years has led to an emphasis on coping and defense mechanisms and to a preoccupation with disordered behavior and illness. Accordingly, almost any book with "stress" in the title will invariably devote a considerable amount of pages to topics such as stress-related disorders, clinical interventions, stress and coping, psychopathology, illness, and health issues. This book presents basic and applied research that addresses the effects of acute stress on performance. There are a large number of applied settings that share the commonalities of high demand, high risk performance conditions, including aviation; military operations; nuclear, chemical, and other industrial settings; emergency medicine; mining; firefighting; and police work, as well as everyday settings in which individuals face stressors such as noise, time pressure, and high task load. This book focuses directly on the effects of acute stress-- defined as intense, novel stress of limited duration--on performance. The effects of stress on task performance, decision making, and team interaction are discussed, as well as the interventions used to overcome them.




Effects of Stress on Human Health


Book Description

Stress response is a physiological reaction of the human body to potential dangers (tangible or intangible). For a living organism, stress within physiological limits is necessary to stay alive. But the protective effects of stress can easily be potentially harmful for the body when it is out of control. Invariably, life events and stress are combined. It is well established that chronic and excessive stress may reduce the quality and duration of life. Even though the negative health consequences of stress may be physical or psychological, it has been observed that many people still maintain a disease-free lifespan after exposure to intensive stressful conditions. It can be inferred that some people have biologically and psychologically higher resilience capacity. However, there is no doubt that management of stress may be possible and could be learned. Therefore, it is important to be aware of stress management strategies to ensure a life free from stress-related health problems and a healthy lifespan.




Food Components to Enhance Performance


Book Description

The physiological or psychological stresses that employees bring to their workplace affect not only their own performance but that of their co-workers and others. These stresses are often compounded by those of the job itself. Medical personnel, firefighters, police, and military personnel in combat settingsâ€"among othersâ€"experience highly unpredictable timing and types of stressors. This book reviews and comments on the performance-enhancing potential of specific food components. It reflects the views of military and non-military scientists from such fields as neuroscience, nutrition, physiology, various medical specialties, and performance psychology on the most up-to-date research available on physical and mental performance enhancement in stressful conditions. Although placed within the context of military tasks, the volume will have wide-reaching implications for individuals in any job setting.




Human Heat Stress


Book Description

Thousands of people continue to die from heat. Heat illnesses and advice for preventing heat casualties at work, during heatwaves, sport and the effects of global warming are described. A new perspective on thermoregulation integrates physiological and psychophysical regulated variables. Heat stress indices, the WBGT and the SWreq are presented. It is time to understand and routinely use computer simulations of people in hot conditions. How to understand how a model can be constructed is also described. This book provides an accessible, concise and comprehensive coverage into how people respond to heat and how to predict and avoid heat causalities. A practical productivity model, and Burn thresholds, complete the book which begins with up to date knowledge on measurement of heat stress, heat strain, metabolic rate and the thermal properties and influences of clothing. Features Provides methods and regulations through international standards Illustrates the WBGT and analytical heat stress indices and how to construct a thermal model Discusses the role of clothing on heat stress and thermal strain Presents a new model for predicting productivity in the heat Offers a new method of human thermoregulation Considers heat illness and prevention during heatwaves and in global warming