Depression And Stress Research

In an acute stressor, the immune system is heightened. But is suppressed in a chronic stressor. In this situation the cortisol levels rise, and weaken the immune system. This weaken system can make the human body more susceptible to serious disease, infections

The video “Stress Portrait of a Killer” was enlightening. The correlation between each individual’s placement in the hierarchy and their level of stress was not surprising. In fact, it made a great deal of sense. When one is on the lower end of the spectrum, it is a reasonable to anticipate higher levels of stress than when one is at the higher end. The latter, has more control over what is happening in their lives which in turn eliminates that stress. What I found most interesting, is that stress lowers the body’s immunity. I had no idea that the brain cuts non-essential systems like the immune system when stress is present. I found this fact fascinating and rather concerning. For as long as I can remember, I have been very susceptible to

Outline and evaluate research into the relationship between the immune system and stress related illness

A number of different forms of psychological interventions have physical effects on the human immunological system. These include stress-reduction interventions, which have been shown to increase the effectiveness of the immune system and relaxation exercises (as an intervention) that also increases the efficacy of immunological responses.

This is a 38-year-old female with a 1/10/2013 date of injury. A specific mechanism of injury has not been described.

Sternberg (2000) describes how both the nervous and immune system controls each other in stress related diseases such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, mood swings, depression, and peptic ulcers. The main purpose of this book is to accentuate the connection between the mind and the body. Since the ancient era people believed that health and emotions were connected. There were

Getting sick is another negative factor of being overly stressed. Chronic stress compromises your immune system and stress hormones affect the body’s ability to fight off illness due to the fact that thymus’s ability to stimulate and coordinate the white blood cell activity.

Psychological issues are the patterns of behaviour that impact the different parts of one’s lifestyle. In person’s life there are many of these mental disorders that develop from depression, mood disorders, antisocial personality disorders and eating disorders.

Although gross medical advancements have allowed the human population to live longer and fuller lives without the threat of death from infectious diseases, it is apparent that we are now dealing with a different phenomenon that may be just as harmful to our health. The impact of psychological, social and environmental factors from our daily lives is having a drastic impression on the mental and physical wellbeing of our society. It has been shown in various studies that psychological and neurological factors influence the immune system and can have an effect on our health (Breedlove, Rosenzweig & Watson, 2010). As we allow various stressors, poisonous substances, unhealthy diets and lack of rest to overwhelm our existence, we are

Psychoneuroimmunology looks at the relationship between psychosocial influences, mind, behaviour, immune system and patient's health (Webber, 2010). An underlying model of research is that when an individual is faced with a stressful event, their immune system worsens which leads to a decline in their health. There are two ways in which stress affects an individual's health; directly and indirectly. Direct stresses are those where physiological changes are a result of stress related arousal such as damage to blood vessels. An example of this is the patient scratching the affected area when a flare up occurs. This leads to stress in the bodily system causing the severity to exacerbate. On the other hand, indirect stress is stressors that are related to a change in behaviour or thinking in the individual which then leads to illness. An example would be a decline in quality of life as a result of eczema flare up, leading to teasing from peers and a change in their thinking. As a result, their self esteem decreases leading to an increase in eczema severity. There have been studies conducted to indicate that eczema flare ups are a result of everyday psychosocial stress such as death of a loved one or even school or work related stress. Stress has also been found to change the homeostasis of the skin barrier which results in flare ups of eczema (Choi et al., 2005 cited by

A recent survey by the National Union of Students indicates that an 80% of Higher Education students report stress as the most often experienced feeling of mental distress, with only 36% of distressed students reaching out for help (NUS, 2013). Another survey which took place in a UK university suggests that all three years of an undergraduate’s time in a university is a period of heightened psychological distress, and even if fluctuations in levels of stress are present it never reaches pre-admission levels (Bewick et al, 2010). Frequent stress responses have shown to weaken the immune system, act as a risk factor toward developing depression, coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, even oxidative stress which damages DNA and sets the ground for inflammatory diseases (Djuric et al, 2008). Therefore it is not an issue which should be overlooked as it may appear not that threatening in the short term.

Chronic stress can also interfere with the body’s immune system directly through hormonal changes. Glucocorticoids-a hormone

The effects of constant stress on a student’s body are devastating and may have long-term consequences. When stress escalates without coping with it, numerous troublesome psychological and physiological conditions may occur. First, the stressful life of college students may result in such physical problems as sleeping disorders, breathing difficulties, headaches, and a loss of appetite. In addition, fatigue, colds, weight change, teeth grinding, increased alcohol and drug use are also common. Unfortunately, stress is often linked to the immune system suppression. It increases the chances of altering any existing disease.

A substantial amount of Canadians experience stress in their lives. In fact, nearly one-quarter of the population over the age of 15 are stressed on a daily basis (Statistics Canada, 2013). Stress can be defined as a mental and emotional state of tension, in which one perceives the environment around them to be strenuous and overwhelming. Although some stress is necessary for survival, it can adversely affect both the physical and mental health. Its detrimental effects include but are not limited to: lack of confidence, concentration, motivation, decision making and increased heartrate, sweating, tension, as well as other physical and psychological problems such as headaches and insomnia (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2015). These health complications strongly emphasize the need for further research in ways to cope with, and reduce stress. Henceforth, the purpose of this paper is to use established research to better understand stress, then propose my own study that would investigate another stress-reduction method.

There is a very complex relationship between stressful situations, our mind and body’s reaction to stress and the onset of depression. Some people develop depression after going through stressful events in their lives, such as the death of someone close, loss of job and other negative and traumatic problems that can cause large amount of stress (Prentiss, 2009). These problems make us experience a mixture of physical and emotional effects that can create stress as a positive or negative feeling. The human body is designed to experience and react to stress; it can be both a positive and negative influence. Positive stress can give a person the drive and