Understanding Stress, Anxiety, and Related Conditions
Stress and Anxiety: An Overview
Stress: A process that begins with environmental demands on an individual, to which they must give an adequate response, using their personal and psychological resources. If demands and resources are not balanced, psychological and biological changes occur that can cause disease.
Anxiety: An emotional response to stress, but also a response to specific trigger situations (threats, etc.). It is a mechanism that allows us to adapt to situations that we do not control, when that anxiety is kept to reasonable levels.
Common Anxiety Disorders
- Depression
- Generalized Anxiety
- Panic Attacks
- Phobias
Panic Attacks: Understanding the Crisis
A state of anxiety characterized by intense feelings of danger, terror, in episodic form which can last between 10 and 30 minutes. Accompanied by at least 4 of the following 13 symptoms:
- Palpitations or tachycardia
- Sweating
- Feeling of suffocation
- Tremors
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Feeling of choking
- Nausea or abdominal discomfort
- Derealization
- Fear of losing control
- Feeling of dizziness
- Fear of dying
- Paresthesia
- Hot and cold flashes
Areas Affected by Stress and Anxiety
Area 1: Physiological Manifestations
Cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, neuromuscular, neurovegetative, immune system effects.
Area 2: Cognitive Manifestations
Reflect what the person thinks or feels: fear, worry, helplessness.
Area 3: Behavioral Manifestations
Adaptive or harmful behaviors: hyperactivity, endless movements, disorganized movements, paralysis.
Nursing Interventions for Stress and Anxiety
The basis of care is to find a balance between demands and adaptive resources.
- Medication: Combined with psychological support. Effective in the short or medium term.
- Communication: Psychological support.
- Diet and Exercise: Allows for an optimal level of functioning.
- Alternative Medicines: Acupuncture, homeopathy.
- Exposure Therapy: Gradually exposing oneself to situations that cause stress and anxiety.
- Relaxation Techniques
Burnout: Understanding Workplace Stress
Being burned out from work. (Organizational level, related to the workplace, interpersonal relationships, and psychosocial factors)
Mourning: The Process of Loss
The process by which a person adapts to the loss of something important, and prepares to live without it. It is a process, not a state.
Common Manifestations of Grief
- Sorrow
- Anger
- Thoughts of suicide and self-reproach
- Guilt
- Anxiety
- Feelings of solitude
- Fatigue
- Helplessness
- Emotional anesthesia
Sensations During Mourning
- Gastric discomfort
- Difficulty swallowing
- Chest oppression
- Feeling of shortness of breath
- Dryness of mouth
- Muscle weakness
- Sleep disorders
Cognitive Effects of Grief
- Disbelief
- Confusion
- Memory difficulties
- Obsessive thoughts with images of loss
Perceptual Alterations
Illusions, auditory and visual hallucinations (usually transient and followed by criticism).
Behavioral Changes
- Abandonment of social relations
- Distractions
- Avoiding places and situations
- Crying
- Restlessness
- Searching for the deceased
- Collecting objects related to the deceased
Stages of Grief
- Isolation and denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance or improvement