Stress Medicine - Common Medications for Stress and Other Mental Health Conditions
March 20th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Sometimes people may think they’re simply overstressed when in fact their condition has progressed to something more serious - a form of anxiety or depression. Stress can build and develop into outbreaks of depression and anxiety. Or, depression can also be more directly triggered by a stressful or traumatic event. Often the best treatment at this point is stress medicine. In other words: prescription medication.
Of the four major categories of medications for psychiatric symptoms, only one will be covered in some detail here. This is one of two categories that correlate more closely to stress (the other category includes the anti-anxiety medications). And within this article they’ll simply be called “stress medicine” although this certainly isn’t a medical term.
Antidepressants:
As the name implies, these medications (meds) treat the symptoms of depression. This includes low mood, low energy, appetite problems, sleep problems, and poor concentration. They can also be effective for anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and phobias. It may be 2, 3, 5, or even 8 weeks before the patient notices a change. And never stop taking a med without first talking to your doctor.
The newer generation of these medications for depression is called “serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors” (SSRIs). They tend to cause fewer side effects. SSRIs include Prozac, Zoloft, Serzone, Lexapro, and Luvox.
The brain chemistry of depression and anxiety is not fully understood. However, evidence supports the view that people with these disorders have an imbalance of the brain’s neurotransmitters. These are chemicals in the brain that allow nerve cells to communicate. One of the most commonly accepted theories suggests that two naturally occurring chemicals, serotonin and norepinephrine, are believed to affect core mood and pain symptoms of depression. An imbalance in these chemicals may be an important factor in the development of depression and anxiety.
These chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) aid communication between many areas of the brain and spinal cord that affect emotional aspects of a person’s nature. They are also important in “controlling the volume” of messages about pain between the body and the brain.
The SSRIs work in this way: Serotonin is released from one nerve cell and passed to the next. In the process, some of the serotonin released is reabsorbed by the first nerve cell. SSRIs block the re-absorption of serotonin into the first nerve cell. It is this blocking action that causes an increased amount of serotonin to become available at the next nerve cell and this is how SSRIs affect the balance of serotonin in the brain.
No two meds are exactly alike. And exactly what conditions a drug can be prescribed for vary as do the side effects for each drug or medication. Not everyone has side effects but the common ones include: Nausea, vomiting, excitement, agitation, headache, sexual problems, dry mouth, dizziness, sedation, weight gain, constipation, heart palpitations, cardiac abnormalities, insomnia, memory problems, over-stimulation, and hypertensive crisis.
Another sub-category of antidepressant stress medicine is called selective SNRIs (selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor). They work on the same basic principle as the SSRIs but target other chemicals. This impacts which conditions they can be prescribed for. Cymbalta is a common med and some of the side effects are nausea, dry mouth, diarrhea, constipation, dizziness, fatigue, decreased appetite, increased sweating, and difficulty sleeping.
Wellbutrin on the other hand, helps balance the levels neurotransmitters called dopamine and norepinephrine. It’s another antidepressant. Some of the side effects are agitation, dry mouth, skin rash, loss of appetite, sweating, ringing in the ears, shakiness, stomach pain, insomnia, muscle pain, nausea, fast heartbeat, sore throat, urinating more often, constipation, headaches, and weight loss.
Talk to your doctor about any other medications you’re on BEFORE getting a prescription for one of these antidepressants sometimes called “stress medicine.” They interact with some other medications in very dangerous ways.
Still looking for help on anxiety and depression treatment or perhaps anxiety depression disorder sleep treatment? Try visiting www.StressAndDepressionAnswers.com, a popular website with stress relief tips, info on causes, stress management and other similar topics.
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Stress and Depression in College Students
March 11th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Stress and Depression in College Students – A Basic Overview
Different adverse consequences of experiencing stress in young individual’s life raise the question of identifying the critical period during which the young individuals become more vulnerable towards stressors than individuals belonging to the other phases of development. Different psychologists and theorists conclude that there is a strong correlation between stress and depression in college students on the basis of increasing evidence of violence and homicide prevalent mostly among college students from first and second year.
Prevalence of Violence during College Years
In recent years, there is an increasing evidence of high school violence around the nation including shooting sprees, which, as explained by different thinkers and psychologists, is a by-product of experiencing negative life events. Following these catastrophes, researchers become ever more interested to know whether these young individuals overreact in terms of breaking into anger, anxiety or depression in contrast to old peers. Violence of college students and experience of stress are directly linked up with each other in many aspects, leading to form a reciprocal relationship between large numbers of dependable factors.
Effect of Stress over Mental Health
Researchers like Pamela Jackson, a social psychologist from the Duke University, argue that negative life events and psychological distress are the most common variables, contributing to the association between violence of college students and stress experience. During her research, she conducted a survey with 863 undergraduate students. In the survey, the students need to indicate their degree of anger or hostility, anxiety and depression corresponding to 50 life events by using sub-scales, measuring the quantitative value of their mental health status.
The study reveals several sub-factors such as close or romantic relationship, racial identity, school events, academic performance, physical assault, and peer attention categorized under negative life events and psychological distress. In addition, affinitive opportunity and being physically approached are two significant variables that lead to experience intense stress and college students sometimes lack the mastery to cope up with it, eventually leading towards violence.
Freshman at Higher Risk
The findings from the research conducted by Pamela Jackson also affirm that the stress and depression in freshman college students experience a reaction to pressured events that has a more significant correlation than that of senior college students. The freshman reported about the negative events much more emotionally distressful than it was reported by older students in college. In addition, the findings also suggest that the sophomores and juniors are also affected profoundly with stressful life events; however, the risk is always higher with the freshman.
Anger or Hostility – The Most Common Reaction to Stress
Research findings also suggest that the anger and hostility are the most common reaction to stress experienced as a result of negative life events by the college students. In fact, the degree of anger and hostility are much higher compared to other indicators such as depression and anxiety as the primary mode of reaction to stress. Affinitive opportunity leads the young individuals experience different negative life events that consequently turn them to react violently. In this context, we can recall the shooting extravaganza in 1997 by Luke Woodham at Pearl High School, which happened following a breakup with a girlfriend.
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Stress Management, The New Health Trend
March 4th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
What is it about stress and stress management that everybody has their panties up in a bunch about now-a-days? I mean do we really think that our society today is more stressed out than back in the days when people were dying right and left, eaten by large animals, starving, being shot with arrows, etc.? I mean you’ve got to be kidding me right? Well yes and no. The fact is that people who are stressed out by today’s standards have more life limiting diseases such as cancer and heart disease and these are also the same people who aren’t living as long. This is in comparison to the average person who doesn’t face any of the stresses like those mentioned above and the present day people that do.
So what the heck is going on? Well there has been a lot of research done on the nature of stress and the mechanisms that were designed by God in our bodies to deal with it. Most people have heard of the fight-or-flight response and this turns out to be a major mechanism that affects our health negatively. So what has changed? This mechanism is certainly been helpful to our ancestors as they dealt with stress–a life preserving rather than life limiting process. Well it turns out that the kind of stress that we face today turns this system on almost as well as the other more immediate life threats but our bodies don’t absorb it in the same way and so it goes unnaturally unchecked and takes its toll. We therefore need a different type of stress management than we were naturally getting by running away from the large beast that was trying to eat us.
Exercise is one obvious type of stress management that helps to use up or absorb some of the sympathetic tone that is the “fight-or-flight” response to job and life stress. It does things like check the increased heart rate and the high amounts of insulin and other hormones in our system, and it gives us natural mood enhancing substances (endorphins) which counter the stress response as well. Another aspect is the cognitive response to stress that needs to be addressed.
Partly or emotional and mental health is addressed by exercise but it also needs to be addressed in terms of some of the behaviors that we choose to dull rather than correct our unhealthy stress response. We need to find correct ways of thinking rather than use substances like alcohol, nicotine, and illicit drugs to mask our low moods. We need to train our minds to think positively. We need to find alternative activities and vents for our feelings like art and social release. We need to eat better and be out side more to get the natural anti-depressants that are found there and are much healthier. Only then will we be approaching stress management in a healthy and life extending way.
About the author
Trenton Martkes counsels professionally and has done lots of original research in the area of stress management. Check out http://www.learnstressmanagement.info to learn more about how stress affects you and how you should deal with it.
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Stress Reducers - 7 Tools To Reduce Your Stress
February 27th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
If you’re stressed out, it’s good to know that there are tools available that will help you reduce your stress naturally, without the help of prescription drugs. Here are some natural stress reducers you can use:
1. Meditation
Meditating on a regular basis is quite normal and studies have shown that it is very helpful in reducing your stress levels as well as often helping to reduce your blood pressure. You can join a local meditation class, use a guided meditation MP3 or one of the modern meditations which are combined with binaural beats to take you into a deep meditative state with no effort on your part.
2. Eat Your Stress Away
Nutrition is important. A proper diet will go a long way to reducing your stress levels. Often when we are stressed we eat junk food to comfort ourselves. Be careful of your diet, drink plenty of water, cut back on the caffeine and alcohol. All these will go a long way to helping your body naturally, reducing the stresses and strains it has to deal with.
3. Get some exercise
Sure, you’re busy. You haven’t got time to spend hours in the gym. But you don’t need to unless you want to. You can get exercise by walking more or maybe going for a swim once or twice a week. It’s important that you give your body regular exercise - powerful “happiness” drugs start getting created by your body. These endorphins are produced by your body and will help you to feel happier completely naturally. Just by exercising!
4. Get a good night’s sleep
Quite often when we’re stressed, we’ll literally lie awake at night worrying. It’s important to get enough sleep as this is the time your body uses to repair and renovate itself. Don’t use alcohol as a night cap - this actually makes your sleep patterns worse. Instead, adjust your habits so that you give yourself time to unwind before you go to bed. Don’t stay up too late reading those business reports. Taking a long, relaxing bath before you go to bed is one way to naturally encourage your body to go to sleep.
5. Change your routine
If certain things are stressing you out, consider changing your routine to lessen their impact. For instance, if your work place offers you a range of times to start work, adjust your daily commute so that you miss the worst of the traffic. If one of your co-workers constantly stresses you out, talk to your boss to see whether you can be split away from them or explore other ways to reduce the tension between you.
6. Take a vacation
Even a weekend away will help. They say a change is as good as a break and a couple days away from your regular routine could make all the difference. Taking a short break will allow you time to recharge yourself and let the stress drain away.
7. Get a hobby
Hobbies are a good way to change the direction your mind takes. Whether your hobby is an art, a craft or even just playing your favorite video games. Feel free to indulge yourself.
Get more ways to reduce your stress and start to regain control of your life again at http://www.squidoo.com/stressreducer.
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