WEEK 8 Stress Resilience Most research focuses on the negative effects of stress exposure Mental Depression anxiety PTSD Physical CVD immunosuppression But there s a large variability in how people respond to stress and some people can even benefit from stress exposure To understand the influence of stress exposure we need to acknowledge the full spectrum of its effects so we can understand what contributes to resilience Understanding the beneficial effects can help bring meaning to negative experiences Resilience 3 Different Responses to Stress 1 Sustainability maintaining functioning through a stressor with minimal disruption 2 Recovery disruption but quickly bounce back to baseline functioning following a major stressor 3 Growth enhanced adaptation beyond original levels of function Traditionally resilience was thought to be rare but now is considered ordinary magic Research Approaches 1 Child Abuse Researchers noticed that children who had experienced adversity physical abuse parents with mental illness or addiction or poverty didn t seem to exhibit long term negative effects of these experiences Experiment examined the prevalence of child abuse and its relationship to adulthood psychopathology 44 of the 364 adults sampled had experienced sexual or physical abuse as children Assessed current and past psychopathology 55 6 of the adults who had been abused as children reported some form of psychopathology meaning 44 4 were resilient The resilient group also showed lower rates of personality difficulties criminality and relationship problems compared to non abused group and fewer physical health problems compared to non abused group 2 Potentially Traumatic Events Bonanno 2004 examined responded to potentially traumatic events like natural disasters traumatic injuries bereavement or war Findings suggest that majority of adults maintain healthy functioning in t he face of even extreme stressors 9 11 Attacks Experiment 2K adults living in or near NY contacted 6 months after 9 11 and assessed PTSD symptoms 65 1 reported 0 1 PTSD symptoms resilient group 28 9 of participants had 2 symptoms in the absence of PTSD recovery group 6 probable PTSD Meaning the significant majority were resilient Resilience is still very prevalent in those directly and personally affected 3 Life Threatening Condition Studied people diagnosed with things like HIV or cancer and examined how they respond and what factors are related to positive psychological adjustment remission or survival Distress Trajectories in the first year about a breast cancer diagnosis Resilient 36 predicted by mastery Mastery belief that life is not ruled by fate That one is personally able to influence the outcomes of important events or situations e g What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me Recovery 33 Delay 15 Chronic 15 Growth Some may not only maintain healthy function but can also even report personal growth and positive changes BF Thriving Post traumatic growth Studies that looked at illness divorce war or cancer showed that over half of people reported some type of positive change enhanced relationships improved perceptions of self appreciation of life and enhanced spirituality Psychological Characteristics Associated with Resilience Personality Factors optimism positive emotions humor mastery Appraisal and Coping styles approach orienting challenge appraisals active coping Social Factors high perceived social support World Views and Beliefs spiritual religious beliefs belief that the world is a fair and benevolent place Stress Inoculation Theory Whatever doesn t kill you makes you stronger Like how a vaccine is a limited dose of a pathogen that mobilizes the immune system so it can better combat future infections stress in limited doses can help you mobiles resources needed to better cope with future stress Observational Study Seery Holman Cohen Silver 2010 Longitudinal study of 2k adults Does moderate prior stress exposure lead to resilience to a subsequent stressor Assessed lifetime stress exposure with a life events checklist and then 6 months later assessed again Also examined mental health outcomes in response to recent stressors Those with moderate levels of prior adversity had lower distress function impairment and post traumatic stress symptoms in response to a recent stressor Laboratory Study 1 Checking if moderate prior life stress lead to psychological resilience to a controlled laboratory stressor Used 147 undergrads and a cold pressor task Those who reported moderate levels of prior adversity demonstrated Less catastrophizing ratings of pain intensity and pain unpleasantness Longer immersion time Less negative affect Compared to low and high prior adversity too much or too little is bad Laboratory Study 2 Checking if moderate prior life stress lead to physiological resilience to a controlled laboratory stressor Used 216 college undergrads An important test of nonverbal intelligence Those with moderate prior life stress showed cardiovascular responses consistent with challenge vs threat appraisals Positive Emotions and Resilience Experiment 57 participants assessed for trait resilience at baseline using a self report scale EgoResiliency Scale statements like I quickly get over and recover from being startled or I would be willing to describe myself as a pretty strong Personality They were told they would have 60 seconds to prepare a 3 minute speech that would be videotaped and evaluated by peers Assessed emotions cognitive appraisals threat vs challenge cardiovascular responses during speech preparation Higher trait resilience associated with more positive mood at baseline more happiness and interest during tasks lower appraisals of threat to the task shorter duration of cardiovascular reactive faster recovery Results positive emotions may undo the lingering cardiovascular aftereffects of negative emotions Trait resilience more positive emotions faster CV recovery Neurophysiological Correlates of Resilience Cardiovascular Reponses consistent with challenge appraisals Faster cardiovascular recovery Neuropeptide Y Neuropeptide Y Neurotransmitter in the brain and SNS increasing this in rats leads to reduced anxiety like behaviors to stress tasks Thought to serve as a buffer against the negative effects of stress on the brain Soldiers Exposed to Military Survival Training 21 Active duty male soldiers were captured and subjected to intense military interrogation NPY measured at baseline and after