The link between stress and illness. Do our coping methods influence our health?
Stress is an important fact of everyday life that can have a major effect on emotional and physical well-being. Stress is best defined as the adaptation response by the body to a stressor (ie, the perceived stimulus). Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the ways in which psychosocial interactions cause neuroendocrine responses and, at times, physical changes. An increasing body of evidence suggests a causative role for acute and chronic stress in many medical disorders and psychiatric states. Methods of measuring and assessing stress factors need to also evaluate patients' coping and adaptive mechanisms.
Sutherland
J E
JE
Department of Family Practice, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield 62794-9230.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009017:Morbidity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology