Describe and Evaluate one Physiological and Psychological way to manage stress.

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Describe and Evaluate one Physiological and  Psychological way to manage stress.

Many different methods of stress management have been proposed and research conducted into their effectiveness. In this essay we will look at one Physiological method and one Psychological method. A physiological approach to managing stress is that of drug therapy, whereby the person experiencing stress will be given drugs which could reduce the symptoms of the stress, by reducing nervous system activity or ANS activity. The drugs referred to as ‘anxiolytics’ main aim is to reduce heightened physiological activity or simply the body’s response to stress. Originally ‘barbiturates’ were used to manage stress as they depress the central nervous system. However due to them inducing tiredness or even self-induced comas as the correct dosage was often difficult to predict they were replaced by what is more readily used today ‘benzodiazepines’. Sold under various trade names Librium, Valium, Xanax and Halcion, benzodiazepines slow down the activity of the central nervous system by enhancing the action of a biochemical element called GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) which is the body’s natural form of anxiety relief. The benzodiazepines influence the levels of GABA in the brain by stopping other chemicals from exciting neurons in the brain and as a result of the drop in excitation levels in the brain the person feels calmer. GABA also reduces serotonin activity, serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has an arousing effect by stimulating some neurons in the brain GABA helps reduce serotonin thereby decreasing arousal and in turn reduces anxiety. Along with benzodiazepines, anti-depressants have also been used in treating people with high levels or chronic stress.  Beta blockers have been increasingly prescribed as treatment for stress, these drugs do not affect the brain chemistry but instead reduce activity in the sympathetic nervous system. As stress leads to arousal of the sympathetic nervous system which in turn increases blood pressure, heart rate and elevated levels of cortisol the beta blockers reduce these symptoms by reducing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.  Drug treatment is appealing because of its proven effectiveness. In a study by Kahn et al. (1986) which was conducted on 250 patients over 8 weeks a placebo along with drugs were used. The study found that the drugs had much more effect on reducing stress symptoms than the placebo, proving that drugs are an effective method of treating stress reactions. Advantages of drug treatment are that they work as the study above shows and that they are also easy to use and not as time consuming as many of the other methods available, you simply have to remember to take the pills.

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However, drug therapy has some serious flaws. One main problem is addiction, patients may become addicted to the drugs, showing withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking the drugs. Because of this problem Ashton (1997) recommended that the use of drugs should be limited to 4 weeks. Another issue with the use of drugs is the side effects they can have, which in some cases can be very serious. Examples of side effects are drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, seizures, severe skin rash and irregular heartbeat. Possibly the biggest drawback of using drugs as a therapy is the fact that rather fighting ...

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