ABSTRACT
The present research investigated the effects of controlled experimental manipulations of stress on biological and psychological reactions. Fifty young adult male volunteers were exposed to a 12-min period of stress induced by the threat of an unavoidable, painful electric shock. A 12-min period without this threat preceded or followed the stress period. Blood was drawn during the 4th and the 12th minute of each period. Anticipatory threat led to significant elevations in the proportions and cytotoxic activity of natural killer (NK) lymphocytes, plasma epinephrine levels, pulse rate, and reported level of tension, and to a reduction in the CD4/CD8 ratios. The no-threat period induced a return to baseline values for epinephrine, pulse rate, and tension, and lower than baseline levels for cytotoxic activity of NK lymphocytes, within a similarly short time span. The findings underline the rapidity with which physiological changes may transpire in the course of a brief and acute period of psychological stress, and the rapidity of their reversal upon relief from the stressor.
Subject(s)
Cardiovascular System/physiopathology , Immune System/physiopathology , Neurosecretory Systems/physiopathology , Stress, Psychological/physiopathology , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Acute Disease , Adult , Epinephrine/blood , Heart Rate/physiology , Humans , Killer Cells, Natural/physiology , Lymphocyte Subsets/pathology , Male , Norepinephrine/blood , Stress, Psychological/pathologyABSTRACT
The effect of restraint stress on the distribution of lymphocyte subsets were studied in young BALB/c male mice. Loss of whole body weight, a reduction in the weights of spleen and lymph nodes, and higher levels of serum corticosterone were evident after a single continuous restraint period of 16-18 h. Tissue sections of spleens from restrained animals revealed erythrocyte depletion in the contracted red pulp. Furthermore, there was a significantly higher proportion of CD4+, but not of CD8+, lymphocytes in the spleen. The proportion of the CD4+ subset was markedly diminished in peripheral blood, whereas no changes were detected in lymph nodes. Restraint resulted in enhanced allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reactivity and in altered expression of some CD4+, but not CD8+, splenocyte adhesion molecules (CD44, LFA-1 and VLA-4). Removal of circulating corticosteroids by surgical adrenalectomy abolished the restraint-induced changes in lymphocyte adhesion molecule expression. The findings suggest that the observed differences in lymphocytes subset distribution of lymphoid organs may be due to changes in the pattern of adhesion molecule expression.
Subject(s)
Lymphocytes/physiology , Spleen/physiology , Stress, Physiological/metabolism , Tissue Adhesions/metabolism , Adrenalectomy , Animals , Cell Count , Lymphocyte Subsets , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Restraint, PhysicalABSTRACT
An individual interview process was used to investigate the relationship between proneness to depression in a gerontological sample and their evaluation of critical life incidents. High and low depressed individuals were asked to recall prideful and guiltful incidents from their past, and discrepancy scores were obtained between their past and present evaluations of those events. Limited evidence supported the hypothesis that individuals with higher proneness to depression showed a greater negative discrepancy in evaluations of critical life incidents. Subjects did not differ in the content of their recalled incidents as a function of guilt type or guilt referent.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Aged/psychology , Depression/psychology , Guilt , Female , Humans , Life Change Events , Male , Personality TestsABSTRACT
In a 2 X 2 experimental design, advanced students in social work and clinical psychology rated the same case description of a debilitating fear on eight scales of psychopathology and need for therapy. The fear was rated as less neurotic, less irrational, and less likely to require desensitization therapy when the client was mentally retarded vs. of average intelligence. There were no significant differences in the ratings of the students in clinical psychology vs. social work. The results suggest that diagnostic overshadowing is not specific to the discipline of psychology and point to the need for explicit training of future mental health professionals in diagnosing emotional disturbances accompanying mental retardation.
Subject(s)
Intellectual Disability/complications , Phobic Disorders/diagnosis , Psychology, Clinical , Social Work , Humans , Intellectual Disability/diagnosis , Male , Phobic Disorders/complications , Phobic Disorders/therapyABSTRACT
Two experiments evaluated the effects of the condition of mental retardation on psychologists' impressions of emotional problems of a retarded subject. In Experiment 1 we found that the same debilitating phobia was less likely to be considered an example of a neurosis or an emotional disturbance when the subject also was suggested to be mentally retarded as compared to intellectually average. Experiment 2 provided a conceptual replication of the results of Experiment 1 and extended findings of diagnostic overshadowing to cases involving schizophrenia and personality disorder. The magnitude of these effects did not differ significantly as a function of whether the case description suggested schizophrenia or personality disorder. The results validate the existence of a diagnostic overshadowing phenomenon.
