Prof. Dr. Ramez N. Bedwani

• Life is not going smooth all the time. We are subjected most of the time to various types of pressure and stressful factors. We cope with stress normally by certain physiological and psychological devices.

• Stress refers to: The widespread, generalized responses of the body

to various environmental, physical or social situations

• Stressors refer to: The situations, or events which elicit the stress

responses of the body

• Changes in one’s life• Injury• Infection• Exercise• Noise• Climate• Frustration• Loss of job • Social / family troubles / disasters (as death of a member, major illness etc.)

• However stresses could be major /minor & the response is usually appropriate to the severity

• Sometimes a minor environmental event may have massive psychological meaning for some sensitive or fragile individual e.g.:

• An anxious adolescent who becomes disorganized on the occasion of leaving his family to college,

• Refers to: the body response to stressors

• This syndrome has three stages:a- The alarm reaction: which is the emergency response of the body

b- The stage of resistance: Characterized by certain hormonal response

c- The stage of exhaustion: During which the body’s ability to respond to

stressors has been seriously affected. Various psychosomatic disorders may occur as a result of stress

A- Under normal healthy conditions:The nature has provided the individual with normal

devices to cope with stressors. Individual differs in their ability and ways to cope with stress

Healthy individuals may resolve the crisis in an adaptive growth promoting fashion such as :

(a)facing the reality and respecting its demands by increasing effort

(b)Enhancing problem solving attitude(c)Finding some other new way of adaptation to overcome

the obstacle

(d)Social support : Every individual varies in his need for external support

from the surrounding members of the family or society. Such support is increased in stressful situations and is very helpful, The typical example of such attitude in our society is the habits and ritual of funeral after death of a close family member. Relatives and acquaintances gather together to overcome the situation directly and indirectly

e)Adaptive mental mechanisms help to cope with stress automatically and beyond conscious awareness

B-Some techniques of rehabilitation and aids: When a person is intolerable to most stresses

whatever minor, he may resort to certain devices and technique that could train him to become more capable to manage stress situations

This would include:1- Proper religious meditation through normal praying

or, mediation is a modified method of relaxing mind through special attention to and repeating certain religious words

2-Relaxation training

3- Biofeedback: -Here a procedure is learnt to modify internal responses

such as heart rate and body temperature

-Involuntary physiological responses could be brought under voluntary control through instrumental conditioning

4- Systematic desensitization: Gradual exposure to fearful stimuli

5-Hypnosis:

- In this device deep trance state in which one is very suggestible

- Now, it is believed that it is better to modify the behavior while in the normal state of consciousness to achieve more lasting results

• These are bodily disturbances that result from or are exaggerated by emotional hyperactivity or accumulating stress

• Gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and respiratory systems and skin are more liable to be affected

• There is an interaction between stress and other factors such as:

Personality characteristics Early childhood experiences Hereditary and Constitutional factors

to produce pathological changes in a specific organ

• GIT: Peptic ulcer & ulcerative colitis

• Cardiovascular: Hypertension Coronary heart disease

• Skin: alopecia areata

• Respiratory: bronchial asthma

Stressful conditions have to be overcome daily to get a healthy psychological life

Hypnosis and stress

محمد محمد الحميد عبد لطفي فاتنمرسي صالح العزيز عبد غالي

احمد الرحيم عبد محمود صبحى فاطمهخليل محمد السالم عبد محمد فاطمة

زيدان احمد السعيد ابراهيم كريم

Defense mechanisms

المطلب عبد خليفه احمد كريمالمجيد عبد السالم عبد خالد كريم

هاشم احمد محمد كريمشنودة قدوس ميالد ماريان

النادي الهادي عبد ابراهيم ابراهيم محمد

Personality Types

سعده احمد فتوح احمد محمدقاقا محمد احمد محمد

هالل السيد الغنى عبد انور محمدالعال عبد اسماعيل خالد محمدسعيد صابر السيد صالح محمد

All are correct psychosomatic disorders, except :-peptic ulcer-Bronchial asthma-Some skin diseases-Cancer