The Frustration Social Stressor for Adolescents (FSS‐A): A newly adapted psychosocial stressor

This thesis examined the role of viewing a picture of one’s pet as a mechanism for alleviating the symptoms of stress. The mental arithmetic task (MAT), a psychosocial stressor was used to induce stress. Participants were randomly assigned into one of six visual conditions: either a picture of their personal pet (n = 9), an unfamiliar animal (n = 9), a person who is supportive and important to the participant (n = 9), an unfamiliar person to the participant (n =8), a pleasant image (control 1) (n = 8) or no image (control 2) (n = 8). Stress reactivity, both physical (e.g., blood pressure) and subjective (self-reported anxiety), were measured. Findings indicated that contrary to the hypothesis, viewing a picture of one’s personal pet did not reduce stress reactivity, measured either subjectively (self-report) or objectively (physiological assessment). However, the study suggests that various images can influence stress reactivity.

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Effects of an experimental social stressor on resources loss, negative affect, and coping strategies

Anxiety Stress & Coping ◽

10.1080/10615806.2013.862523 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 376-393 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Moshe Zeidner ◽

Hasida Ben-Zur

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

And Coping ◽

Social Stressor

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EEG Microstates and Psychosocial Stress During an Exchange Year

Brain Topography ◽

10.1007/s10548-020-00806-0 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nursija Kadier ◽

Maria Stein ◽

Thomas Koenig

Keyword(s):

Psychosocial Stress ◽

Radical Change ◽

Psychotic Symptoms ◽

Exchange Students ◽

Psychosocial Stressor ◽

Class A ◽

Stress Vulnerability ◽

Individual Trait ◽

Vulnerability Model ◽

Later Phase

Abstract The well-known stress vulnerability model of psychosis assumes that psychotic episodes result from the coincidence of individual trait dispositions and triggering stressors. We thus hypothesized that a transient psychosocial stressor would not only increase the number of and stress caused by psychosis-like symptoms (like delusion-like symptoms or auditory hallucinations) in healthy subjects but also elicit changes in EEG microstates that have been related to the presence of psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Considering a radical change of one’s psychosocial environment as a significant stressor, we analyzed psychotic symptoms and EEG microstate data in teenage exchange-students at an early and a later phase of their stay. The subjects experienced a small and transient, but significant increase of stress by psychosis-like symptoms. These changes in mental state were associated with increases in microstate class A, which has previously been related to unspecific stress. microstate classes C and D, which have consistently been found to be altered in patients with psychosis, were found unaffected by the time of the recording and the subjective stress experiences. Therefore, we conclude that microstate class A appears to be a psychosis independent and rather general correlate of psychosocial stress, whereas changes in microstate classes C and D seem to be more specifically tied to the presence of psychotic symptoms.

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