Question

1.Who appears to be in the exhaustion stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome?

a. Henry, who has been caring for his disabled wife for over two years, and is having feelings of hopelessness and difficulties sleeping and eating

b. Alana, who has had a difficult semester juggling her classes and job, and has recently made an unusually poor choice of a boyfriend

c. Jorge, who had a near miss as he merged onto the highway and is breathing rapidly, but feels very alert and focused

d. Esther, who has just noticed the man she has long admired from afar is walking straight towards her at a party and feels her heart pound and hands become sweaty

2. As preschoolers, the children born to the women who were diagnosed with both PTSD and depression following the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center showed evidence of higher reactivity to stimuli and more aggressive behavior than did children of terrorism-exposed mothers who did not develop these disorders. What is the likely source?

a. The ability of cortisol and other stress hormones to cross the placenta

b. Learned behaviors based on the observation of PTSD symptoms in others

c. Operant conditioning that rewarded such behaviors among these families

d. The inhibition of serotonin and dopamine during brain development

3. What is the circuit that responds to perceived stressors by initiating the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine into the bloodstream?

a. hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis

b. general adaptation system

c. cortisol receptor network

d. sympathetic adrenal-medullary system

4. What is cortisol?

a. A neurotransmitter associated with learning and memory

b. A hormone released into the bloodstream from the pituitary gland

c. A hormone released into the bloodstream from the adrenal glands

d. A neurotransmitter associated with movement, reward, and pleasure

5. One of the possible outcomes of chronic stress is prolonged high levels of circulating cortisol. What might harmful effects result?

a. The death of neurons and the inhibition of neurogenesis

b. An increase in the activity of lymphocytes accompanied by acute pain

c. An enlarged hippocampus and the potential for bipolar disorder

d. A constant state of arousal with intermittent incidences of mania

Answer 1

1. The correct answer is option A(Henry, who has been caring for his disabled wife for over two years, and is having feelings of hopelessness and difficulties sleeping and eating). General Adaptation syndrome has three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. During the alarm stage, all resources are mobilized for fight or flight. If stress is prolonged, we enter the resistance stage, where we adapt and cope as well as possible. Finally, resources are depleted when we reach the exhaustion stage.

2. The correct answer is option B(Learned behaviors based on the observation of PTSD symptoms in others).