The nurse in the student health center is counseling a college student who reports high levels of stress before each exam, causing his heart to race and affecting his ability to concentrate. The nurse assesses that this student is in which stage of the general adaptation syndrome during an exam?
A) Stage of alarm
B) Stage of resistance
C) Stage of exhaustion
D) Stage of resolution
A) Stage of alarm
Explanation: A) During the stage of alarm, there is a rapid production of catecholamine causing increases in both heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure. Alarm is a pattern of physiologic activation originally conceptualized as occurring in response to the injection of noxious agents or physical stressors. Physical stressors include issues that reflect overall health and can place the individual at increased risk. These changes are even found to occur in anticipation of a stressor, as when an individual becomes anxious before a test.
B) The stage of resistance could be viewed as a period of homeostasis. An individual cannot tolerate the physiologic changes that occur during the stage of alarm for long. The pattern of response that is seen in the stage of alarm is eventually countered by the release of cortisol and other mediators in the stage of resistance.
C) In the stage of exhaustion, the individual has lost the capacity to sustain a defense against stress. The organs are no longer able to release balancing mediators, and organ damage begins to occur.
D) The stage of resolution is not part of the general adaptation syndrome.
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