Preoperative Stress Syndromes and Their Evaluation, Consultation, and Management

Publication/Presentation Date

1-2009

Abstract

Anxiety is a nonspecific symptom and everyone experiences this emotion. Sometimes anxiety is adaptive, such as in novel situations, as it helps to mobilize an individual for a quick response. Anxiety can heighten awareness and help to prepare a defense to a threatening situation. Anxiety can be experienced with emotional and physical symptoms. Emotional symptoms include excessive worry and fear, dread, feeling on edge, poor concentration, and irritability. Physical symptoms include increased heart rate, shortness of breath, upset stomach, sweating, tremors, fatigue, and muscle tension. Some aspects of these manifestations, considered the fear response, are adaptive in the sense that they may help to promote the survival of an individual and the species. It is no wonder why it is so highly conserved in vertebrates and essentially hardwired into our brains

Volume

27

Issue

1

First Page

55

Last Page

71

Disciplines

Anesthesiology | Medicine and Health Sciences

Department(s)

Department of Anesthesiology

Document Type

Article

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