Selina Hardy Ingram Sept 26, 2012

Heilbrun Jr, Alfred B. Stress and the Risk of Psychological Disorder in College Women. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc, 1998. Print.

This text focuses more on the risk of developing serious mental health issues due to stress. It is directly related to my research but its focus is much narrower than mine. It offers a helpful look at on piece of the overall question I find myself asking. The author relied heavily on questionnaires because it allows you to gather information on the personal and private experiences of a subject when dealing with stress and health issues. This along with the use of other studies and research makes this source credible and reliable. It starts with a look into Anorexia and the background factors that may lead to this disorder. The author contributes this disorder to stress and a womens drive to compete in college not only with other women but with men. She introduces that a woman can replace the value of success with the value of thinness. She list and explain defenses that a subject might show that could signal Anorexia, such as rationalization and denial. The author then goes into the individual risk factor and risk patterns for anorexia. She does this, though in less detail, with Menstrual disorders, and, equally thorough, Cardiovascular disorders. She finished with an in-depth analysis of the link between stress and these disorders. She backs up her argument with insight on how stress affects a womens body both physical and psychologically.

Jack, Dana Crowley, and Alisha Ali, eds. Silencing the Self Across Cultures: Depression and Gender in the Social World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print This source is a collection of works that expounded on the connection between womens self-silencing and depression. This source is different from the others in that in focuses on a specific mental health itself instead of stress and mental health in general. Self-silencing is basically when a women ignores, or silences, certain actions, feelings, and/or thoughts that would conflict with those of their partner. They do this to maintain a healthy relationship, avoid conflict, or keep a certain psychological and physical safety in their life. It has been shown that this kind of behavior leads to depression. One of the main causes of this is cultural and social, i.e. the way women are raised, viewed and expect to behave and think. This text questions whether drugs help or hinder this self-silencing. It also explores self-silencing through different cultures, highlighting similarities and differences. It spends the last section of the getting an in-depth look

at the health side effects that are caused by self-silencing, not just depression but eating disorders, different heart diseases, and a tendency to be drawn to destructive behavior and relationships. This source uses a variety of studies, research and surveys, giving it a high credibility. I think this text was meant for the professional and academic world, as it is more complicated to understand and doesnt have the air of simplicity that other sources have used. It offers a different insight not to mental health and stress but into how women are more susceptible to these things. It goes into much greater detail about the womens psyche and the biological aspect than the other sources. "Mental Stress, Physical Illness." WebMD. WebMD LLC, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.

Mental stress leads to a declining physical health. Studies and research have shown that mental stress can lead to heart problems, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, as well as feeling of anger and hopelessness. A study done at University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki-ken, Japan gathered information from a test survey given to 73000 men and women. Afterward researchers monitored the men and women for eight years. A link between stress and physical health problems in white males has already been discovered but these new studies show a link between the two in women and other ethnic groups as well. Stressed women in test groups were found to have twice as likely to have heart problems than those who identified themselves as not stressed. These stressed women tended to be young educated women, who were less physically active. This source is useful in providing a definite social side to the mental health question. It is not 100% reliable and is more biased toward women. It is helpful in broadening my question about stress. Is environment the most important factor in stress? Why are women more stressed than men?

National Institution of Mental Health. Anxiety Disorders. Maryland: NIH Publication, 2009. Print. Around 40 million American over the age of 18 are affected by Anxiety Disorders, dealing with feelings of fearfulness and uncertainty. Panic Disorder is when a patient is plagued with sudden panic attacks as well as things like pounding heart, faintness, and numbness. It can be crippling, interrupting the patients normal life, and can be accompanied by depression and drug or alcohol abuse. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is when a patient has obsessions, or persistent upsetting thoughts, and uses compulsions, or procedures, to satisfy those obsessions. OCD comes in many different forms, and can be accompanied by depression, eating disorders, and other anxiety disorders. A patient develops Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome after experiencing a terrifying event involving physical harm or the threat of physical harm. Patients tend to be emotionally numb, irritable, easily startled, have trouble feeling affection, and may become aggressive or even violent. Social anxiety disorder is when a patient experiences and exceptional amount of anxiety, and becomes overly self-conscious in everyday situations. Patients experience sweating, blushing, trembling, nausea, and a difficulty talking; and though a

patient may realize the fear is unreasonable he or she is unable to control it. Specific Phobias is an strong fear of something that can cause little or no threat to the patient. These phobias can be avoided but can be crippling if the patient is forced to confront it. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is when the patient is plagued with unprovoked extreme worry or tension. Like Social Anxiety Disorder, patients are aware of the unreasonable stress but are unable to control it. These disorders can be treated with medication and/or psychotherapy. This is useful is understanding some of the exact and more drastic effects of stress and anxiety. This source is reliable and objective but puts the subject into more of a medical light. It helps give a deeper understanding of my general topic but doesnt give a more personal or social aspect of the story. Is stress and anxiety linked to science or environment? National Institution of Mental Health. Women and Depression: Discovering Hope. Maryland: NIH Publication, 2009. Print. Depression is when a persons feelings of sadness makes daily life impossible and cause the person, as well as his or her loved ones, pain. Both men and women are affected but women are more likely to have this disease. It comes in several different forms and some of its symptoms are continual sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, or empty feeling, fatigue, insomnia, appetite change, and thoughts of suicide. Depression can be inherited and caused by stress, chemical and hormones, like PMDD, Postpartum depression, and menopause. Depression can be accompanied by eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, or anxiety disorders. During puberty, girls are more likely to experience depression than boys due to hormone changes as well as an increased tendency of self-doubt, and a higher need for approval than boys. Likelihood of depression decrease after menopause, leaving most older women unaffected. Depression can be treated with medications, antidepressants, but side effects include headache, nausea, insomnia, sexual problems, and agitation. Psychotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy are other treatments, and researcher continue to improve and find new ways to help those diagnosed with depression. There are many solutions and people to talk to if you, or someone you know is feeling depressed. This is useful in my thinking about women and stress. It is not directly related to stress like my other sources but it open up some possible links. It raises question of whether it is a hormonal question. This source is biased toward women and there connection to depression.

Witkin-Lanoil, Georgia. The Female Stress Syndrome: How to Recognize and Live With It. New York: Newmarket Press, 1984. Print.

Studies have shown that women are less susceptible to stress and therefore are not as apt to handle stress as their male counterparts. Women are susceptible to normal stress symptoms such as high blood pressure, headaches, and dizziness, but also to symptoms that are unique to females such as postpartum depression, infertility, and even loss of menstruation. These are signs

of Female Stress Syndrome. Stress can affect the female body in several ways, making normal life functions, like premenstruation, pregnancy, and menopause difficult and/or unbearable. One explanation for Female Stress Syndrome lies in how females are raised, much different than males and with a lack of nonassertiveness training that males receive. Things such as love, marriage, and sex also cause unique stress for women as their psyches are effected by the male counterparts and female role models. Motherhood and a career touch on the same things as the aforementioned, calling on psychological facts that were learned as a child and the effect of males and their actions on a womens psyche. Hidden stresses, such as driving and noise, also influence Female Stress Syndrome. This source provides many studies and facts that verify its credibility. It is biased toward women, and it is more geared toward average people instead of scholars, and professionals. It is helpful to me because it provides an easy to understand insight to the academic conversation that is going on about women, stress, and mental health. It helps push me further in the direction of a specific path and leads me to the right questions and answers. Are women biological more stressed than men? Does this affect womens mental health more than mens and if so, what kind of results does that produce in physical health?