Learning to actively cope with stress in female mice

Mood and anxiety disorders occur more often in women than men (Bale and Epperson, 2015). Stress triggers or exacerbates these disorders and various psychotherapies have been designed to enhance stress coping skills. Exposure psychotherapies train people to imagine a graded series of stressful situations and then encourage direct interaction with relevant stressors in vivo (McNally, 2007). Stress exposure is likewise a feature of stress inoculation training for people who work in conditions where performance in the face of adversity is required, e.g., medical and military personnel, police, firefighters, and rescue workers (Meichenbaum and Novaco, 1985; Saunders et al., 1996; Stetz et al., 2007).

Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - June 9, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: David M. Lyons, Christine L. Buckmaster, Alan F. Schatzberg Source Type: research