Chapters authored
Impact of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms on Scholar Performance in High School and University Students
Emotional processes are important to survive. The Darwinian adaptive concept of stress refers to natural selection since evolved individuals have acquired effective strategies to adapt to the environment and to unavoidable changes. If demands are abrupt and intense, there might be insufficient time to successful responses. Usually, stress produces a cognitive or perceptual evaluation (emotional memory) which motivates to make a plan, to take a decision and to perform an action to face successfully the demand. Between several kinds of stresses, there are psychosocial and emotional stresses with cultural, social and political influences. The cultural changes have modified the way in which individuals socially interact. Deficits in familiar relationships and social isolation alter physical and mental health in young students, producing reduction of their capacities of facing stressors in school. Adolescence is characterized by significant physiological, anatomical, and psychological changes in boys and girls, who become vulnerable to psychiatric disorders. In particular for young adult students, anxiety and depression symptoms could interfere in their academic performance. In this chapter, we reviewed approaches to the study of anxiety and depression symptoms related with the academic performance in adolescent and graduate students. Results from available published studies in academic journals are reviewed to discuss the importance to detect information about academic performance, which leads to discover in many cases the very commonly subdiagnosed psychiatric disorders in adolescents, that is, anxiety and depression. With the reviewed evidence of how anxiety and depression in young adult students may alter their main activity in life (studying and academic performance), we discussed data in order to show a way in which professionals involved in schools could support students and stablish a routine of intervention in any case.
Part of the book: A Fresh Look at Anxiety Disorders
Stress in Nursing University Students and Mental Health
Stress is a physiological response that impacts the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social components. It also involves the adaptation of the organism, the coping resources, and the environment. In young people, stress can be triggered by social interactions or school requirements. This chapter is a narrative review analyzing scientific bibliography from the main databases (NIH, Scielo, Redalyc) that explored the main stressors and their effects on nursing students. These stressors include the care of patients, assignments and workloads, academic evaluations, and negative or hostile social interactions. Data include the deleterious effects of stress in nursing students as anxiety, depression, inhibiting learning, and burnout, which negatively impact their academic development and health. Finally, some interventions to reduce the impact of stress are discussed. Conclusion: Stress responses in nursing students vary in duration and intensity during their academic training; final effects depend on the coping mechanisms, individual resources, and hospital environment. The effects of stress on nursing students impact on academic performance but could also trigger several psychiatric disorders as depression or anxiety, as well as other associated problems such as sleep disorders, alcohol, and psychoactive drug consumption, which in the short and long term may affect the patient care.
Part of the book: Health and Academic Achievement