Page 83 - Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care in Clinical Practice ( PDFDrive )

Chapter 3

Stress

Box 3.1: Key Points
• Stress can have a significant impact on wound

healing;
• Stress can be a consequence of the wound, social

isolation, psychological issues, pain from the wound
and pain from the treatment regimen;

• The interactional model of stress suggests stress is a
transaction between an individual and their environ-
ment – an event only elicits a stress response if the
individual perceives the event to be stressful;
• The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) describes

three stages associated with stress: alarm, resistance,
and exhaustion stage;

• The importance of perception in the understanding
of stress and how this can be applied to wound treat-
ment is emphasised.

Summary

The relationship between stress and delayed healing is
now firmly established. This evidenced relationship may
be associated with a range of factors linked to wound care.

D. Upton, P. Upton, Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care 57
in Clinical Practice, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-09653-7_3,
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015