health psychology (9) christine l. whitley. phychophysiological disorders are those that link...
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Health Psychology (9)
Christine L. Whitley
Phychophysiological disorders are those that link physical symptoms with psychological factors
Some psychophysiological disorders are brought about purely by psychological factors (e.g. anorexia nervosa)
Some psychophysiological disorders have a larger physical component, and are less closely related to psychological factors (e.g. cardiovascular disease) although psychological factors are still important
Nuclear Conflict Theory holds that each physiological disorder is associated with certain specific (unconscious) emotional conflicts.
Freud1856 - 1939
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
- Sigmund Freud
The Psychoanalytic Perspective
Psychoanalysis Freud’s theory of personality that attributes
our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions
Free Association in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the
unconscious person relaxes and says whatever comes to
mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing
Stress and Illness Stress
the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
What Is Stress?
Stress is the emotional and physiological process that occurs as one tries to adjust to or deal with environmental circumstances that disrupt, or threaten to disrupt, one’s daily functioning.
Stressors are the environmental circumstances that cause people to make adjustments.
Stress reactions are the physical, psychological, and behavioral responses displayed in the face of stressors.
Stress Appraisal
Stressful event(tough math test)
Threat(“Yikes! This isbeyond me!”)
Challenge(“I’ve got to apply
all I know”)
Panic, freeze up
Aroused, focused
Appraisal Response
The Process of Stress
Chronic stress and the effects on the body
Test your daily hassles
Found on: http://www.paniccure.com/Approaches/CBT/Intro_Understandg_P.htm
Stress and Illness
General Adaptation Syndrome Selye’s concept
of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three stages
Stressresistance
Phase 1Alarm
reaction(mobilize
resources)
Phase 2Resistance(cope with stressor)
Phase 3Exhaustion(reservesdepleted)
The body’s resistance to stress canlast only so long before exhaustion sets in
Stressoroccurs
PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY: the field that examine the relationship between psychosocial processes and nervous,
endocrine, and immune system functioning. The Immune system is a group of cells
and organs that work together to fight infections in our bodies. Some of these organs are the thymus, spleen and lymphocytes.
The Immune System protects our body from pathogens, disease-causing agents, such as bacteria.
There are two parts of the Immune System called nonspecific defenses and specific defenses.
Nonspecific defenses, also known as the innate immune system, guard infections. These defenses can find foreign tissues, but do not recognize a particular invader.
Specific defenses, also known as the adaptive immune system, can track down pathogens that passed through the nonspecific defenses.
Resources:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1996/illpres/introduction.html
Health information
Social Network: Family Friends …
Coronary Heart Diseases (CHD) is also linked to stress, with “stressed out”
individuals…
Type A Tendency to respond to environmental stressors in a particular way; of its components (hostility, competitiveness, aggressiveness, and mistrust
Hostility is most reliably linked to CDH
Type B Individuals are calm and relaxed - essentially they are the anti Type A
Not a risk factor for CHD
Type C Can’t express hostile emotions, are overly agreeable, and avoid conflict.
At risk for cancer but there is no clear empirical evidence
5 general strategies
1) Seeking information refers to evaluating possibilities and their likelihood for success
2) Taking direct actions refers to actually doing something to change the situation
3) Inhibiting action refers to suppressing the desire to act; it’s effective if there really is nothing that can be done.
4) Engaging intrapsychic efforts involves suppressing or ignoring upsetting thoughts or reframing them into more positive ones.
5) Calling on others involves asking other people for physical or emotional support or help.
5 major goals associated with coping efforts
A. Dealing realistically with the problem B. Tolerating or adjusting emotionally to
the negative realities C. Attempting to maintain a positive self-
image D. Attempting to maintain emotional
equilibrium E. Attempting to continue satisfying
relationships with other people
Social-Cognitive Perspective
Personal Control our sense of
controlling our environments rather than feeling helpless
External Locus of Control the perception that
chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control determine one’s fate
Social-Cognitive Perspective
Learned Helplessness
Uncontrollablebad events
Perceivedlack of control
Generalizedhelpless behavior
Social-Cognitive Perspective
Personal Control our sense of controlling
our environments rather than feeling helpless
Internal Locus of Control the perception that one
controls one’s own fate
Optimistic Thinking
Pessimistic Thinking
Challenge: open to change. take risks.willingness to make the effort.
'I can do it''I will try my best' Control: take responsibility for their actions. proactive.
'I have choices and options''If I make a mistake I will do whatever it takes to correct it'Commitment: tendency to persist.
'I will keep trying until it works''I will make it happen'
Personalize: tendency to take the blame for everything. freeze.
'Its my fault' 'I am bad' or 'I am wrong' Pervasive: tendency to over-generalize. feel overwhelmed.
'Everything I do is wrong' 'I can do nothing right' 'I always make a mess of things'Permanent: tendency to exaggerate.
'It will always be this way''Nothing I do will make it change''It is always a mess'
Professor Aaron Antonovsky (1923–1994): the father of the salutogenesis
We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (i.e. sense that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment. -Aaron Antonovsky.
Emotion
Emotion a response of the
whole organism physiological
arousal expressive
behaviors conscious
experience
Wellness
Exercise properly Sleep
adequatelyMaintaining a healthy diet
Diathesis-Stress Approachto Psychopathology
James D. Laird and Nicholas S. Thompson, Psychology. Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Reprinted by permission.
Promoting Health The religion factor is multidimensional
Religiousinvolvement
Healthybehaviors
(less smoking,drinking)
Social support(faith
communities,marriage)
Positiveemotions
(less stress,anxiety)
Better health(less immune systemsuppression, stress
hormones, and suicide)
Life events
Tendency toward
Health Illness
Personal appraisal
Challenge Threat
Personality type
Easy going, Nondepressed,Optimistic
Hostile, Depressed,Pessimistic
Personal habits
Nonsmoking, Regular exercise, Good nutrition
Smoking, Sedentary,Poor nutrition
Level of social support
Close, enduring Lacking
Promoting Health