Health Psychology and Stress

CHAPTER 9  Health psychology- the branch of psychology that studies the relation between psychological variables and health. o Reflects the view that both mind and body are important determinations of health and illness. o Health psychologists believe that our beliefs, attitudes, and behavior contribute significantly to the onset or prevention of illness. o Focusses on the application of psychological research in promoting wellness, fostering healthy lifestyles, and encouraging treatment compliance. o a specialty area that focuses on how biology, psychology, behavior and social factors influence health and illness.  Health and illness are influenced by o Contagious and hereditary illness o Behavioral and psychological factors (stroke, heart disease, cancer, birth defects and infant mortality, and infectious disease).  Health psychologists work with individuals, groups and communities to decrease these risk factors, improve overall health and reduce illness. o  Issues in health psychology o Stress reduction o Weight management o Smoking Cessation o Improving daily nutrition o Hospice care o grief counseling for terminal patients  The main approach used today with health psychology is biosocial model. o Illness and health are the result of biological, psychological and social factors. Stress  The process by which we perceive & respond to certain events (known as stressors) that we appraise as threatening and/or challenging  The demand made on an organism to adapt, cope, or adjust.  Stress is not…  A simple stimulus or response  Necessarily a negative thing Stressor is an event or situation that causes stress. Stress response is an adaptation to challenging changes in the environment. Stress has several characteristics 1. 2. 3. Stress is a common everyday event o Both major and minor problems can be stressful o Even daily hassles can have negative effects on our wellbeing o Stressful events have a cumulative impact. Stress is subjective. Not everyone feels the same degree of stress from the same event. o The difference may depend on how we appraise events o We first make a primary appraisal or initial evaluation of the relevance, level of threat and degree of stress the event brings. o If viewed as stressful, we make a secondary appraisal or an evaluation of our ability to cope. Stress may be embedded in the environment. o 4. Ambient stress refers to chronic negative environmental conditions, such as noise in the workplace. Stress is influenced by culture. o Culture affects which types of stress we experience o Cultural change is a major source of stress in most cultures. Primary Appraisal An initial evaluation of whether an event is… (1) irrelevant to you (2) relevant but not threatening (3) stressful Secondary Appraisal An evaluation of your coping resources & options for dealing with the stressor  Not all stress is the same. Some of the stress that you face in life can be more detrimental to your well-being, and some types of stress can actually be healthy. Eustress-type of positive stress o refers to stress that leads to a positive response. It is the opposite of distress and can refer to any type of beneficial stress, whether physical or psychological. o It tends to be short-term and often feels exciting. People perceive this type of stress as manageable and even motivating. o Eustress can be beneficial and is actually necessary for overall well-being. This type of "positive" stress can contribute to feelings of optimism and excitement about life. o Physically, eustress can often resemble distress in many ways. You might feel nervous; your heart might pound; your thoughts might race. The difference is how these physical sensations are perceived. o With distress, they may feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed. With eustress, you might feel excitement or a sense of anticipation.  Eustress is associated with positive outcomes. Unlike distress, eustress is typically associated with feelings of excitement and challenge rather than anxiety or fear. o Life changes: Major life transitions can create eustress. Examples of changes that can create this type of beneficial stress include starting a new job, being involved in a relationship, and parenting children. o Smaller challenges: The excitement of a roller-coaster ride, a scary movie, or a fun challenge are all examples of eustress. Even a particularly tough workout can be an example of this type of stress. o New experiences: Traveling can also create eustress. It can involve significant discomfort and unfamiliarity, but it also provides many discoveries. The anticipation of an important date/appointment, the first day at a new job, or other exciting firsts also fall under the umbrella of eustress.  Eustress is a type of stress that is actually important for us to have in our lives. Eustress can have a variety of positive effects. For instance, it may: o Help you concentrate and focus o Encourage you to take on new challenges o Motivate you to pursue your goals, o Help you feel more resilient in the face of challenges o Give meaning and purpose to your life o Help you to feel healthier and happier Hyper-Stress- type of negative stress o When a person is pushed beyond what he or she can handle, he/she will experience what we called hyper stress. o Hyper stress results from being overloaded or overworked. It’s like being stressed out. When someone is hyper stressed, even little things can trigger a strong emotional response. Hypo-Stress o Hypostress stands in direct opposite to hyper stress. o Hypostress is one of those types of stress experienced by a person who is constantly bored. Someone in an unchallenging job, such as a factory worker performing the same task over and over again, will often experience hypostress. o The effect of hypostress is feelings of restlessness and a lack of inspiration. Distress o This type of stress is the opposite of Eustress (it is also called "bad" or "negative stress”). It is a stress disorder that is caused by adverse events and it often influences a person’s ability to cope with his/her tasks. o Can lead to many illnesses and diseases. o Distress can be classified further as acute stress or chronic stress.  Acute stress is short-lived o Acute stress is an intense, unpleasant, and dysfunctional reaction beginning shortly after an overwhelming traumatic event and lasting less than a month. o If symptoms persist longer than a month, people are diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). o Can be attributed to work pressure, meeting deadlines, minor accident, overt exertion, increased physical activity. o Symptoms: headaches, back pain, stomach problems, rapid heartbeat, muscle aches or body pain.  chronic stress is usually prolonged in nature (weeks, months and even years) o Worst type of stress o Causes of chronic stress could include poverty, a dysfunctional marriage or family, or a deeply dissatisfying job. o In today's hectic society, there are many possible sources. Chronic stress slowly drains a person’s psychological resources and damages their brains and bodies. “People experiencing chronic stress might feel incapable of changing their situation.” 1. Daily hassles o Daily hassles are a source of stress that include irritating, frustrating and distressing demands that people face on a day-to-day basis. o Examples of daily hassles could include concerns about weight, health of a family member, rising prices, home maintenance, too many things to do, misplacing or losing things and physical appearance, or all of the above. o Daily hassles have been associated with :  reduced immune-system resistance to infection  Minor physical ailments  Negative mood lasting through the next day o Daily hassles outcomes can be reduced by  trying not to think about the hassles  Getting social support 2. Life Changes o Any significant alterations to one’s circumstances that require readjustment o Life changes are a source of stress; they include major events (e.g. divorce or moving house) that require people to make large adjustments. o Holmes and Rahe (1967) developed the social readjustment rating scale (SRRS) in order to measure the amount of life change a person has experienced in a given time period.  The scale measured the impact of life changes by assigning an arbitrary weight of 50 “life change units” to one major change (marriage).  Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes & Rahe, 1967)  Death of a spouse (100)  Divorce (73)  Marital Separation (65)  Jail Term (63)  Death of a close family member (63)  Personal injury or illness (53)  Marriage (50) Work Related Stress Conflict  Occurs when two (or more) incompatible motivations or behavioral impulses compete for expression  Approach-Approach Conflict o A choice must be made between two attractive goals. o Example: which college you should attend. What job you should take.  Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict o A choice must be made between two unattractive goals/negative outcomes. o Avoidance-avoidance conflict is when a person has difficulty choosing between two unfavorable options. More stressful because you are motivated to avoid each of the two negative goals. o Avoiding one requires approaching the other. o Examples of this include choosing between surgery or radiation treatments for cancer, or choosing between a lower salary at work or unemployment.  Approach-Avoidance Conflict o A choice must be made about whether to pursue a single goal that has both attractive & unattractive aspects  Often produce vacillation…  Multiple Approach-Avoidance Conflict o the internal mental debate in a situation where two different stimuli have both, and more than one, positive and negative elements. o It is a situation where you find yourself approaching and avoiding different aspects of situation at the same time. o When both things have both desirable and undesirable features and choosing one with desirable features you will have to accept its undesirable features too. Such a situation is absolutely not an easy one to resolve and unless the person will make a choice the stress will be there hindering the person from doing his other tasks efficiently. Stressors 1. They are so intense that they produce a state of overload. 2. They evoke incompatible tendencies in us, such as tendencies to both approach and to avoid some object or activity. 3. They are uncontrollable. Stress Reponses To test the stress response, Hans Selye subjected rats for long periods of time to various stressors such as very cold or hot temperatures and loud noises. He found that under such conditions the rats were forced to adapt to their environment. He called this process: General adaptation syndrome (GAS) - how your body responds to stress. There are three stages to stress: the alarm stage, the resistance stage and the exhaustion stage. o The alarm stage is when the central nervous system is awakened, causing your body’s defenses to assemble. This SOS stage results in a fight-or-flight response. o The resistance stage is when your body begins to repair itself and normalize heart rate, blood pressure, etc. After the initial shock of a stressful event, your body enters this recovery phase but remains on high alert for a while. o The exhaustion stage is when activation in the first two stages continues over time, causing a breakdown in the balance within your body. This is when certain diseases, such as diabetes or heart disease, may begin. On your body On your mood On Behavior Headaches, dizziness or shaking Anxiety Overeating or undereating Muscle tension or pain Restlessness Angry outbursts Chest pain Lack of motivation or focus Drug or alcohol misuses Fatigue Feeling overwhelmed Tobacco use Stomach or digestive problems Irritability or anger Social withdrawal Exhaustion or trouble sleeping Sadness or depression Exercising less often Weak immune system High blood pressure  Psychosomatic disorders o Psychosomatic disorder is a psychological condition involving the occurrence of physical symptoms, usually lacking a medical explanation. People with this condition may have excessive thoughts, feelings or concerns about the symptoms — which affects their ability to function well. o People with psychosomatic disorder usually don’t report overt symptoms of psychiatric distress. Instead, they believe their problems are caused by medical conditions. They tend to visit healthcare providers frequently to get tests and treatments, often not receiving a diagnosis, which may lead to frustration and distress. o Psychosomatic disorder is sometimes called somatic symptom disorder, somatic symptoms or somatic pain.  Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) o Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, or rape or who have been threatened with death, sexual violence or serious injury. o PTSD has been known by many names in the past, such as “shell shock” during the years of World War I and “combat fatigue” after World War II, but PTSD does not just happen to combat veterans. PTSD can occur in all people, of any ethnicity, nationality or culture, and at any age. o Women are twice as likely as men to have PTSD. o People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people. o People with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic event, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an accidental touch. o A diagnosis of PTSD requires exposure to an upsetting traumatic event. However, the exposure could be indirect rather than first hand. For example, PTSD could occur in an individual learning about the violent death of a close family or friend. It can also occur as a result of repeated exposure to horrible details of trauma such as police officers exposed to details of child abuse cases.  Other stress-related problems o Drug abuse o Sleep disturbance o Eating disorders o Poor academic performance o Depression o Psychoses and neuroses  Like a police force, our immune system deals with invaders of our bodies to protect our bodies from getting sick. Our immune system is comprised of billions of white blood cells (lymphocytes and phagocytes) that fight off bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells in the body. But how is our immune system be affected by stress, if stress is not a bacteria, virus, or a cancerous cell?  Many factors contribute to stress. But whatever the cause, stress creates a hormone in your body called cortisol. Cortisol can suppress your immune system’s effectiveness in fighting off invaders by lowering the number of lymphocytes present in the blood and interfering with normal white blood cell communication.  A person who is stressed may resort to unhealthy behaviors like smoking, drinking, and sometimes drug use, to cope with stress. These activities also compromise the immune system and may cause other health conditions like headaches, infectious illnesses like flu, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and gastric ulcers. Signs of low immunity are: o Swollen lymph nodes o Catch cold easily o Frequent cold sores o Suffering from a chronic condition  Chronic infections like colds and cough are signs that your immune system is compromised. When your immunity becomes weak, a repetitive cycle is set up making it hard to overcome your tendency toward infection. These two approaches represent two distinct coping strategies:  Problem-focused coping involves handling stress by facing it head-on and taking action to resolve the underlying cause.  Emotion-focused coping involves regulating your feelings and emotional response to the problem instead of addressing the problem.  Both strategies can have benefits, but emotion-focused coping may be particularly useful in certain situations.