10 health psychology Flashcards
What is health psychology?
Health psychology examines how biological, social and psychological factors influence health and illness. Health psychologists use psychological science to promote health, prevent illness and improve health care systems.
Health psychology explores those motivations in the pursuit of getting people to embrace health promotion and illness prevention. This specialty area examines how biological, social and psychological factors influence the choices we make about our health.
What are the conditions a health psychologist deals with?
illness to chronic conditions
chronic pain
medical consequences of substance abuse, …
What is stress?
natural physical and mental reaction to life experiences
beneficial in immediate, short-term situations
increased heart and breathing rate and muscle response
When does stress become detrimental?
If your stress response doesn’t stop firing, and these stress levels stay elevated far longer than is necessary for survival, it can take a toll on your health. Chronic stress can cause a variety of symptoms and affect your overall well-being.’
What biological functions underpin chronic stress?
hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis - endocrine gland interactions
cortisol release - primes body for instant action
increases connections in amygdala - fear center
hippocampus signals deteriorate
weakens ability to control your stress
shrinks in size → prefrontal cortex, loss of neurons
What are popular definitions of stress?
“physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension”
“a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.”
What is Selye´s definition of stress?
“the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”
distinguishing between stimulus and response (stressor)
actually: description of strain
What is acute stress?
fight or flight
takes about 90mins for the metabolism to return to normal when response is over
What is the general adaptation/stress syndrome?
- alarm stage
- stage of resistance
- the exhaustion stage
What effects can stress have physically?
- headaches
- heartburn
- increased depression
- insomnia
- irritability
- rapid breathing
- weakened immune system
- risk of heart attack
- high blood pressure + sugar
- stomachache
- pounding heart
- fertility problems
- erectile dysfunction
- low sex drive
- missed periods
- tense muscles
What are physical responses to stress?
CNS - continuous elevated state
if hypothalamus fails to communicate to other areas to go back to normal
respiratory and cardiovascular systems
- distribution of oxygen-rich blood through your body
- constriction of blood vessels
digestive system
- liver produces extra blood sugar - energy boost
- acid reflux
muscular system
- tense up to protect themselves from injury
- no chance to relax
reproductive system
- exhausting for body and mind
- lose your desire
- prolonged stress: drop in testosterone levels
- increase risk of infection
- can magnify symptoms of period/pregnancy/menopause
immune systen
- susceptibility to illnesses
What is chronic pain?
most symptoms (if pain is the primary symptom) are unrelated to identifiable pathology, but present at specific body locations
drugs cannot relieve sufficiently of chronic pain (less than 30% of patients experience 50% reduction in intensity)
persisting pain → from acute to chronic pain
chronic pain - total elimination of pain is rare
What is somatic symptom disorder according to the DSM-5?
A. one or more somatic symptoms that are distressing
B. excessive thoughts, feelings, behaviours related to that
- seriousness of one´s symptoms
- high level of anxiety
- time and energy devoted to these symptoms
C. state is present for 6+ months
- with predominant pain?
- persistent?
- mild, moderate, severe?
What is acute pain?
intense pain in a specific situation (injury, …)
it will remit on its own with minor care
rarely long-term consequences
What is nociception?
activation of sensory conduction in nerve fibres that transmit info about tissue damate from the periphery to the brain via spinal cord
