Chapter 16: Stress and Health

Question 1

Stessors

Answer 1

Specific events or chronic pressures that place demands on a person or threaten the person’s well-being

• crazy drivers, hectic deadlines, fires, the weather
• Have both immediate and cumulative effects that can influence health

Question 2

Stress

Answer 2

the phsycial and psychological response to internal or external stressors

Question 3

Health Psychology

Answer 3

the sub-field of psychology concerned with ways psychological factors influence the causes and treatment of physical illness and the maintenance of health

Question 4

Chronic Stressors

Answer 4

sources of stress that occur continuously or repeatedly

Question 5

Fight-or-Flight Response

Answer 5

an emotional and physiological reaction to an emergency that increases readiness for action

Question 6

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Answer 6

a three-stage physiological stress response that appears regardless of the stressor that is encountered

• the response doesn’t vary, no matter what hte source of the repated stress

Question 7

Immune System

Answer 7

a complex response system that protects the body from bacteria, viruses, and other foreign substances

Question 8

Lymphocytes

Answer 8

cells that produce antibodies that fight infection

Question 9

Type A Behavior Pattern

Answer 9

a tendency toward easily aroused hostility, impatience, a sense of time urgency, and competitive achievement strivings

Question 10

Post-Traumatic Stess Disorder

(PTSD)

Answer 10

chronic physiological arousal, recurrent unwanted thoughts or images of the trauma, and avoidance of things that call the traumatic event to mind

Question 11

Burnout

Answer 11

a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion created by long-term involvement in an emotionally demanding situation and accompanied by lowered performance and motivation

Question 12

Repressive Coping

Answer 12

characterized by avoiding situations or thoughts that are reminders of a stressor and maintaining an artifically positive viewpoint

• example: when repressors suffer a heart attack, they are less likely than other people to report intrusive thoughts of their heart problems in the days and weeks that follow

Question 13

Rational Coping

Answer 13

facing the stressor and working to overcome it

• Three-Step process
  
  • acceptance, coming to realize that the stressor exists and cannot be wished away;
  • exposure, attending to the stressor, thinking about it, and even seeking it out
  • understanding, working to find the meaning of the stressor in your life

Question 14

Reframing

Answer 14

finding a new or creative way to think about a stressor that reduces its threat

• example: you might reframe by shifting from thinking of and audience as evaluating you to thinking of yourself as evaluating them, and this might make speech-giving easier

Question 15

Stress Inoculation Training (SIT)

Answer 15

a reframing technique that helps people to cope with stressful situations by developing positive ways to think about the situation

• example: in one study, people who had difficulty controlling their anger were trained to rehearse thoughts such as “Just roll with the punches; don’t get bent out of shape”, “you don’t need to prove yourself’ etc

Question 16

Relaxation Therapy

Answer 16

a technique for reducing tension by consciously relaxing muscles of the body

• a person in relaxation therapy may be asked to relax specific muscle groups one at a time or to imagine warmth flowing through the body or to think about a relaxing situation

Question 17

Relaxation Response

Answer 17

a condition of reduced muscle tension, cortical activity, heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure

Question 18

Biofeedback

Answer 18

the use of external monitoring device to obtain information about a bodily function and possibly gain control over that function

Question 19

Social Support

Answer 19

aid gained through interacting with others

Question 20

Psychosomatic Illness

Answer 20

an interaction between mind and body that can produce illness

Question 21

Somatoform Disorders

Answer 21

the patient displays physical symptoms not fully explained by a general medical condition

Question 22

Hypochondriasis

Answer 22

a psychological disorder in which a person is preoccupied with minor symptoms and develops an exaggerated belief that the symptoms signify a life-threatening illness

Question 23

Somatization Disorder

Answer 23

combinations of multiple physical compaints that have no medical explanation

Question 24

Conversion Disorder

Answer 24

a disorder characterized by apparently debilitating physical symptoms that appear to be voluntary - but that the person experiences as involuntary

• example: a patient lying in bed with a “paralysis” of the leg might inadvertenly move it to retain balance when the other leg is lifted by the physician

Question 25

Sick Role

Answer 25

a socially recognized set of rights and obligation linked with illness

• example in addition to skipping school and homework and staying on the couch all day, a sick child can watch TV and avoid eating anything unpleasant at dinner

Question 26

Self-Regulation

Answer 26

the exercise of voluntary control over the self to bring the self into line with preferred standards