Chapter 7 - Psychological Factors Affecting Medical Conditions Flashcards
What’s the difference between an illness and a disease?
- An illness is characterized by symptoms (subjective reports of internal states) while a disease is characterized by signs (directly observable)
What’s coping?
- The thoughts and behaviours a person uses to regulate distress (emotion-focused coping), manage problems causing distress (problem-focused coping) and maintain positive well-being (meaning-based coping)
What are some of the psychological factors that must be present for it to be considered affecting a medical condition?
1) The factors affect the course of the medical condition
2) Psychological factor interferes with treatment
3) Presents an additional risk
4) Influences the pathophysiology (ex. depression and inflammation influencing each other)
What’s Lazarus’s theory regarding stress as a stimulus-response combination?
- States that stress is the result of ongoing transactions between the individual and their environment
- Stress starts with the appraisal process
What’s the difference between the primary and secondary appraisals that occur during a stress response?
- Primary - cognitive evaluation of the challenge, threat, or harm presented by an event (happens very quickly)
- Secondary - the assessment of one’s abilities and resources for coping with a difficult event (depends on the situation)
- Personality traits also impact these processes
What are the risks associated with repressing emotions?
- Failure to recognize and manage emotions appears to increase the risk of developing stress-related illnesses
What are the steps of the HPA axis?
1) The hypothalamus triggers the release of CRH
2) CRH triggers pituitary gland which releases ACTH
3) ACTH is carried to the adrenal gland via the bloodstream
4) Adrenal gland releases cortisol/adrenalin and noradrenalin
5) Helps body deal with stress
Non-specific immune response vs. adaptive immunity?
- Non-specific - an innate response, react appropriately to invaders
- Adaptive immunity - adapting to diseases over time
T/F: Cortisol and adrenaline down-regulate the immune response?
- TRUE
- Makes you more susceptible to illness
What are the psychological factors that can influence the disease process?
- Social status = increased social status, increased resistance to stress, causing you to live longer
- Controllability = Higher perceptions of having control tend to cope better with stress about the disease
- Social support (!) = those who are highly connected tend to live longer
T/F: Psychological factors are irrelevant to the exposure of carcinogens and to lifestyle problems.
- FALSE, very much related
What do meta-analyses reveal regarding links between depression and mortality in those with a cancer diagnosis?
- Mortality was reported as 25% higher in cancer patients experiencing depressive symptoms and 39% higher in patients diagnosed with minor of major depressive disorder
- Potential explanation: Those with anxiety/depression may have a harder time managing treatments (i.e., an indirect cause of psychosocial factors
What are the different types of cardiovascular disease?
- Hypertension, ischemic heart disease, myocardial infection, and stroke
What’s cardiovascular reactivity?
- How your heart responds to stress
What does “type A” behaviour contribute to?
- Involves those who are hyperalert, competitive, and have cynical hostility toward others
- Those who exhibit “type A” behaviour have been implicated in experiencing higher rates of cardiovascular disease
