Health Psychology 2301 Flashcards
World Health Organization definition of Health
state of complete physical, mental and social well‐being
Note: not just the absence of illness
Infectious Disease
bacteria or viuses in the body
Early Culture (3)
- Magic/Supernatural: linked to bad “spiritual health”
- undo spell
- magical sucking
- scare demon out (trephination- bore hole skull)
- ceremony coax skull back
- Greece: visit temples to be cured
- Hippocrates: Humoral Theory (excess of either blood, black or yellow bile or phlegm led to disease) plus imbalance was due to “personality”
Galen / Plato
Galen:
- illness can be localized / different diseases have different effects
Plato:
- Mind has no relationship to health, separate entities
Middle Ages and the influence of Church (4)
- Illness was God’s punishment for evildoing
- Only God can cure you / priest as physician
- NO autopsies as the body was considered as sacred
- pilgrammages to cure illnesses (stops on way to house sick were “hospices” thus “hospital” origin
*
Renaissance - Da Vinci (2) and Descartes
- more human centered than God centered
- autopsies now ALLOWED
- Da Vinci’s anatomical drawings
- Cauterization - amputate to save lives
Descartes:
- body as machine (pain pathway)
- mind and body communicate through pineal gland
- soul leaves at death
Biomedical Model (2)
All diseases or physical disorders are caused by disturbances in physiological processes
- psych. and social processes- independent of diseases
- New definition of health: “Freedom from disease, pain or defect” so…if not sick, must be in good health
Illness today versus past
Early centuries:
- illness due to disease
- “person” not a part of it
Today:
- chronic disease and injury (living longer, more exposure to stress / chemicals)
- can vary with each person
- people are more aware of the signs and symptoms
- able to find health care and better diagnostics
Definition Risk Factor
Characteristics or conditions associated with the development of a disease or injury
Breslow’s Correlational Study
7 apsects of lifestyle:
- Health got better as lifestyle improved (as # of HB increased)
- Age not a determinent
Conclusion: behaviour matters
Health Care Models (5)
- Psychosomatic medicine
- Behavioural Medicine
- Health Psychology: behaviour, perception, lifestyle, cognition
- Biopsychosocial
- Biomedical
Psychosomatic Medicine (3)
- symptoms or illnesses caused / aggravated by psychological factors
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Freud: psychoanalyatic theory: some symptoms are converted from repressed emotional conflict)
- patient converts the conflict into symptom
- anxiety decreases as no long repressed
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Canon:
- stomach affected by emotional state
- stress affects autonomic nervous system
- Fight or Flight response (devp)
- Today: moe than just conflict/stress/type to cause illness - variety factors
Classical / Operant Conditioning
- Classical: (Pavlov) 2 stimuli repeatedly paired, response elicited by 2nd stimulus (potent) eventually elicited by 1st (neutral)
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Operant: behaiour changes due to consequences
- reinforcement: strengthens behaviour
- punishment: suppresses behaviour
Biopsychosocial Perspective
- Biological factors: genetics / strucutre & function body
- Psych. factors: cognition, emotion, motivation
- Social factors; social world, community, mass media
All above are interrelated - holistic perspective, human body is dynamic entity with components that are interrelated and we interrelate with society, family, community
Health Psychology (4)
- promote and maintain health
- prevent and treat illness
- identify causes and correlates of health, illness and related dysfunction
- analyze and improve health care systems and improve policy
6 terms used by Epidemiology
- Mortality - death (generally large scale)
- Morbidity - illness, injury or disability
- Prevalence - # cases of disease or ppl at risk
- Incidence - # NEW cases reported in spec. period
- Epidemic - incidence has rapidly increased
- Pandemic - epidemic that has increased to international or worldwide proportions
Sociocultural Perspectives (2)
Sociocultural differences:
- ethnic or income variations that impact on health
- health belief and behaviour: e.g. yin/yang (imbalance leads to bad health), inuit and view of cancer (sickness which cannot be fixed)
Non-experimental research
- Quasi-experimental: good when can’t randomly assign groups or manipulate independent variables
- Correlational: relationship between variables
- Experimental: controlled study in which researchers manipulate an independent variable to study its effect on a dependent variable
- usually experimental, control and placebo groups
Correlational Study (4)
- non-experimental investigation of the degree and direction of statstical association between two variables.
- can help predict risk factors for health problems
Cause and Effect Conclusion
Need:
- levels of independent and dependent variables corresponded together
- cause precedes the effect
- all other plausible causes have been ruled out
Retrospective / Prospective
-
Retrospective: look back at the history of subjects to find commonalities that may suggest why they developed (or not) a disease
- caveat: relying on ppl’s memories
- Prospective: look forward to see if differences in a variable at one point in time are related to a difference in the variable at a later date
Developmental Approach
- Cross section: diff people of diff ages observed at same time
- Longitudinal: repeated observation of SAME person or ppl over long period of time
- Cohort effect: influence of having been born and raised at different times
- Single subject approach: case study (best for unusual medical or psych problem)
Genetics research
e.g. twin and adoption studies
- heredity affects physiological functions (eg BP)
- genetic disorders can produce high levels of cholesterol in blood - at risk CHD
- heredity impacts early/ later it’s lifestyle
- environmental factors stronger than heredity re cancer
- molecular genetics - identify genes that affect addictive behaviour, high cholest. etc.
Exampes genetic abnormalites
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Sickle-cell anemia:
- mostly ppl African and Caribbean
- cells that are low oxygen clump together, can’t fit thru capilleries
- vital organs don’t get enough oxygen
- tissue damage, organ failure
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Phenylketonuria (PKU)
- more for white ppl
- baby’s body fails to produce enzyme needed to metabolize Phenylalanine
- toxic acid builds up, causes brain damage
Stress - definition
transactions that lead a person to perceive a discrepancy between the physical and psychological demands of a situation and the resources of his biological, psychological or social system
(demand, resource or discrepancy can be real OR simply believed to exist)
Environmental Stressor
any environmental demand that creates a state of tension or threat (stress) and requires change or adaptation (adjustment).
Conflict
approach/approach - simultaneous attraction to two appealing possibilities, neither of which has any negative qualities.
avoidance/avoidance - facing a choice between two undesirable possibilities, neither of which has any positive qualities.
approach/avoidance - being simultaneously attracted to and repelled by the same goal
Chronic vs Acute Stress
Acute: short lived (e.g. writing an exam)
Chronic: ongoing conflict, illness
e.g. work - stressful job (no control or decision-making, heavy workload)
where you live: low SES and health can have a direct relationship (safety concerns, poor housing or hygiene, stress between neighbors)
Nervous System - definition
- Controls the way we initiate behavioiur and respond to events
- Stores information, allows us to think, reason and create
Myelin Sheath
- increases speed of nerve impulses
- prevents interference from adjacent nerve impulses
- degenerates and nerves can become severed
- developes top to bottom
- poor nutrition can retard myelin growth
Forebrain (5)
(anything covered if wearing a helmet)
Cerebrum (sensory / motor)
Limbic System (emotion)
Thalamus - relay sensory & motor info to cortex
Hypothalamus - adjustments (homeostasis - will see what’s off and send hormone or NT to fix it)
Cerebellum - balance, coordination
Diencephalon
Thalamus and Hypothalamus
- Thalamus: chief relay station for directing sensory messages to cortex and commands to skeletal muscles from motor cortex
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Hypothalamus: emotion / motivation
- eating, drinking, sexual activity
- maintain homeostasis in body
- feedback system: receptor (sensory nerve cell that monitors changes in condition)/control centre/effector
- directs either NT or Hormone release or both
Effectors
impulses carried to glands, muscles and organs and target cells to adjust to controlled condition
NT communicate needed adjustment
Hormones in blood act on target cells
Positive feedback can ONLY be stopped from outside
(i.e. give birth)
Cerebellum
Back brain, below cerebrum
cerebrum initiates action, cerebellum coordinates it
Brain Stem
- Midbrain - below Thalamus, gets info and relays to Thalamus
- Reticular Activating System - attention, arousal, sleep
- Pons - facial expression, chewing
- Medulla - vital signs
Spinal cord carries messages (efferent, afferent)
Spinal Cord
Neurons to and from the brain
efferent / afferent
Peripheral Nervous System
Somatic / Autonomic
- Somatic - skin, skeletal
- Autonomic - organs
- Sympathetic - Fight or Flight
- Parasympathetic - Rest and Digest
Sympathetic NS
- anything perceived as possble threat & hypothalamus will trigger release epinephrine and norepin (Walter Canon)
- also platelets aggregate and adhere to inhibit loss of blood (clotting) in case we get cut
- decrease of blood flow from skin
- increase blood sugar or energy
Parasympathetic
- Antagonistically to the sympathetic
- (restores body to normal)
- slows breathing, decrease HR, lower BP
Endocrine System
(part of the Flight or Fight)
- Hormone system / Glands
- Uses blood stream to transmit hormones
- hypothalamus helps out here too
- slower than the symp.NS response, catches up
- Cortisol (stress hormone)
- Glucocorticoids to keep blood sugar up
- Mineral corticoids to mobilize the immune response
- Endocrine and N.S. connected by link from hypoth.(NT) to pituitary (hormone) then can stimulate other glands (more chemicals)
- Long term: can supress and begin to fail
How does Hypothalamus work
Activates BOTH NS and Endocrine systems
NS - send nerve impulse to the Adrenal Medulla to release epinephrine and norepinephrine (NT’s) - SAM axis (Sympath. to Adrenal Medulla)
Endocrine: signals the Pituitary which then signals the Adrenal Cortex to release cortisols - HPA axis
Hypothalamus to Pituitary to Adrenal Cortex
Primary Appraisal (3)
3 possibilites
- Good (benign, positive) - can increase well-being
- Irrelevant - no implication for well-being
- Stressful - potentially harmful
If Stressful go on to 3 more (secondary) appraisals:
Secondary Appraisal
Assesses the resources available to cope (transactional) - change as you move through it
Coping: cognitive, emotional and behavioral efforts to manage the stress / event
a) Harm / loss - damage already occured
b) Threat - expectation of future harm
c) Challenge - opportunity to grow, master or profit
Cope: no stress OR Coping not good = stress
Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
(for prolonged stress)
- SAM: alarm stage (says: MOBILIZE)
- epinephrine and norepinephrine
- HPA trigger for cortisol
- Resistance - HPA predominates (body will then replenish hormones adrenals release)
- Exhaustion - severe, long term or repeated stress
- disease, damage organs, death
- Criticisms: some stressors elicit stronger emotional response than others; cognitive appraisal plays role; we mediate stress response using our brains and find ways to cope (mice can’t)
Allostatic Load
Allostatic load is “the wear and tear on the body” that accumulates as an individual is exposed to repeated or chronic stress.
- Frequency of exposure
- Duration exposed for
- Magnitude of the stress
- Magnitude of the reactivity - response to stressor
- Rate of recovery - ruminating will delay recovery; sleep will help
Habituation?
Physiological Habituation:
- magnitude of stress response decreased with repeated exposure to the stimulus
Cognition as a source of stress
- can be stressed even without exposure to stressor (imagine what could go wrong)
- anticipation can be as stressful as the event
- planning, inventing and reason - lead to stress
- worry / rumination - stressor
- negative impact on decision making (cuz stressed)
How do we appraise events as stressful? (3)
- Personal Factors:
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self esteem / self efficacy
- whether webelieve we have resources
- see as threat? challenge?
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motivation
- if an important goal is threatened (need A+)
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Irrational Belief?
- can be an irrational belief that increases stress (I must be perfect)