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Psych 102 Midterm 2 > Health Psychology Part 1 > Flashcards

Health Psychology Part 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Health Psych?

A

the empirical study of how psychology contributes to our psychological and physical well-being.

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2
Q

What type of field is health psych and why?

A

It is an intersection field. People in Health psych work a lot with people in public policy, health care, social work etc.

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3
Q

What is the Bio psycho social model?

A

the causes and effects of physical and psychological well-being are a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors.

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4
Q

What does the bio psych social model say about health problems?

A

Health problems are not just the consequence of injury or immune reaction, but a combination of how our cognition and social support protect or amplify these.

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5
Q

What type of model is the bio psycho social model? What does it say?

A

a framework model for how health psychology operates. It says that how you end up experiencing your health is connected to your psychology.

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6
Q

According to the bio psycho social model, are health problems only physical in nature?

A

no

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7
Q

What are the 2 longterm stress-related consequences for how our brains process info?

A

burnout and PTSD

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8
Q

What is burnout?

A

long-term exhaustion and loss of motivation caused by chronic stress.

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9
Q

What is PTSD?

A

a clinically diagnosable disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, anxiety, and insomnia that lingers for for weeks after a traumatic event.

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10
Q

What are 3 approaches in psych to help us cope with stress?

A
  • Be positive: positive psychology allows people to self-actualize and develop more positive feelings and emotions.
  • Ignore: Sometimes the best thing to do is ignore it
  • social support: When it is helpful and bad as a coping strategy.
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11
Q

Have our bodies and brains evolved for modern life expectancy?

A

No

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12
Q

What are the 2 types of effects of aging?

A
  • Effects of aging on our bodies and physical well-being.

­- Natural aging and the effects on our cognition.

­- Atypical aging and neurodegenerative diseases (dementia, Alzherimer’s)

  • ­Social changes that inherently come with aging.
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13
Q

how is stress as defined by the Biopsychosocial model?

A
  • Bio: a physiological response to an event
  • Psycho: That is appraised as taxing or exceeding one’s ability to adapt
  • Social: That fails to be dealt with or is magnified by the social context.
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14
Q

What is the stress appraisal theory?

A

the cause of the stress reaction is one’s evaluation of an event, not the event itself. Therefore, any event can theoretically be a source of stress.

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15
Q

What are the 2 types of appraisal under the Stress appraisal theory?

A

Primary appraisal and secondary appraisal

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16
Q

What is primary appraisal?

A

evaluation of the situational demands and whether they are they challenging or threatening.

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17
Q

What is secondary appraisal?

A

evaluation of our available resources and whether we have enough of them to deal with the challenge or threat.

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18
Q

What is the flow of the Stress Appraisal theory as a diagram?

A

Environment (Stimuli/stressors) –>
Perception filter (selection) –>

Person
- Primary appraisal: Interpratation of the stressor. (Positive, dangerous, irrellevant)

If dangerous –>

  • Secondary appraisal: Analysis of the available resources (insufficient or sufficient)

If insufficient –>

  • Stress.
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19
Q

What is the flow of appraisal theory as an explanation?

A

The environmental effect is detected and know we are faced with primary appraisal (decide if it is good, bad , irrelevant). Primary appraisal helps you figure out what is happening If Primary appraisal makes the evaluation that this could be a source of stress you move onto secondary appraisal. Secondary appraaisal asks if we have sufficient resources to dela with this threat. If it is determiend that we have insufficient resources, this will be the source of stress.

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20
Q

What are the 3 common situations that lead to stress response?

A
  • Psychological uncertainty
  • Time pressure
  • Goal Conflict
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21
Q

What is psychological uncertainty? What appraisal (s) does this relate to?

A

inability to predict what will happen next or what outcome an action will have. This is the recipe for checking primary and secondary. Because if we don’t know we cant say that we are fine for sure. This will almost always result in a stress response.

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22
Q

What is Time pressure? What appraisal does this relate to?

A

having to make complex decisions under time pressure or with insufficient information. having to make a complex decision with no time means you don’t have enough resources because time is a resource. That means it checks the secondary

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23
Q

What is Goal conflict? What are the 3 things it leads to?

A

being stuck between two goals:
- Approach-Approach
- Avoidance-Avoidance
-Approach- Avoidance

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24
Q

What is approach-approach?

A

wanting two opposing desirable things.

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25
Q

What is avoidance-avoidance?

A

choosing between two bad things.

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26
Q

What is Approach-avoidance?

A

wanting a single goal that has both good and bad consequences.

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27
Q

What is the biological stress response?

A

a set of physiological responses to stress; has two pathways – the
“SAM axis” and the “HPA axis”.

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28
Q

What is the Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis?

A

a slow reaction, beginning in the hypothalamus, that – through ACTH – stimulates the adrenal gland and releases glucocorticoids (mostly cortisol in humans)

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29
Q

What is the sympathetic-adreno-medullary (SAM) axis

A

a fast reaction, beginning in the hypothalamus, that activates the sympathetic system and, through the adrenal gland, releases catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine).

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30
Q

When is the stress response triggered?

A

after appraisal is done

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31
Q

What does the SAM axis quickly release?

A

Catecholamines

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32
Q

What are the 2 catacholamines?

A

Epinepherine/adrenaline and norepenepherine.

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33
Q

What is epinepherine/adrenaline?

A

the hormone secreted by the adrenal gland involved in activating the sympathetic system. Primarily involved in regulating liver and kidneys. When you feel the effects of physiological arousal this is epineperine

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34
Q

What is norepenipherine?

A

Norepinephrine: the hormone secreted by the adrenal gland involved in activating the sympathetic system. Has strong psychoactive effects in the brain. This is a type of neurotransmitter which will lead to psychological effects of stress. Intense focus when stressed is norepinepherine.

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35
Q

What do the actions of the catecholamines do?

A

will very quickly suppress digestion, increase focus, and increase respiration and heart rate (“fight-or-flight” reaction).

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36
Q

What is cortisol?

A

a stress-specific hormone, released through the HPA axis, secreted
by the adrenal gland.

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37
Q

What is the primary function of cortisol?

A

Cortisol’s primary function is to regulate energy use by the body by increasing the amount of sugar (glucose) in your blood, which improves brain function and speeds up the healing of tissues.

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38
Q

What does cortisol supress?

A

­It also suppresses the immune system, digestion, and reproduction systems. (It suppresses all the things you don’t need to consume energy while dealing with a threat)

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39
Q

How do the effects of cortisol differ from the effects of catecholimines?

A

The effects of cortisol are slower, build up over time, and stick around longer
compared to catecholamines.

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40
Q

What is General Adaptation syndrome?

A

a three-stage response to stress
that explains how we deal with short- and long-term stressors:

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41
Q

WHat are the 3 stages of the General adaptation syndrome?

A

-Alarm phase
- Resistance phase
- Exhaustion phase

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42
Q

What is the alarm phase?

A

SAM axis is mobilized and catecholamines activate sympathetic system and get the body ready to cope with stressor. Ideally, you cope with the stressor and everything ends. but if you arent able to deal with the stressor and the sympathetic affects continue and cortisol builds up you go to next stage

43
Q

What is the Resistance phase?

A

in response to prolonged threat, ongoing effects of cortisol are experiencing, including modification of normal biological functions. cortisol is suppressing digestion so you experience less hunger, and eat less. Ideally this ends it. But if there are still ongoing effects and you enter next stage.

44
Q

What is the Exhaustion phase? What 4 things are we more susceptible to?

A

the body can no longer deal with the stress, and becomes highly susceptible to infection, aging, organ damage, and even death.

45
Q

Can stress be easily and reliably measured?

A

yes.

46
Q

How is short-term stress measured? What system does this measure?

A

through heart-rate, muscle tension, or skin conductance (sweat) monitors. Mostly measures SAM axis. This measures how active the sympathetic nervous system is.

47
Q

How is long-term stress measured?

A

can be measured by estimating the amount of cortisol in the body in the blood, saliva, or even in your hair. Mostly measures HPA axis.

48
Q

What can the social context do to the stress response?

A

Our social context can both help enhance or slow down the stress response

49
Q

In what 2 ways can the social context help or enhance our stress response?

A

-amplification
- coping

50
Q

What is amplification?

A

other people are often stress triggers, since we tend to be less predictable, more frustrating, and get in each other’s way.

50
Q

What is amplification?

A

other people are often stress triggers, since we tend to be less predictable, more frustrating, and get in each other’s way.

51
Q

What does human cooperation allow us to do? Does this help us cope?

A

human cooperation allows us to mobilize resources that no single individual can have, helping us cope with a stress quickly.

51
Q

Which environmental effects are strong predictors of long-term stress and coping?

A

Environmental effects, like poverty, access to health-care, financial stability, are all tremendously strong predictors of long-term stress and coping.

52
Q

How does the mobilization of cortisol and catecholamines help with stress coping in the short-term (5 ways)? How does this relate to the Yerkes-Dodson rule?

A
  • Increased attention and focus at the stressful event.
    ­
  • Conservation of energy and ability to more quickly process information.
    ­
  • Increased encoding of memories for the current event.
    ­
  • Emotional experience of fear/anger/surprise, including expression of that to others.

These are partly why the Yerkes-Dodson law holds: some amount of stressful arousal allows us to (temporarily) do better on a task.

53
Q

What is good stress?

A

in the short-term the stress response is critical for survival, as it allows our bodies to act rapidly and with more energy. Good stress is not only important for survival, but in moderate amounts it is something we enjoy.

54
Q

What is bad stress?

A
  • when stress is chronic/prolonged or triggered by many different stimuli, it can lead beyond the alarm phase and into full-blown exhaustion.
  • Human beings have created complex social structures in which stress is caused by prolonged and difficult to control circumstances (mortgages, final exams, money).
  • As a result, we have the same response to traffic jams as other animals do when they are running for their life!
55
Q

What model of disease does western medicine traditionally follow?

A

the biological model of disease

56
Q

What is the biological model of disease?

A

health is a consequence of biological factors. This considers genetic dispositions, virus, bacteria, most treatment is biomedical

57
Q

What are the 3 parts to the bio-psycho-social model of disease?

A
  1. biological effects can be inhibited or magnified by social and psychological factors
  2. Psychosocial factors are a major (but not only) predictive factor of the susceptability, severity, and course of health problems
  3. The patient clinician relationship influences outcomes
  4. Patients should be treated as individuals with empathy and biological care.
58
Q

What are the 3 parts to the bio-psycho-social model of disease?

A
  1. biological effects can be inhibited or magnified by social and psychological factors
  2. Psychosocial factors are a major (but not only) predictive factor of the susceptability, severity, and course of health problems
  3. The patient clinician relationship influences outcomes
  4. Patients should be treated as individuals with empathy and biological care.
59
Q

What is the bio-psycho-social model of disease?

A

health is a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors.

60
Q

What does the biopsychosocial model not claim?

A
  • ­The failing to get better is the fault of your own thinking.
    ­
  • That diseases are caused by the mind or by negative thoughts. ­
  • That positive thinking can prevent or cure diseases, such as cancer.
61
Q

What does the biopsychosocial model not claim?

A
  • ­The failing to get better is the fault of your own thinking.
    ­
  • That diseases are caused by the mind or by negative thoughts. ­
  • That positive thinking can prevent or cure diseases, such as cancer.
62
Q

Under the biopsycho social model does being negative nullify ones treatment?

A

no.

63
Q

What 3 studies show empirical support for the bio-psycho-social model?

A
  • Poison Ivy study
  • Marrow transplant Study
  • Tissue Healing Study
64
Q

What was the poison Ivy study?

A

participants who had their skin touched with poison ivy but were told it was a harmless plant showed significantly reduced swelling.

65
Q

What is the Marrow Transplant study?

A

patients who had better stress coping skills experienced less post-operational pain than those with poor stress coping skills (biological factors were still the best predictors of the overall amount of pain).

66
Q

What is the tissue healing study?

A

volunteers who had an incision made on the inside of their mouth healed faster if this was done during the summer break than during exam season.

67
Q

What is a benefit that chronic stress may have on our health?

A

increased resilience: students who report experiencing a moderate level of lifetime adversity find it easier to withstand a mild experience of physical pain. (When he says stress he is talking about chronic, longterm stress that has pushed you past the alarm phase)

68
Q

What are 7 negative outcomes of chronic stress?

A
  1. Changes in brain structure.
  2. Increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
  3. Problems in regulating immune function.
  4. Gastrointestinal issues.
  5. Cancer coping.
  6. Sleep.
  7. Aging.
69
Q

What is the pre-frontal cortex? What is it involved with?

A

a cortical brain region that is largely involved in
control of goal-directed behaviour and inhibition of impulses.

70
Q

What is a major regulator of the PFC?

A

Norepinepherine is a major regulator of the PFC, and too much or too little of it causes impaired PFC function.

71
Q

What is long term stress associated with in rats? What are the similar findings in humans?

A

Rats: reduced PFC volume.

Humans: Similar findings in humans exposed to long-term stress (e.g., army veterans). PFC volume was much lower in veterans than others becuase chronic stress leads to a longterm reduction in PFC function which leads to low impulse control, inability to be flexible, difficult to regulate emotions.

72
Q

What will put norepinepherine out of balance?

A

chronic stress.

73
Q

What will put norepinepherine out of balance?

A

chronic stress.

74
Q

What does reduced PFC function lead to?

A

Reduced PFC function leads to low impulse control, problems in emotional
regulation, and inflexible behaviour.

75
Q

What can short-term stress induce? What can this help with?

A

Short-term stress can induce the acute phase response associated with infections and tissue damage, temporarily improving them.

76
Q

What can the acute phase response help with?

A

This can help rapidly deal with injury if it is sustained during the alarm phase, but also worsens various chronic inflammatory conditions (e.g., asthma, allergies) and autoimmune diseases.

77
Q

How does immune activity form a loop with stress?

A

a loop, triggering biological markers further. when immune system becomes active, it triggers the sympathetic system and prolonges its stimulation

78
Q

What 2 things can long-term stress reduce?

A

But long-term stress can reduce white cell function, reducing wound healing,
and increasing the chance of infection. This is why chronic stress increases likelihood of getting sick like getting the common cold

79
Q

What can long-term stress reduce?

A

But long-term stress can reduce white cell function, reducing wound healing,
and increasing the chance of infection. This is why chronic stress increases likelihood of getting sick like getting the common cold

80
Q

What is Coronary Heart Disease?

A

a condition in which the heart’s blood supply is blocked or interrupted by built-up substance in arteries, leading to a heart attack.

81
Q

How is stress a major predictor of Coronary Heart disease?

A
  • Prolonged increased blood pressure can damage heart arteries.

­- Cortisol reduces liver function, making cholesterol breakdown less efficient. ­

-Chronic inflammation can affect the arteries themselves, leading to reduced
ability to carry blood.

82
Q

What percent of heart attacks is psychological stress involved?

A

30-50%

83
Q

How does acute stress trigger a heart attack?

A

Acute stress increases heart rate, which can be a trigger for a heart attack. Because in that moment there is an increase in the need for blood but there is not enough blood available.

84
Q

How can stress make people less likely to catch a heart attack in time?

A

The physiological experience of stress can mask the symptoms of an incoming heart attack, making it less likely to be caught in time.

85
Q

What is a type A personality?

A

ambitious and driven, but also controlling and
aggressive. An incredibly need for success but low agreeablness reduces social support networks which triggers hostile responses. High hostility die sooner than those on low hostility

86
Q

What is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)?

A

a disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that
causes severe pain, damage to intestines, chronic fatigue, and more.
­IBD both causes stress which, in turn, increases inflammation and aggravates IBD. ­Recent research suggests that modulation of immune system from chronic stress affects gastrointestinal biomes, leading to further issues.

86
Q

What is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)?

A

a disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that
causes severe pain, damage to intestines, chronic fatigue, and more.
­IBD both causes stress which, in turn, increases inflammation and aggravates IBD. ­Recent research suggests that modulation of immune system from chronic stress affects gastrointestinal biomes, leading to further issues.

87
Q

What is a peptic Ulcer?

A
  • the lesion in the stomach lining that causes significant pain and discomfort, primarily caused by a bacteria.

­- Typically, the bacteria normally have little effect because our bodies regenerate the stomach lining; but with prolonged stress the regeneration is slowed down.

88
Q

Does stress have a correlation with cancer progression and treatment outcome? How?

A

Yes.

  • ­In non-human animals, norepinephrine has been found to stimulate tumor growth.
  • Reduced stress and relaxation exercises during treatment (e.g., chemotherapy) lead to slightly higher success in outcomes.
89
Q

How many stages does sleep occur in?

A

5

90
Q

What are the five stages of sleep?

A
  • ­Light Sleep (Stage 1): feeling awake but dozy and relaxed.

­- Normal Sleep (Stage 2): beginning of sleep and easy to wake up.

­- Deep Sleep (Stages 3 and 4): very rejuvenating sleep, hard to wake.

­- Rapid-Eye-Movement (REM): stage of sleep resembling wakefulness during which dreaming occurs.

91
Q

What are the five stages of sleep?

A
  • ­Light Sleep (Stage 1): feeling awake but dozy and relaxed.

­- Normal Sleep (Stage 2): beginning of sleep and easy to wake up.

­- Deep Sleep (Stages 3 and 4): very rejuvenating sleep, hard to wake.

­- Rapid-Eye-Movement (REM): stage of sleep resembling wakefulness during which dreaming occurs.

92
Q

How is stress related to sleep?

A

Stress reduces the duration and depth of sleep, while lack of sleep increases
stress.

93
Q

What are the 3 sleep deprivation affects?

A
  • Immune system: lack of sleep can compromise your body’s ability to fight disease.
  • Weight Management: the lack of sleep disrupts your hypothalamus, leading to problems in regulating hunger.
  • Cognitive Impairment: in the absence of deep sleep, your brain fails to turn off chemicals that regulate brain function, leading to hallucinations, personality changes, problems with concentration and memory, etc.
94
Q

What is ageing caused by?

A

Aging is partly caused by improper division of
cells.

95
Q

What is a telomere?

A

chemical “caps” that prevent chromosomes from fraying and sticking to each other. With age, telomeres wear away.

96
Q

What is telemerase? What does it do?

A

an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres and slows down the process of aging.

97
Q

Does Chronic stress slow down the creation of telomerase?

A

Yes.

98
Q

Does Chronic stress slow down the creation of telomerase?

A

Yes.

99
Q

Does chronic stress cause or cure illness?

A

no but the effects of stress hormones can significantly impact how illnesses progress.

100
Q

Can the long-term stress response – our body’s way of mobilizing for action and survival – can ironically reduce our ability to fight disease and may lead to shorter life-span?

A

yes.

Psych 102 Midterm 2 (4 decks)

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