Health/Stress Flashcards
Psychology and health combined
These individuals help with chronic pain, sleep, medication use, etc., in order to help people with their health
- integration of psychological principles to help improve a person’s health
Stress
- Good sometimes (a little stress adds motivation)
- Getting into a new environment
- Stress on the body
Stress is a process that occurs when you first appraise something
Process of stress
1.) Appraisal (something, person, event, etc.)
- think about and categorize something (perception) so COGNITIVE piece to this sways how we respond to the stressor
2.) Response
- typically challenge or a thereat goes into appraisal
Stressor
Something that initiates the process of stress
Positives of stress
- motivation
- immune system fires a little better BUT ONLY with SHORT-TERM stress
Negatives of stress
- health declines overall with prolonged stress
- sometimes causes unhealthy coping mechanisms such as alcoholism to numb the stress
Stressors examples
Bad
- Homesick
- Exams coming up/academics
- Interpersonal stress
- Family
- Death in a family
Good
- End of the year euphoria
- Study abroad
- Planning a wedding
- Preparing for the birth of a child
Allostatic load
Chronic impact of stress is worse if more daily stressful issues than one singular event
- “wear and tear” on body/brain related to increased stressors accumulating over time
Theories of stress
1.) Walter Cannon (1930s)
2.) Selye
Walter Cannon (1930s)
Stress response is a body and brain thing and not just a body thing
- unified body/brain process
- identified fight or flight as a survival mechanism
Selye
General Adaptation System (GAS)
- Agrees with Cannon but also different stages that brain goes through in terms of stress
Stages of GAS
1.) Alarm reaction
- Cannon’s idea about fight or flight
2.) Resistance
3.) Exhaustion
Cortisol
“Stress hormone”
- too much damages brain and body
Health psych
Psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine
- sleep
- chronic pain
- weight management
- medication compliance
- tobacco cessation (helping them quit)
Psychoneuroimmunology
Internal brain immune studies
- combination of endocrine, neural, mental health, etc., systems an how they interact
- ex. How do neural transmitters work/balance when struggling with depression, etc.