Midterm

Question 1

What is health psychology?

Answer 1

Health psychology uses the biopsycosocial model to understand how various systems interact with each other to influence the development and progression of illness

This can be used to make decisions regarding prevention and treatment plans

Question 2

What is applied health psychology?

Answer 2

Using information on health psychology to make informed decisions regarding policy decisions, community/population recommendations, and treatment decisions

Its the idea of knowledge translation

Question 3

What are the different types of psychosomatic illnesses?

Answer 3

Mental & physical illness both present, negatively affecting each other

Psychiatric problems that develops from a physical illness

A psychiatric problem that is expressed through physical problems

Question 4

What is a somatoform disorder?

Answer 4

Physical illnesses that are solely provoked by psychological factors

Question 5

Vulnerabilty vs. Resileince

Answer 5

Vulnerability: susceptibility to psychological or physical disturbances

Resiliency: propensity to overcome an illness

Question 6

You decide to do a study in humans to examine whether life stressors are linked to a particular illness. What procedures should you take in doing this? What are the shortcomings of your study?

Answer 6

Prospective (longitudinal study); Avoid retrospective

Assess populations that are high risk/more vulnerable for the illness (genes, family members, study dependent)

Participant considerations: sample size, sex differences, age, how long certain conditions are present (i.e., how long has one been obese)

What are the shortcomings of your study?
- Correlational vs. causal, Presence of biases

Question 7

What are biomarkers

Answer 7

Genetic factors/biolgocial constituents that can predict a diagnosis/inform people of their vulnerability

Question 8

A patient comes into a Dr. office claiming severe depression. What should the Dr’s steps be?

Answer 8

1. Ask questions about the patients life and really listen to them. Although their symptom may be depression that could actually be a psychosomatic disorder or indicative of a co-morbid illness such as heart disease
2. Physician needs to take a biopsychosocial approach in treatment and not just jump to medication to treat biological factors such as SSRIs

Question 9

What are the pros and cons to using animal models?

Answer 9

The major concern is that animal models are not valid when studying humans but this validity can be increased by:
- ensuring symptoms of human disorder are replicated in model, treatments that ameliorate symptoms or are ineffective in humans do the same in animals, manipulations that exacerbate symptoms should have the same effect on animals and humans

However, this criteria can not always be met and specific illnesses cannot be studies as a whole due to the inability to replicate symptoms or social environments (low SES, racism, social support, etc.)

Failure to replicate is common

Animal studies are considered weak evidence and should be used used as a starting point

Question 10

What factors can increase the likelihood of a causal relationship in a correlation study?

Answer 10

High association (strength)
consistent findings
specific links
cause precedes outcome (temporality)
dose-dependent gradient
ability to hypothesize a plausible mechanism
coherence between lab and field studies
similar factors are related to outcomes (analogy)
untimely it is supported by experimental study

Question 11

Correlational matrix vs. cluster analysis vs. hierarchal regression analysis

Answer 11

Correlational matrix: determines which of many variables are linked to one another

Cluster analysis: assesses a group of variables to produce and illness/outcome

Hierarchal regression: assesses additive/interactive effects to produce illness/outcome

Question 12

Moderating vs. mediating effects

Answer 12

Moderating: relationship between two variables can be moderated (influenced) by others; explains the relationship

Mediating: a correlation between two variance may be related to another variance; affects the strength and relationship between the variables

Question 13

What are the concerns of using a longitudinal vs. cross-sectional desing

Answer 13

• longitudinal is expensive, time consuming, and has high attrition rates; black swan events can undermine findings
• cross-sectional has individual differences and cohort differences need to be considered

Question 14

What are the common used for descriptive studies?

Answer 14

Inform practice & policy: prevention campaigns, allocation of resources, etc.

Question 15

What are caveats to consider when choosing a methodological design?

Answer 15

Limitations: response bias, individual differences, previous experiences, current mood

Different approaches vary in their power - ability to detect significant differences

Sample selection - self-selected participants may differ from those who don’t self select

Inclusion/exclusion criteria

Question 16

Type I vs Type II errors

Answer 16

Type I error (concluding an effect is there when it is not real)

Type II error (concluding no effect when there actually is one)

Question 17

How does prolactin impact immune functioning?

Answer 17

Has powerful immunomodulary effects and might influence the development of autoimmune disorders that preferentially occur in women, and those that occur during pregnancy and the lactation period

Question 18

Describe the immune response to a pathogen

Answer 18

1. Antigen exposure causes rapid activation of NK cells and macrophages goble them up and present them to T helper (via MHC-II) cells that decide whether they are pathogens
2. T helper (Th1) cells will recognize the antigen and inform T cytotoxic cells, causing them to multiply rapidly and act against the virus; Th2 cells then affect B cells by releasing antibodies or immunoglobulins that mark foreign particles then call upon other agents (complement factors) to destroy them
3. T cells mature and destroy foreign particles within cells
4. B cells secrete antibodies that bind with the antigen indirectly causing destruction
5. T reg cells quiet the immune response by suppressing cytotoxic T cells
6. Memory cells (T and B cells) are prepared for a following exposure - they are sensitized and proliferate when reactivated

Question 19

What are the biological and behavioural effects of leptin, ghrelin and insulin

Answer 19

Lepin (satiety): produced by fat cells, influences neuron in hypothalamic regions to reduce appetite, increase energy expenditure, and inhibit reward-seeking/affective behaviours

Ghrelin (hunger): produced by gut, affects many of the same regions as leptin but in an opposite manner to stimulate food intake. reduce energy expenditure, and enhance reward-seeking/affective behaviours

Insulin: produced by beta cells in pancreas, regulates fat& carb metabolism, involved in getting glucose from blood into various cells and staying it as glycogen; reduces food intake

Question 20

Typical vs. atypical depression

Answer 20

Typical: reduced eating, diminished sleep

Atypical: cravings and eating are elevated, accompanied by longer sleep (closely linked with inflammatory functioning)

Question 21

What can ghrelin be used as a biomarker for?

Answer 21

PTSD as elevated ghrelin mediates a vulnerability to stress-enhanced fear after exposure ends

Question 22

Compare the difference between estrogens and progesterone in mood outcomes. How is this impacted by the menstrual cycle?

Answer 22

Estrogens are implicated in anxiety and stress responses whereas progesterone has anti-anxiety actions

Estradiol peaks right before ovulation and then progesterone increases in the literal phase (at the end of the menstrual cycle

Question 23

How does juicing impact the body?

Answer 23

Anabolic and androgenic steroids impair the immune system and lead to inflammation which favours T2D, polycystic ovary syndrome, heart/liver impairment, and affects NTs in emotional and cognitive functioning

Question 24

What is the biological effects of BDNF?

Answer 24

Supports survival of neurons, encourages growth/differentiation of new neurons, and promotes synaptic growth

Question 25

What effects does growth factor have on psychological disorders?

Answer 25

During stress BDNF has been found to decrease in specific brain regions which disrupts synaptic plasticity and can cause impaired pathways favouring pathology