Psychobiology

Question 1

What is stress?

Answer 1

Can be a stimulus stressors are events that place strong demands on us stress can be a response

Question 2

What are the 3 stages of General Adaption Syndrome?

Answer 2

1: Alarm reaction - shift to sympathetic dominance causes increased arousal 2: Resistance - endo system releases hormones to maintain increased arousal 3: Exhaustion - adrenals lose ability to function normally.

Question 3

Define stress using primary and secondary appraisal (transactional definition of stress)

Answer 3

Combination of stimulus and responses. Pattern of cognitive appraisals, emotional reactions, physiological responses and behavioural tendencies that occur in response to a perceived imbalance between situational demands (primary appraisal) and the resources needed to cope with them (secondary appraisal).

Question 4

What is the primary appraisal?

Answer 4

Perceived imbalance between situational demands

Question 5

What is the secondary appraisal?

Answer 5

Perception of availability of resources needed to cope with them

Question 6

Diagram of stress?

Answer 6

Question 7

Give an example of a cognitive appraisal

Answer 7

Exam

primary appraisal - how hard will it be

secondary appraisal - do i know enough

Take into account potential consequences of failing with regards to likelihood and severity

Pyschological meaning of consequences may be related to beliefs about yourself

Question 8

What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?

Answer 8

Normal distribution curve

At low arousal you have poor performance but at really high levels of performance you also have poor performance due to anxiety.

Optimal level of performance found at around medium arousal.

Question 9

How did support affect health behaviours leading up to exam in steptoe1996?

Answer 9

Those with more support showed decrease in number of cigs and alky when exam time came.

Question 10

Summarise the pathway of stress to disease

Answer 10

Question 11

How are anxiety and heart disease linked?

Answer 11

anxiety showed 52% increased risk to CVD

Independent of traditional risk factors - obesity, smoking

Anxiety management future CVD management technique.

Question 12

List some features of Type A behaviour

Answer 12

Time urgency

Free-floating hostility

Hyperaggressiveness

Focus on acomplishment

competitive and goal driven

Question 13

How are type A behaviour and cardiovascular health linked?

Answer 13

Type A behaviour patterns doubled the risk of develpoing CHD in healthy males, type A accounted for 31% increased risk when compared to type B (patience, serenity, not very time urgent)

Question 14

Which factor of Type A behaviour is thought to be key behavioural factor to CHD?

Answer 14

HOSTILITY

Question 15

What is mechanism for personality affecting actual health with regard to CHD?

Answer 15

Poor health behaviour - increased physiological resoponse to stressors - endothelial dysfunciton - atherosclerosis

Question 16

What other traits blah have been associated with CHD?

Answer 16

Depression - increased risk for onset of CHD, CHD patients have 2.5 times higher risk of of mortality when depressed - physiological and health behaviour changes

Question 17

What are the different mechanisms for coping with stress?

Answer 17

Question 18

Define approach and avoidance

Answer 18

Approach = activity orientated towards threat e.g. problem solving and planning a response

Avoidance = away from threat e.g. denial, may find it difficult to engage in conversation about health

Utility of coping style depends on situation

Question 19

Swearing and pain relief?

Answer 19

perceived pain score was down when people swore with pain

However, heart rate was higher when people swore with pain

Question 20

Elaborate on the importance of social support

Answer 20

Individuals with adequate social relationships have a 50% likelihood of survival compared to those with insufficient social relationships

Exert independent effect beyond pyhsiological role that is comparable with stopping smoking

Question 21

Provide an example of social support benefitting the ting

Answer 21

Breast cancer groups control and experiment

Those with support group had a 1/3 more survivors over a 4 year period

Question 22

How does branding of medication help?

Answer 22

Neurofen ibuprofen was shown to better improved perceived feeling compared to non-branded, even branded placebo did better than non branded placebo.

Question 23

Define the placebo effect

Answer 23

An inactive substance such as sugar or saline can sometimes improve a patient’s condition because person has expectation it will be helpful.

Question 24

Define the nocebo effect

Answer 24

negative effect that occurs after receiving treatment even when the treatment in inert or a sham L00000L

Warnings of side effects will increase likelihood that patient feels said side effects

Question 25

What are the physiological framing mechanisms involved with placebos?

Answer 25

Framing

Social/experimental learning

classical conditioning - behaviour, placebo may be able to elicit the unconditioned response from controlled stimulus now being the placebo not unconditioned stimulus(active treatment)

Question 26

What are the clinical implications for placebo?

Answer 26

Effect of therapies can be affected by their presentation - not specific to placebo.

placebos don’t have negative side effects

can be useful where there is a psychological component

Question 27

Were open placebos successful?

Answer 27

When the patient knows they are taking a placebo

Showed global improvement, symptom improvement, relief improvement and better QoL in IBS patients compared to no treatment.