Psychobiology of Disease Flashcards
What is the fight or flight response?
This is the physiological response to stress
What are the three stages of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome?
Stage 1: Alarm Reaction– shift to sympathetic dominance –increased arousal
Stage 2: Resistance – endocrine system produces ACTH to maintain the increased arousal
Stage 3: Exhaustion– adrenals lose their ability to function normally
Describe the psycho-psychological and behavioural pathways linking stress and disease.
Events cause stress
Stress leads to physiological changes e.g. increased cortisol levels and behavioural changes e.g. smoking and drinking
These lead to disease
Describe the findings of the Steptoe experiment on health behaviour and stress.
This observed the interaction between health behaviour and social support
Smoking: at baseline both groups were the same. During exam time: high social support smoked less, low social support smoked more
Drinking: at baseline high social support smoked more than low.
During exam time: low social support drank more, high social support drank less
What effect does stress have on the immune system?
Immunosuppression
Decreased wound healing
Describe Cohen’s experiment on stress and colds.
Exposed volunteers to a nasal wash containing cold virus and asked the volunteers to rate their level of stress
The more stressed people were, the more they became ill with the cold
What is Type A behaviour?
Time urgency Free-floating hostility Hyper-aggressiveness Focus on accomplishment Competitive and goal-driven
What is the link between Type A behaviour and cardiovascular disease?
What is the feature of type A behaviour that causes this?
Increased risk of coronary heart disease
Hostilty is the key factor that increases CVD risk
What is the placebo effect?
An inactive substance can sometimes improve a patient’s condition simply because the patient has the expectation that it will be helpful
Describe the relationship between social support/relationships and health.
Individuals with adequate social relationships have a 50% greater likelihood of survival compared to those with poor or insufficient social relationships
Social support exerts effects beyond the protective psychological role
High social support is associated with decreased mortality
State some examples of components of stress management.
Organisation Time management Recognising stress Appraisal review Relaxation techniques Social support Formal support
What is stress?
Stress can be a stimulus
Events that place strong demands on us are known as stressors
Stress can be a response
Physiological response to stress e.g. ‘Fight-Flight’ response
Also negative emotions such as feeling tense, difficulty concentrating and losing your temper easily
What is the definition of stress?
Combination of stimulus and response as a person-situation interaction
Stress can be defined as a 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).
What is the mechanism of stress induce immunosupression?
Production of Interleukin-1 declined by 68%
Whats the link between anxiety and heart disease?
anxiety is associated with a 52% increased risk of developing CHD
Explain the link between depression and CHD
Depression linked to 2-2.5 higher incidence of CHD
Due to Physiological changes e.g. Change in platelet activity and behavioural changes e.g. levels of physical activity
What is the nocebo effect?
A negative effect that occurs after receiving treatment (therapy, medication), even when the treatment is inert/sham
What are the implications of the nocebo effect?
Warnings about the possible side effects of a medicine makes it much more likely that the patient will report experiencing those effects
The effect of many interventions can be increased by the way they are presented – both in form and manner
What is the effect of a stressor?
Activation of the SNS to release NA and adrenaline from the adrenal medualla
Activation of the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenocortical Axis to release cortisol from the adrenal cortex
Both lead to increased energy
