Tutorials Flashcards
What is blood alcohol content?
The concentration of alcohol in the blood, measured by mgs per 100mls blood.
What is the level of intoxication in terms of alcohol level?
.06-.1 mgs
What are the long term effects of alcohol?
Tolerance, dependence, brain lesions, dementia, amnesia and liver damage.
It causes vitamin B1 deficiency
What affects how affected you are by alcohol?
Women have less water and more fat, so their bac tends to be higher and they get drunk faster Low body weight Fitness Drinks per hour Food you eat %ge alcohol content of drink
What are examples of stimulants?
Amphetamines, cocaine, MDMA(ecstasy), V, Caffeine
What does cocaine do?
Affects dopamine, causing highs and lows
- Desensitized pleasure areas- less pleasure from natural rewards
- Caudate nucleus is affected, influencing coordination and movement.
What are some examples of hallucinogens?
LSD, marijuana
What does marijuana do?
Has intense effects on the ventral trigeminal area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens.
Impacts the hippocampus and cerebellum, causing loss of coordination and memory
Impacts behaviour through the prefrontal cortex
Also affects the caudate nucleus and associated learning and memory.
What can hallucinogens do?
Lead to false perceptions depending on the dose
Cause euphoria in some cases
Alter the perceptions of the internal and external world, causing hallucinations (mainly visual).
What do opiates do?
Suppress physical sensation and response to stimulation.
Use the same receptors as endorphins, affecting mood, pain and pleasure
Highly addictive and can have harsh physical withdrawl symptoms
How are natural opiates released?
Response to sleep, sugar, exercise.
What are examples of opiates?
Heroin, opium, morphine
What are depressants?
Drugs that reduce awareness of external stimuli and slow down bodily functions.
What are examples of depressants?
Alcohol, valium, rophenol
What is the reward pathway in the brain?
Stimulus administered
Hits VTA, gives a pleasurable experience
Reaches nucleus accumbens
Ends in prefrontal cortex where it impacts personality, decision making and modulates social behaviour.
What is intoxication?
Alteration in brain function brought about by drug use
What is withdrawl?
Alteration in brain function brought about by cessation of drug use- usually the opposite of the drug’s impact.
What is tolerance?
The need to take more of a psychoactive drug in order to produce the same effect- the physiological component of addiction
What is dependence?
The body becomes adjusted to and dependent on the presence of the drug.
What is addiction?
A step further than dependence, where the drug is actually required for function withouth negative physiological and psychological effects- involves compulsion and loss of control
How do psychoactive drugs affect the brain?
Affect activity and consciousness, as well as pleasure centers relating to mood and emotion as well as memory
What are the 5 stages of sleep?
0, 1, 2, 3, 4 & R
What waves are involved with stage 0 of sleep?
This is the waking stage.
Beta waves emerge when you are alert, responsive, and are able to hold intelligible conversation
They are high frequency low amplitude waves with an irregular pattern
Alpha waves emerge when you close your eyes and start to relax- you can get hypnagogic images or jerks
What waves are involved with stage 1 of sleep?
Slow theta waves
This stage is only a few minutes long during the shift from drowsiness to sleep
Your blood pressure drops and your eye movement slows
You’ll think you weren’t sleeping if you’re awoken in this stage
The waves decrease in frequency and increase amplitude towards stage 2
What waves are involved with stage 2 of sleep?
Large theta waves
This is when sleep deepens, but is still light
Involved with memory consolidation and synaptic pruning
Theta waves are interrupted by sleep spindles and K complexes
Alpha waves disappear and waves get slower
What waves are involved with stage 3 of sleep?
Less than 50% delta waves
These are slow
Combined with stage 4 this is called delta sleep
What waves are involved with stage 4 of sleep?
More than 50% delta waves
What waves are involved with REM sleep?
Beta waves, meaning it’s similar to waking
This is where most vivid dreams occur
The waves are high frequency and low voltage
HR & BP increases, as well as resp rate and eye movement
What happens during stage 1 of sleep?
You’re easily awakened
Muscles relax and may twitch
Eye movements slow
What happens during stage 2 of sleep?
Breathing and HR are regular Body temp drops Loss of sense of place Brain waves slow Eye movement stops
What happens during stage 3/4 of sleep?
Decreased BP Muscles relax Tissue growth/repair Energy restored Release of hormones Slowest brain waves
What happens during REM sleep?
Brain is actively dreaming
Eyes dart rapidly
Muscles paralyzed
Irregular breathing and HR
What are biological factors that affect sleep?
Age
Illness
Jet lag
What are psychological factors that affect sleep?
Thinking style Anxiety Daytime napping Pain Bedtime ritual
What are social/environmental factors that affect sleep?
Other people
Light
Temperature
What can result from sleep deprivation?
Obesity due to decreased hormone secretion
CVD due to interruption of natural BP decrease
Mood becoming irritable/tense
Impaired self regulation
Diabetes due to insufficient regulation of insulin
Memory and reaction defecits
What is pain?
The body’s response to stimuli intense enough to cause real or threatened tissue damage
It is unpleasant, but functions as a warning signal that our wellbeing is threatened. This allows us to remove the source of pain to try to heal ourselves
What is the biomedical vs subjective view of pain?
Biomedical: The extent of pain severity is proportional to the amount of tissue damage.
Everyone with the same injury should experience the same amount of pain
Subjective: People with the same amount of tissue damage experience different pain, which has to do with psychological state
What are the three theories of chronic pain?
Gate-control theory
Operant conditioning theory
Cognitive behavioural theory
What is the gait-control theory of pain
A ‘gate’ exists at the spinal cord, receiving information in 2 directions:
Messages going up carry pain messages to the brain
Messages going down (psychological) can close or open the gate, involving context, interpretation, attention and past experience
What is the operant conditioning theory of pain?
Our natural response to pain is to move away from the source, making it negative reinforcement- we remove the negative stimulus and are less likely to seek it out again
However, with chronic pain, positive reinforcement may emerge in the form of sympathy or negative reinforcement in that we don’t have to do something because we’re sore. This can reinforce the behaviour and cause it to continue
What is the cognitive behavioural model theory of pain?
- Patients’ appraisals and coping strategies are crucial as pain perception is in the brain
Negative expectations about control can maintain pain
Passive coping strategies (ie inactivity) can maintain pain
Active coping encourages a problem solving attitude
What are behavioural and cognitive ways in which pain can be treated?
Behavioural- Resting too much shouldn’t happen, so you should continue to live a normal life
Cognitive- Reduce anxiety and sympathy from others
Seek distraction from pain and address expectations of control
What does AAAF stand for in terms of what affects memory?
Attention
Arousal
Acuity of Senses
Function of brain
What affects the speed at which new information is forgotten?
Difficulty of information Meaningfulness Its representation Physiological factors How it was remembered and how often it is revised Recentness of material
What are the 4 reasons for forgetting something?
- Failure to encode due to lack of attention/rehearsal/stress
- Interference from competing info
- Decay due to time
- Repression of painful memories
What are the 5 stages of behaviour change?
Precontemplation: do not recognize a problem
Contemplation: Acknowledge a problem but not changing
Preparation: Getting ready to change and gathering knowledge of how to do so
Action/Willpower: Change occurs: initial adoption of new habits
Maintenance: Ongoing change preventing relapse
What is necessary for a successful behaviour change?
Understanding of why change is necessary
Motivation
Self efficacy
Knowledge of skills and barriers to change
Why start a behaviour change programme in adolescence?
Health behaviours in adolescence continue into adulthood
Has immediate impact on adolescent health
Young people have different needs for information delivery compared to adults
It can take time to change behaviour
Health risks are often clustered
What are the 4 ways health can be improved in adolescents?
Change society as a whole on behalf of adolescents- eg. drunk driving laws, smoking laws, family planning
Health Education
Improving adolescents’ social skills
Reducing SES inequalities
What are the 5 levels of health promotion delivery in adolescents?
Individual- eg. peer mentoring
Family- eg. parental training
School- eg. curriculum education and policies
Community- eg. changing local environments & policies
National- eg. healthcare, employment, marketing laws
What is psychological and social development in early childhood?
- Preoperational stage
- Literal understanding of the world
- Poor memory
- Dependent on caregivers
- Model others’ behaviours
What are health promotion strategies that can be used in early childhood?
- Target the family, not the child
- Deliver concrete concepts
- Combine learning with enjoyable activities
- Role model behaviours
What is psychological and social development in early adolescence?
Concrete thinking Grasp moral concepts and can assess them Understand body image Realize they are different from their parents Start of strong peer groups Start of risk behaviours
What are health promotion strategies that can be used in early adolescence?
Concrete materials- focus on current impacts on their health
Focus on the here and now
Use peer educators and role models
What is psychological and social development in mid adolescence?
Development of abstract thinking, but in relation to others- not self, as they think they’re invincible
Increased autonomy
What are health promotion strategies that can be used in mid adolescence?
Body image targeting
Highlight how others can be harmed by things or behaviours
Here and now is more motivating than ‘in future’
What is psychological and social development in late adolescence?
Abstract and complex thought
More development of body image
Autonomy
Large groups split into small groups and couples
What are health promotion strategies that can be used in late adolescence?
Address all the possible outcomes of actions
Target messages at parter and friend consequences
What are the areas of the health behaviour model?
Perceived susceptibility Perceived severity Benefits and barriers Cues to action Self efficacy (All lead to a health behaviour)
Why are perceived susceptibility/severity important in health behaviour model?
It impacts on the perceived threat of an illness. If perceived threat is high, there will be higher motivation to improve behaviour
How do benefits/barriers impact the health behaviour model?
Impacts perception of how effective the behaviour would be at reducing/avoiding specific and related conditions
Identifies costs of related action
What are the limitations of the health behaviour model?
Not all beliefs occur simultaneously- others will crop up before and after appointments
Assumes human rationality, but some people will see benefits and barriers irrationally
Could underestimate or oversimplify the role of a threat
(fear can also promote denial, not just action)
Little acknowledgement of societal impact
What is the theory of planned behaviour?
Attitude toward behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control all affect one another, and lead into intention, and then behaviour.
However, this assumes that people act according to how others act and think
What are some characteristics of clinicians which enhance the placebo effect?
High status Formal medical setting Clear indication of expected improvement High confidence Warmth and empathy
What is problem solving?
A cognitive process directed towards specific situations
Moves from initial state to a goal state via mental processes
What is decision making?
Process of choosing between alternatives, involving weighing up the pros and cons using judgement
What is an algorithm?
Step by step procedure that always provides the right answer
What are heuristics and when are they used?
Mental shortcuts in decision making
Although, they can lead to an increase in memory errors and in estimating likeliness of outcomes
Therefore, it’s only used when algorithms are unavailable
What are 5 common barriers to problem solving?
- Distraction: noise, discomfort, presentation and representation of material, overload
- Functional fixedness: Use items only for its ‘intended’ function
- Mental set: Continuing to use strategies that worked in the past but are no longer optional
Unnecessary constraints: Tend to impose unnecessary constraints on possible solutions - Confirmation bias: see only the information confirming our predetermined conclusions
What is framing?
A particular depiction of a choice that can be positively or negatively emphasized.
How can framing be avoided?
People make bolder choices to avoid a loss than to achieve a gain
Need to prevent information in a balanced way
Use debiasing strategy, such as asking why patients made a certain choice
Are schemas top-down or bottom-up processes?
Top-down as our existing knowledge is applied to fill in gaps
