Unit 4 - Overview of Mind-Body Therapies Flashcards
What is the NCCAM (or similiar definition of mind-body therapies?
Mind and body practices focus on the interactions between the mind and body, and how their relationship affects health and wellbeing.
List 5 or more examples of mind-body therapies and practices.
Relaxation, meditation, yoga, hypnosis, and guided imagery.
What is the difference between the mind and the brain?
Note that “mind” is not synonymous with brain. Instead, in our definition, the mind consists of mental states and the brain is the hardware that allows us to experience these mental states (many of which have been studied and linked to patterns of activation in specific brain areas).
T/F Each mental state as a physiology associated with it.
True. Either conscious of subconscious. The mental state of anxiety produces physiological state characterized by the production of stress hormones.
What are some mind-body integrative practices?
Meditation, relaxation, patient support groups, cognitive-behavioral therapy, prayer and yoga.
What are some body-mind integrative practices?
Yoga, tai chi, qi gong, and some types of dance.
T/F Body affects the mind and the mind affects the body; they’re interrelated.
True.
What is generally incorporated in mind-body therapies?
Relaxation, Breathing, Psychological growth, exercise and movement, and social support.
What bodily systems are affected by the mind?
Autonomic, endocrine, and immune systems.
T/F An individual’s mental outlook cannot impact physical health (and vice versa).
False. It can.
What is the general consensus on the Placebo effect?
It is commonly appreciated that placebo effects induce healing.
T/F Mind-body therapies deliberately employ the so-called placebo effect to initiate the self-healing capacities of the individual.
True.
T/F The placebo is not an intended or positive outcome, but “the effect that is due to the meaning of the therapeutic for a particular patient and context.
False. It is not an unintended or negative outcome… It is another example of how the mind (which creates meaning) can impact the body.
T/F There is well-established body of research shows that social support enhances and sustains health.
True. More studies are being conducted to form a new area of research around healing environments that has significant implications not only on the individual level, but also at a societal and public health level.
A physiologist, Walter Bradford Cannon, at Harvard in the 1930s/40s was one of the first researchers in the area that determined what?
The central nervous system (Collects and processes information from the senses via nerves and the brain and tells the muscles to contract to cause physical actions.) responds to threatening situations through its sympathetic arm, which he called the “fight or flight” response.
Bonus: What is the Sympathetic Nervous System?
Directs the body’s rapid involuntary response to dangerous or stressful situations. A flash flood of hormones boosts the body’s alertness and heart rate, sending extra blood to the muscles.
What part of the brain stimulates the sympathetic nervous system?
The hypothalamus. Not only does it “communicate” with the centers in the lungs, heart, and arteries, but with the medulla or inner portion of the adrenal gland. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are then released and further stimulate the heart and respiratory rate.
What is the endocrine system?
Influences the function of the body using hormones.
What is the immune and lymphatic system?
Defends the body against pathogens that may harm the body.
The system comprising a network of lymphatic vessels that carry a clear fluid called lymph.
In the 1930s as well, Hans Selye studied the long-term impact on the endocrine and immune systems and determined what consistent physical responses occurred when an animal was sick and stressed?
- Enlargement of the part of the adrenal gland that secretes steroid hormones, such as cortisol.
- Shrinkage of the thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes, which are the major organs of the immune system.
What theories were developed in psychiatry around the 1930s/40s where Franz Alexander made a proposal?
Many chronic disturbances are not caused by external factors but caused by continuous functional stress arising during everyday life of the organism in its struggle for existence.
What theory did Freud develop about conversion disorders?
Repression of painful emotions can lead to physical symptoms, while the expression of emotions can release physical effects.
Who suggested a physiological basis for correlations between early or ongoing emotional trauma (loss of parent or spouse) and increased incidence of chronic disease-namely that the immune functioning was compromised by prolonged secretion of steroids (Gordon, 1996)?
Selye
In the 1970s, Cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman suggested what?
A continual flight or fight response contributed to human disease states, most significantly in the arteries and heart.
What phrase was coined by Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman that describes the characteristics present in most of their patients with coronary disease?
Type A personalities were constant hurriedness, free-floating hostility, and intense competitiveness. In a 8 year study, Type A men developed coronary disease twice as often as the opposite, Type B personalities.
