Lecture 11

Health Psychology
 Health psychology studies the relationship between
psychological factors and the prevention and treatment of
physical health problems.
 It examines the connection between mind and body.
 Psychological factors such as stress, behavior patterns and
attitudes can lead to or aggravate illness.
 People can cope with stress.
 Stress and pathogens interact to influence the immune
system.
 People decide whether or not to seek health care.
 Psychological forms of intervention can contribute to
physical health.
 Lifestyle
Your Context

”Mi STRESS out!”

Stress
 Feelings of being overwhelmed by negative events.
 Being overwhelmed to the point of wanting to give up.
 Stress is that which disrupts or threatens to disrupt our
physical and psychological functioning (Baron, 2001).
 Stress arises when individuals perceive a discrepancy
between the physical or psychological demands of a
situation and the resources of his or her biological,
psychological or social systems (Sarafino, 2012).
 Stress is the demand made on an organism to adapt,
cope, or adjust (Rathus, 2005).
 Some stress is healthful (eustress).
 Intense of prolonged stress can harm the body.
Stressors

 Activators of stress
 Stress not only stems from negative but also
positive events (planning wedding).
 Events we find stressful have in common:
 Becomes overwhelming that you cannot adapt
 Tendency to approach or avoid object or activity
 Uncontrollable
 Responses to stressors
 Physiological response: blood pressure increases,
pulse races and may begin to sweat.
 The General Adaptation Syndrome.
 The general adaptation syndrome was proposed by Selye.
 The syndrome is a cluster of bodily changes that occur in three stages:
 Alarm - the body responds to the distress signal sent to the
hypothalamus with a burst of energy to help deal with the stressor
 Resistance - the body attempts to resist or adapt to the stressor.
 Exhaustion - energy is depleted.
 Cognitive response:
 The interpretation of a specific event as stressful.
 The situation is stressful to their primary goal
 Unable to cope with the dangers/demands
 Stress and Cognitive Appraisals
 Lazarus, R. S. (1993). From psychological stress to the emotions: A history of changing outlooks. Annual
Review of Psychology. 44, 1-21.

 Found that stress levels could be predicted on the basis of

differences in an individual’s cognitive style
 “I began to view appraisal as a universal process in which people
(and other animals) constantly evaluate the significance of what is
happening for their personal well-being. In effect, I considered
psychological stress to be a reaction to personal harms and
threats of various kinds that emerged out of the person-
environment relationship.”
 A strong empirical case was being made that appraisal and coping
processes shaped the stress reaction, and that these processes, in
tum, were influenced by variables in the environment and within
the person.
 In short, whether the change is in external conditions or in one's
construal of them, coping influences psychological stress via
appraisal; appraisal is always the mediator.
Stress and Cognitive
Appraisals
 In secondary appraisal, by considering the adequacy of
personal resources and options, the person makes three
forms of stressful appraisals: Harm or loss, threat and
challenge
 Harm or loss is perceived when the damage has already
been done.
 Threat perception occurs when there is a potential for
harm or loss.
 While the first two appraisals trigger negative emotions
like fear and anger, challenge triggers positive emotions
such as excitement or interest (Lazarus, 1993).
 Life Changes and Daily
Hassles
 Hassles - Regularly occurring conditions and experiences that can threaten
or harm our well-being.
 Examples include: Household hassles, Health hassles, Time-pressure
hassles, Inner concern hassles, Environmental hassles, Financial
responsibility hassles, Work hassles, Security hassles.
 These hassles are linked to psychological variables such as nervousness,
worrying, inability to get started, feelings of sadness, and feelings of
loneliness.
 Life changes require adjustment. Even positive ones can lead to
headaches, high blood pressure, and other health problems.
 Life changes differ from daily hassles in two key ways:
 Many life changes are positive and desirable. Hassles are negative.
 Hassles occur regularly. Life changes occur at irregular intervals.
 Example of life change: death of a spouse is considered the most
stressful life change.
 Controversies in psychology

Figure 13.1 What Are the Relationships Among Daily Hassles, Life Changes, and Physical Illness?
There are positive correlations between daily hassles and life events, on the one hand, and illness on the
other. It may seem logical that hassles and life changes cause illness, but research into the issue is
correlational and not experimental. The results are therefore subject to rival interpretations. One is that
people who are predisposed toward medical or psychological problems encounter or generate more hassles
and amass more life-change units.
Conflict
 Conflict is the feeling of being pulled in two or more
directions by opposing motives.
 Conflict is frustrating and stressful.
 There are four types of conflicts:
 Approach-approach
 Avoidance-avoidance
 Approach-avoidance
 Multiple approach-avoidance.
 Types of conflict
 Approach-approach conflict.
 The least stressful type.
 Each of two goals is desirable and both are within reach.
 typically results from limitations on one's time, space,
energy and personal and financial resources
 Eg. Deciding between two good career opportunities

 Avoidance-avoidance conflict.
 More stressful and unpleasant.
 A person is motivated to avoid each of two negative goals.
Avoiding one may require approaching the other.
 Whatever choice is made will not be satisfying, so you
simply have to decide which is the "lesser of two evils“
 Eg. Deciding between unwanted homework and
unwanted house chores
 Types of conflict
 Approach-avoidance conflict.
 The same goal produces both approach and avoidance motives.
 Eg. Tanya has been with a company for 12 years. She is offered a job
promotion as vice president of the company. It would pay her much
more than she is currently making (approach). However, if she was
to accept this position, she would have to move to a city that was far
away from her family (avoidance) and where the weather was much
colder (avoidance).
 Pluses and minuses, good points and bad points.
 Multiple approach-avoidance conflict.
 Each of several alternative courses of action has pluses and minuses.
 Decision making can also be stressful especially when there is no
clear correct choice.
 Eg. If you buy the cheap shirt that's kind of cute you'll save money.
If you buy the really expensive one that is really cute, you'll have
no money
Effects of stress
 Stress and Health
 Stress suppresses the immune system.
 The immune system has several functions that combat
disease.
 Production of white blood cells (leukocytes).
 They recognize and eradicate foreign agents and
unhealthy cells.
 Foreign substances are called antigens.
 The body generates specialized proteins or
antibodies to fight antigens.
 Inflammation:
 is another function of the immune system.
 This is increased blood supply which floods the
region with white blood cells.
Effects of stress

 Stress and task performance: It was once

believed that stress improves performance.
 Beyond a certain point stress can affect
performance.
 People may focus on the unpleasantness rather than
the task.
 Prolonged or repeated exposure can lead to task
performance reduction.
 Task performance may arise initially with arousal but
prolonged arousal can result in decreased
performance.
Effects of stress

 Optimism and Pessimism

 Difference in resistance to stress
 Disease prone individuals suffer when exposed to
mild levels of stress
 Others are better able to function even after
ongoing periods of stress.
 Optimist sees the glass half full
 Focus on problem solving, seek social support
 Pessimist sees the glass half empty
 Gives up or deny stress exists
Irrational Beliefs

 Ellis notes that our beliefs about events as well as

the events themselves can be stressors.
 Ellis’s A-B-C approach.
 A is the activating event.
 C is the consequence.
 B is the belief.
 If the belief of someone who loses a job is to
catastrophize the extent of the loss, then
anxiety and depression is more likely.
 Ellis proposes that many of us carry with us
irrational beliefs; doorways to distress.
Personality type
 Type A people are:
Highly driven
Competitive
Impatient
Aggressive
Feel rushed and under pressure
Find it difficult to give up control or power
They hold to the irrational belief that they must be
perfectly competent and achieving in everything they
undertake.
 Type B people in contrast are:
 Relaxed
 More focused on the quality of life
 Less ambitious and less impatient.
 Psychological moderators
 Self-efficacy
 Expectations affect our ability to withstand stress.
 High self-efficacy expectations are accompanied by relatively lower
levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline in the bloodstream.
 People who are self-confident are less prone to be disturbed by
adverse events.
 Psychological Hardiness
 Psychological hardiness also helps people resist stress.
 Characteristics include:
 High in commitment.
 High in challenge.
 High in perceived control.
 Hardy people are high in internal locus of control.
 Hardy people are more resistant to stress because they choose to
face it.
 Psychological moderators
 Sense of Humor
 Feelings of happiness may have beneficial effects on the immune
system.
 Humor can moderate the effects of stress.
 Laughter stimulates the output of endorphins.
 There is a significant relationship between negative life events
and stress scores.
 Predictability and Control.
 The ability to predict a stressor apparently moderates its impact.
 Control and even the illusion of control can moderate impact.
 Internals:
 people who wish to exercise control over their situations.
 Externals:
 people who do not wish to exercise control over their
situations.
Psychological moderators
 Social Support
 seems to act as a buffer against the effects of stress.
 Sources of social support include:
 Emotional concern.
 Instrumental aid.
 Information.
 Appraisal.
 Socializing.
Do Men and Women respond
differently to stress?
 Females tend to “tend and befriend” which involves nurturing
and seeking the support of others.
 Males more likely to withdraw from family or start arguments.
 Evolutionary Perspective.
 Tend and Befriend promotes the survival of females who
are tending to offspring.
 Oxytocin, released during stress tends to have a calming
effect.
 This biobehavioral pattern may provide insights into why
women live an average of 71/2 years longer than men.
 Other Views.
 Differences in hormones.
 Differences may reflect learning and culture instead of
being genetically based.
 Psychology and Health
 Biological factors such as:
 pathogens, inoculations, injuries, age, gender, and a family
history of disease may be the most obvious cause of disease.
 Genes only create the predisposition toward the health problem.
 Many health problems are affected by psychological factors, such as
attitudes, emotions, and behavior.
 Stopping smoking, eating right, exercising and controlling alcohol
use would prevent a number of types of deaths.
 Headaches are the most common stress-related physical ailments.
 Muscle Tension Headaches.
 We contract muscles in the shoulders, neck, forehead, and
scalp when we get stressed.
 Most often characterized by dull, steady pain on both sides of
the head and feelings of tightness or pressure.
Coronary Heart Disease
 Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the leading cause of
death in the United States.
 Risks include:
 Family history.
 Physiological conditions.
 Patterns of consumption.
 Type A behavior.
 Hostility and holding in feelings of anger.
 Job strain.
 Chronic fatigue and chronic emotional strain.
 Sudden stressors.
 A physically inactive lifestyle.
 Cancer
 The number one killer of women in the US and number two
killer of men.
 Characterized by the development of abnormal, or mutant
cells that may take root anywhere in the body.
 Risk Factors.
 People can inherit a disposition toward cancer.
 Behaviors also contributing are:
 Smoking.
 Drinking alcohol.
 Eating animal fats.
 Sunbathing.
 Prolonged psychological conditions such as depression.
 Stress and Cancer.
 Once cancer has developed, stress can influence its course.
Psychological Factors in the
Treatment of Cancer
 Feelings of anxiety and depression are often found in
individuals suffering with cancer.
 Psychological stress due to cancer can weaken the
immune system, setting the stage for other health
problems.
 Additional treatments/suggestions include:
 Relaxation training.
 Guided imagery.
 Control is a factor in hardiness.
 Patient’s moods are connected with the functioning of
the immune system.
 Having a fighting spirit.
 Coping and Stress
 Coping refers to the human behavioral process for dealing with
Management
demands, both internal or external, in situations that are perceived as
threats.
 Effective coping depends on the type of stressor, the particular
individual, and the circumstances
 Emotion-focused coping involves trying to reduce the negative
emotional responses associated with stress such as
embarrassment, fear, anxiety, depression, excitement and
frustration
 Problem-focused coping targets the causes of stress in practical
ways which tackles the problem or stressful situation that is
causing stress, consequently directly reducing the stress. Eg.
Problem-solving, time-management, obtaining social support
 LIFE CONNECTIONS: Preventing
and Coping with Health
 Problems
Methods suggested by psychologists for coping with stress include:
 Telling yourself that you can live with another person’s
disappointment.
 Taking a deep breath and telling yourself to relax.
 Taking the scenic route to work.
 Jogging for half an hour.
 Controlling Irrational Thoughts
 People often feel pressure from own irrational thoughts
 A multi-step procedure for controlling irrational thoughts
include:
 Develop awareness of the thoughts by careful self-
examination.
 Evaluate the accuracy of the thoughts.
 Prepare thoughts that are incompatible with the irrational.
 Reward yourself with a mental pat on the back
LIFE CONNECTIONS: Preventing
and Coping with Health
Problems
 Lowering Arousal:
 Stress tends to trigger intense activity in the
sympathetic branch of the ANS.
 Arousal is a sign that something may be wrong.
 Tools that help include:
 Meditation.
 Biofeedback.
 Progressive relaxation.