Stress, Health, and Coping: Health psychology
The specialty in psychology that focuses on the interrelationships between psychological factors and physical health.
Stress
A Pressure or demand placed on an organism to adjust or adapt.
Sources of stress are called stressors
eustress: stress that is healthful
Causes of stress:
hassles: Annoyances of daily life that impose a stressful burden.
chronic stress: Continuing or lingering stress.
Stress can also result from major changes in life circumstances, which psychologists call life events or life changes.
frustration: A negative emotional state experienced when one’s efforts to pursue one’s goals are thwarted.
Psychological Moderators of Stress
Self-efficacy expectations: our beliefs that we bring about desired changes through our own efforts.
psychological hardiness: a cluster of traits that buffer stress and are characterized by commitment, challenge, and control
conflicts
A state of tension brought about by opposing response tendencies or motives operating simultaneously.
approach–approach: you feel drawn toward two positive but mutually exclusive goals at the same time.
avoidance– avoidance: you face two opposing goals, both of which are unpleasant
approach–avoidance: you face a goal that has both positive and negative qualities
multiple approach–avoidance: involves two or more goals, each with compelling positive and negative characteristics.
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSd): A psychological disorder involving a maladaptive reaction to traumatic stress.
Type A behavior pattern (TABP): A behavior pattern characterized by impatience, time urgency, competitiveness, and hostility.
acculturative stress: Demands faced by immigrants in adjusting to a host culture.
The Body’s Response to Stress
general adaptation syndrome (GAS): Selye’s term for the general pattern of bodily responses to various forms of stress.
hypothalamus pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis: The integrated system of endocrine glands involved in the body’s response to stress.
corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH): A hormone released by the hypothalamus that induces the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotrophic hormone.
adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH): A pituitary hormone that activates the adrenal cortex to release corticosteroids (cortical steroids).
adrenal glands: A pair of endocrine glands located just above the kidneys that produce various stress-related hormones.
adrenal cortex: The outer layer of the adrenal glands that secretes corticosteroids (cortical steroids).
corticosteroids: Adrenal hormones that increase the body’s resistance to stress by increasing the availability of stored nutrients to meet the increased energy demands of coping with stressful events. Also called cortical steroids.
adrenal medulla: The inner part of the adrenal glands that secretes the stress hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline).
lymphocytes: White blood cells that protect the body against disease-causing organisms.
antigens: Substances, such as bacteria and viruses, that are recognized by the immune system as foreign to the body and that induce it to produce antibodies to defend against them.
antibodies: Protein molecules produced by the immune system that serve to mark antigens for destruction by specialized lymphocytes.
vaccination: A method of acquiring immunity by means of injecting a weakened or partial form of an infectious agent that can induce production of antibodies but does not produce a fullblown infection.
Psychology and Chronic Health Problems
arteries: Blood vessels that carry oxygen rich blood from the heart through the circulatory system.
coronary heart disease (CHD): The most common form of heart disease, caused by blockages in coronary arteries, the vessels that supply the heart with blood.
atherosclerosis: A form of arteriosclerosis involving the narrowing of artery walls resulting from the buildup of fatty deposits or plaque. plaque: In the circulatory system, fatty deposits that accumulate along artery walls.
arteriosclerosis: A condition in which artery walls become thicker and lose elasticity. Commonly called hardening of the arteries.
Cancer: characterized by the development of abnormal, or mutant, cells that may take root anywhere in the body.
Risk factors:
basal cell carcinoma: A form of skin cancer that is easily curable if detected and removed early.
melanoma: The most deadly form of skin cancer.
malignant tumors: Uncontrolled growths of body cells that invade surrounding tissue and spread to other parts of the body.
sexually transmitted disease (STD): A disease caused by an infectious agent that is spread by sexual contact. Also called a sexually transmitted infection or STI.
