Post on 16-Dec-2015
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Chapter 15
Health, Stress, and Coping
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Health Psychology and Behavioral Risk Factors
Health Psychology: Uses behavioral principles to prevent illness and promote healthBehavioral Medicine: Applies psychology to manage medical problems e.g., asthma and diabetesLifestyle Diseases: Diseases related to health-damaging personal habits
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Health Psychology and Behavioral Risk Factors (cont.)
Behavioral Risk Factors: Behaviors that increase the chances of disease, injury, or premature death
Disease-Prone Personality: Personality type associated with poor health; person tends to be chronically depressed, anxious, hostile, and frequently ill
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Ways to Promote Health and Early Prevention
Refusal Skills Training: Program that teaches young people how to resist pressures to begin smokingLife Skills Training: Teaches stress reduction, self-protection, decision making, self-control, and social skillsRole Model: Person who serves as a positive example of good and desirable behaviorWellness: Positive state of good health and well-being
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Fig. 15.1 The nine leading causes of death in the United States are shown in this graph. As you can see, eight of the top nine causes are directly related to behavioral risk factors (infection is the exception). At least 45 percent of all deaths can be traced to unhealthful behavior. Although suicide is not shown here, it is the seventh most common cause of death. On this graph, suicides are included in the categories: death by toxic agents, firearms, motor vehicles, and drugs. (Data from McGinnis & Foege, 1993.)
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Table 15.2 – Major health-promoting behaviors
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Stress
Mental and physical condition that occurs when a person must adjust or adapt to the environment Includes marital and financial problems
Stress Reaction: Physical reaction to stress Autonomic Nervous System is aroused
Stressor: Condition or event that challenges or threatens the personPressure: When a person must meet urgent external demands or expectations
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Fig. 15.2. Stress is the product of an interchange between a person and the environment.
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
CNN - Shrinking Brains
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Burnout
Burnout: Job-related condition (usually in helping professions) of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustionEmotional Exhaustion: Feel “used up” and
apathetic toward workCynicism: Detachment from the jobFeeling of reduced personal
accomplishment
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Appraising Stressors
Threat: Event or situation perceived as potentially harmful
Primary Appraisal: Deciding if a situation is relevant or irrelevant, positive or threatening
Secondary Appraisal: Assess resources and decide how to cope with a threat or challenge
Perceived lack of control is just as threatening as an actual lack of control
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Threats and FrustrationProblem-Focused Coping: Managing or altering the distressing situationEmotion-Focused Coping: Trying to control one’s emotional reactions to the situationFrustration: Negative emotional state that occurs when one is prevented from reaching desired goals External Frustration: Based on external conditions
that impede progress toward a goal Personal Frustration: Caused by personal
characteristics that impede progress toward a goal
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Reactions to Frustration
Aggression: Any response made with the intention of harming a person, animal, or object
Displaced Aggression: Redirecting aggression to a target other than the source of one’s frustration
Scapegoating: Blaming a person or group for conditions they did not create; the scapegoat is a habitual target of displaced aggression
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Reactions to Frustration (cont.)
Escape: May mean actually leaving a source of frustration (dropping out of school) or psychologically escaping (apathy)
Conflict: Stressful condition that occurs when a person must choose between contradictory needs, desires, motives, or demands
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Fig. 15.3 Frustration and common reactions to it.
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Conflicts
Approach-Approach Conflicts: Having to choose between two desirable or positive alternatives (e.g., choosing between a new BMW or Mercedes)Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts: Being forced to choose between two negative or undesirable alternatives (e.g., choosing between going to the doctor or contracting cancer) NOT choosing may be impossible or undesirable
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Fig. 15.4 Three basic forms of conflict. For this woman, choosing between pie and ice cream is a minor approach-approach conflict; deciding whether to take a job that will require weekend work is an approach-avoidance conflict; and choosing between paying higher rent and moving is an avoidance-avoidance conflict.
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Fig. 15.5 Conflict diagrams. As shown by the colored areas in the graphs, desires to approach and to avoid increase near a goal. The effects of these tendencies are depicted below each graph. The “behavior” of the ball in each example illustrates the nature of the conflict above it. An approach conflict (left) is easily decided. Moving toward one goal will increase its attraction (graph) and will lead to a rapid resolution. (If the ball moves in either direction, it will go all the way to one of the goals.) In an avoidance conflict (center), tendencies to avoid are deadlocked, resulting in inaction. In an approach-avoidance conflict (right), approach proceeds to the point where desires to approach and avoid cancel each other. Again, these tendencies are depicted (below) by the action of the ball. (Graphs after Miller, 1944.)
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Conflicts (cont.)
Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: Being attracted (drawn to) and repelled by the same goal or activity; attraction keeps person in the situation, but negative aspects can cause distress
Ambivalence: Mixed positive and negative feelings; central characteristic of approach-avoidance conflicts
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Multiple Conflicts
Double Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: Each alternative has both positive and negative qualitiesVacillation: When one is attracted to both choices; seeing the positives and negatives of both choices and going “back and forth” before deciding, if deciding at all!Multiple Approach-Avoidance Conflicts: When several alternatives have positive and negative features
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Anxiety
Feelings of tension, uneasiness, apprehension, worry, and vulnerability We are motivated to avoid experiencing
anxiety
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Freudian Defense Mechanisms; Psychological Defenders of You!
Defense Mechanisms: Habitual and unconscious (in most cases) mental processes designed to reduce anxiety Work by avoiding, denying, or distorting sources of threat or
anxiety If used short term, can help us get through everyday
situations If used long term, we may end up not living in reality Most operate unconsciously Protect idealized self-image so we can live with ourselves
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Freudian Defense Mechanisms: Some Examples
Denial: Most primitive; refusing to accept or believe reality; usually occurs with death and illness
Repression: When painful memories, anxieties, and so on are unconsciously held out of our awareness
Reaction Formation: Impulses are repressed and the opposite behavior is exaggerated
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
More Freudian Defense Mechanisms
Projection: When one’s own feelings, shortcomings, or unacceptable traits and impulses are seen in others; exaggerating negative traits in others lowers anxiety
Rationalization: Justifying personal actions by giving “rational” but false reasons for them
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Learned Helplessness (Seligman)
Acquired (learned) inability to overcome obstacles and avoid aversive stimuli; learned passivityOccurs when events appear to be
uncontrollableMay feel helpless if failure is attributed to
lasting, general factors
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Fig. 15.6 In the normal course of escape and avoidance learning, a light dims shortly before the floor is electrified (a). Since the light does not yet have meaning for the dog, the dog receives a shock (non-injurious, by the way) and leaps the barrier (b). Dogs soon learn to watch for the dimming of the light (c) and to jump before receiving a shock (d). Dogs made to feel “helpless” rarely even learn to escape shock, much less to avoid it.
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Depression
State of feeling despondent defined by feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness One of the most common mental problems in the
world Childhood depression is dramatically increasing Some symptoms: Loss of appetite or sex drive,
decreased activity, sleeping too much
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Mastery Training
Mastery Training: Responses are reinforced that lead to mastery of a threat or control over one’s environmentOne method to combat learned
helplessness and depression
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
How to Recognize Depression (Beck)
You have a consistently negative opinion of yourselfYou engage in frequent self-criticism and self-blameYou place negative interpretations on events that usually would not bother youThe future looks grimYou can’t handle your responsibilities and feel overwhelmed
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
CNN – Elderly Depression
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Stress and Health
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS): Rates the impact of various life events on the likelihood of contracting illness Not a foolproof method of rating stress Are positive life events (getting married, having a
child) always stressful? People also differ in their reactions to stress
Microstressors (Hassles): Minor but frequent stresses
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Psychosomatic Disorders
Psychological factors contribute to actual illnesses (bodily damage) or to damaging changes in bodily functioningHypochondriacs: Complain about diseases that appear to be imaginaryCertain kinds of ulcers are not
psychosomaticMost common complaints: respiratory and
gastrointestinal
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Biofeedback
Applying informational feedback to bodily controlAids voluntary regulation of activities such
as blood pressure, heart rate, and so onHelpful but not an instant cureMay help relieve muscle-tension
headaches, migraine headaches, and chronic pain
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Fig. 15.7 In biofeedback training, bodily processes are monitored and processed electronically. A signal is then routed back to the patient through headphones, signal lights, or other means. This information helps the patient alter bodily activities not normally under voluntary control.
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Cardiac Personalities
Type A Personality: Personality type with elevated risk of heart attack; characterized by time urgency and chronic anger or hostility
Anger may be the key factor of this behavior
Type B Personality: All types other than Type A’s; unlikely to have a heart attack
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Hardy Personality
Personality type associated with superior stress resistance
Sense of personal commitment to self and family
Feel they have control over their livesSee life as a series of challenges, not
threats
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS; Selye)
Series of bodily reactions to prolonged stress; occurs in three stages Alarm Reaction: Body resources are mobilized to
cope with added stress Stage of Resistance: Body adjusts to stress but at
a high physical cost; resistance to other stressors is lowered
Stage of Exhaustion: Body’s resources are drained and stress hormones are depleted, possibly resulting in psychosomatic disease, loss of health, or complete collapse
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Immunity (Similar to “Survivor”?)
Immune System: Mobilizes bodily defenses, like white blood cells, against invading microbes and other diseases
Psychoneuroimmunology: Study of connections among behavior, stress, disease, and immune system
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Stress Management
Use of behavioral strategies to reduce stress and improve coping skillsProgressive Relaxation: Produces deep relaxation throughout the body by tightening all muscles in an area and then relaxing themGuided Imagery: Visualizing images that are calming, relaxing, or beneficial
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
CNN – Road Rage
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Avoiding Upsetting Thoughts
Stress Inoculation: Using positive coping statements internally to control fear and anxiety; designed to combat:Negative Self-Statements: Self-critical
thoughts that increase anxiety and lower performance
Coping Statements: Reassuring, self-enhancing statements used to stop negative self-statements
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Meditation
Mental exercise designed to focus attention and interrupt flow of thoughts, worries, and analysesConcentrative Meditation: Attention is paid to a single focal point (i.e., object, thought, etc.) Produces relaxation response and thus works to
reduce stress
Receptive Meditation: Based on widening attention span to become aware of everything experienced at a given moment
Table of ContentsTable of Contents ExitExit
Meditation (cont.)
Mantra: Word(s) or sound(s) repeated silently during concentrative meditation
Relaxation Response: Occurs at time of relaxation; innate physiological response that opposes fight or flight responses