Defining Health and stress
Health and ill health: According to the world health organisation health is 'a state of complete
physical, mental and social well- being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity'. Ill health is
therefore any deviation from this healthy state.
Biomedical definition: The biomedical definition views health/ illness in terms of physical or
biological factors. It defines illness as a 'physical disease' which is diagnosed by a medical
professional from a person symptom. The illness is treated, often in a hospital, with physical
methods which aim to address the physical/biological causes. The approach tends to define health
as 'the absence of illness'. A healthy person is therefore someone who is free from disease, pain,
and disability. When we become ill, the aim of the treatment is not really to enhance our health but
to return us to our pre-illness condition.
Focus is on biological functioning and strongly associated with medical science and technological
advances.
Biopsychosocial definition Engel was one of the first medica practitioners to argue that the
biomedical definition does not consider all the factors that play a role in health and illness. This
suggests that health/illness is the result of several interacting factors. Biological characteristics,
alongside psychological characteristics, and social environment. Treatment considers all 3 factors.
This approach aims to enhance the person's health rather than just make them 'not ill'. It also
focuses on prevention, leading to the development of educational programmes designed to promote
healthy lifestyles, such as exercising. This approach is very influential in the treatment of mental
disorders.
Extremely good health Good health Average Health Poor health Extremely poor health
Someone who has extremely good health is functioning well in all or most of these areas. Someone who has extremely poor
health has more than just a physical health, e.g. experiencing great stress in their personal life
Stress: this is an emotional response to situations of threat. Such threat is called stressors. They may be physical or
psychological. Some of these stressors are:
Physical stressors: there are many things in the environment that create stress, such as temperature, noise, and
overcrowding
Psychological Stressors: there are 4 main ones, major events in our lives, everyday annoyances, the workplace, and
our own personalities
Physiological stress: refers to how the body physically responds to a stressor, such as increased heart rate
Psychological stress: is the emotion you experience when a stressor occurs
Just because a stressor happens to you, this does not mean you will experience psychological stress. It depends on how you
think about the stressor and your ability to cope with it. Psychological stress occurs when the perceived demands of your
environment are greater than your perceived demands of your environment are greater than your perceived ability to cope
with. The key feature of coping is our perception of the resources we have available to combat the stressor. Resources can
be internal/external, such as bouncing back or seeking social support. It is important that you believe your coping
resources are enough to overcome the stressor.
,Physiological and behavioural addiction
Addiction is a mental health problem in which an individual takes a substance or engages in a
behaviour that is pleasurable but eventually becomes compulsive with harmful consequences,
Physiological addiction
The key aspect of addiction is a physiological effect, there are 2 signs that indicate when a person is
physiologically addicted to a substance:
1. When a person stops taking a substance, they experience withdrawal effects, which is likely
to lead to a relapse.
2. Over time, the person needs a bigger dose of the substance to get the same effect
BEHAVIOURAL ADDICTION
A person can become addicted to a behaviour such as gambling rather than a chemical substance.
They are judged to be addicted because the behaviour produces the same physical effects as a
chemical substance.
Griffith' six components of addiction
1. Physical and psychological dependence occurs when it becomes impossible to lead a normal
life without the substance or behaviour. Salience means that the addictive behaviour comes
to dominate the individual's life. It is their most important activity, at the centre of their
thinking, feelings, and behaviour
2. Tolerance occurs when an individual requires increased doses of the substance in order to
achieve effects originally produced by lower doses. For example, an addicted gambler may
need to place bigger and bigger bets to get the 'rush' they used to get.
3. Withdrawal refers to the effects that occur when an individual suddenly reduces or ceases
the addictive activity. This can be divided into physiological ones such as headaches and
psychological ones such as low mood.
4. Relapse happens when a person repeatedly reverts to their earlier dependent patterns of
behaviour after having given them up. This can happen even after an exceptionally long
period of abstinence.
5. Conflict a person's addictive behaviour almost inevitably gives rises to conflict. Interpersonal
conflict occurs between an addicted person and other people. The addict frequently chooses
short term pleasure and ignores the consequences of their behaviour, creating conflicts in
relationships and work. Intrapersonal conflict occurs within the person, where they
experience a loss of control because they want to stop behaving in ways that are damaging
6. Mood Alteration an addictive activity such as gambling produces various positive and
negative subjective experiences, they may feel a 'rush' The same substance or activity can
produce different mood-altering effects on different occasions.
, Health belief of the model
Key concepts
The health belief model is a psychological theory that tries to explain why people do or do not engage
in healthy behaviour, relating the behaviour back to a person's beliefs this ca be summed up into 3
questions:
Perceived seriousness
Whether a person changes their behaviour or not depends partly on how severe they think the
consequences will be if they do not change. Perceived seriousness is not just about health, it
includes other outcomes as well, for example the effects on family, work, and social relationships.
For example, people may not see contracting chlamydia as bad enough to wear protection but
would feel differently about HIV
Perceived susceptibility
This means people must believe they are particularly vulnerable to the disease. Considering the
condom example if the person considers HIV as a 'gay disease' and consider themselves completely
heterosexual they will probably not perceive themselves as susceptible.
Cost – benefit analysis
The perceived benefits of a health- related action are balanced against obstacles that stop the
person taking that action.
Perceived benefits: In order to start using condoms during sex, the person must believe that this
action will bring them benefits. The main benefit is that a condom is an effective way of protecting
themselves and their partner.
Perceived barriers: With this example perceived barriers may be the inconvenience of using
condoms during the sex, the belief this leads to a lack of pleasure and the suggestion of the lack of
trust in a relationship.
Modifying factors
Demographic variables: characteristics such as age, gender, and culture.
Cues to action: internal cues such as symptoms or external cues such as media campaigns or
awareness
Self – efficacy: Referring to the persons expectations that they are capable of making a
behavioural change
Evaluation
in developing practical interventions to change health Have not been welcomed by everyone as Zimmerman
related behaviour. Studies showed an increase in argued once self-efficacy and demographic factors are
people seeking cancer screening, showing how HBM is added, the HBM becomes a different model
a valid explanation of how people can shift their altogether
behaviour healthily The model assumes that people make rational
There is strong credibility as it was developed by health decisions, suggesting there may be other
researchers and practitioners psychological factors involved
, The health belief model
Becker et al: Compliance with a medical regimen for asthma
Aims: Wanted to use the health belief model to explain mothers' compliance with asthma
treatment for their children
Procedure: The participants were 111 mothers of children diagnosed with asthma and who
attended an emergency clinic to treat an asthma attack. Each mother was interviewed about
their attitudes towards health-related matters, such as seriousness of asthma, and whether
they complied with the treatment plan
Findings: There was positive correlations between mother's compliance with giving
prescribed medicine and
Perception of the seriousness of their Childs asthma
Beliefs about their child's susceptibility to asthma attacks
Beliefs about seriousness
There were 4 perceived barriers: trouble getting prescriptions; problems with the schedule
for giving the drug; children complaining about the taste of medicine and disruption to
everyday activities. Only 2 demographic variables were influential – married and higher
educated mothers were more likely to comply.
Conclusions: The HBM is useful in predicting compliance with medical treatment plans even
in cases of long-term conditions such as asthma. The findings confirm the validity of each
major component of the HBM as predictors of health- related behaviours
A strength with Becker et al was the One weakness is that the researchers
researchers collected 2 types of data. They conducted interviews under extremely
asked mothers which was a self-report, they stressful conditions. The participants were
also took blood samples. Because there was attending hospital during an emergency as
an extraordinarily strong positive correlation their child was having an asthma attack.
between the 2 measures, this suggests there Therefore, the mother's responses under
was no need to confirm the mothers' these conditions may have been different in
subjective self-reports. This showed that other circumstances. This means the
simply asking mothers if they had complied influences of the 4 components may have
was a valid measure and could be used in been overestimated in the study.
other studies
