This is a comprehensive and detailed summary on Chapter 16; health psychology for the book Psychology by Saundra K. Ciccarelli.
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Health Psychology- addresses factors that influence well-being and illness, as well as measures
that can be taken to promote health and prevent illness.
Stress – a pattern of cognitive appraisals, physiological responses and behavioral tendencies that
occur in response to a perceived imbalance between situational demands and the resources
needed to cope with them.
Stress can view in 3 different ways: as a stimulus, as a response and as an ongoing interaction
between an organism and its environment.
Stressors- the stimuli of stress – demanding or threatening situations.
Stressors differ in severity. Micro-stressors are the daily hassles and minor annoyances that we
experience. Major negative events are more severe stressors; these include deaths of loved ones,
serious illness, failure in academic career etc. These major negative events require major effort in
order to cope. A positive life event can sometimes counter or even cancel out the impact of a
negative event.
Stress response- has cognitive, psychological and behavioral components.
Primary appraisal- interpreting the situation as either benign, neutral/irrelevant or threatening in
terms of its demands and its significance for your well-being.
Secondary appraisal- appraising your perceived ability to cope with the situation, that it, the
resources you have to deal with it.
We respond to stress by using these appraisals.
Four aspects of the appraisal process are particularly significant:
Appraisal of the nature and demands of the situation (primary appraisal)
Appraisal of the resources available to cope with it (secondary appraisal)
Judgments of what consequences of the situation could be
Appraisal of the personal meaning, that it, what the outcome might imply about us.
Physiological response to Stress
The appraisals we use when dealing with stress, also affect your physiological response. The
appraisals and physiological responses have effects on one another, for instance the sensory
feedback from your body’s response can cause you to reappraise how stressful the situation is,
and whether or not your resources are sufficient enough to cope with the stress. For example:
You find yourself trembling and feel your heart racing as you enter a room for a job interview,
, this physiological response may cause you to reappraise the situation as even more threatening
that you had initially.
The General Adaption Syndrome (GAS) consists of three stages: alarm, resistance and
exhaustion. This syndrome describes the physiological response pattern to strong and prolonged
stressors. The alarm reaction occurs immediately after a stressful event and causes the release of
stress hormones by the endocrine system. Your body aims to remain on ‘red alert’ and so
responds with the second resistance stage. During this stage the body continues to release stress
hormones. This stage lasts much longer than the first, sometimes up until the body’s resources
are depleted, ultimately leading to the last stage, exhaustion. It is this last stage that can cause
your body’s immune system to malfunction, which can lead to other health problems.
Many people who have experience severe stress can have long lasting negative effects such as
anxiety and depression. Psychological researchers have concluded that ‘stress causes distress’.
Severe and ongoing stress can have devastating effects that cause illness and even death.
The death of a spouse can increase the mortality rate of the surviving partner, simply because of
the stress brought about from his/her partner’s death. Long terms stress is also known to increase
the risk of illness and even to worsen already present medical conditions. Stress hormones can
damage the lining of arteries and reduce fat metabolism which in turn can cause heart attacks and
strokes. Stress will very often lead to smoking, alcohol and drug use, sleep loss, under/over
eating and other health-compromising behavior.
Stress and Ageing
Stress can speed up the ageing process. Aging in itself can also cause stress. These two factors
together can cause people to become overstressed and ‘age before our eyes’.
Stress and the Immune System
Immune systems can be weakened as a result of stress. This can be a direct result of the stress
hormones, or an indirect result from the use of substance abuse or lack of sleep which in turn
will weaken the immune system. There are two types of immune reactions. Natural immunity
and Specific immunity. Natural immunity occurs quickly due to an immune system challenge. An
example of this would be inflammation. Cytokines-help produce fever and inflammation,
promote healing of injured tissue and activate and direct other immune cells. Specific immunity is
a more targeted process which takes longer to occur. Research results support a biphasic model
in which acute stress enhances the immune system response, whereas chronic stress suppresses
it.
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