STRESS AND HEALTH

STRESS

Psychological forces/stresses = press, push and pull

Psychological consequences can also affect our health

Stress demand made on an organism to adapt, cope or adjust

Eustress

Hans Selye (1907-1982)

Healthful stress

Necessary to keep us alert and occupied

Health psychology relationships between

psychological factors and the prevention and
treatment of physical health problems

Health psychologists investigate how

Psychological factors (stress, behavior patterns and attitudes)

can lead to or cause illness

People can cope with stress

Stress and pathogens (disease causing organisms) interact to

influence the immune system

People decide whether or not to seek health care

Psychological interventions (health education) and behavior

modification can contribute to physical health

Daily hassles regularly occurring conditions and

experiences that can threaten or harm our well-being

Lazarus et al. (1985)

Household hassles: preparing meals, shopping, home

maintenance

Health: physical illness, concern about medical treatment

Time pressure: too many things to do, too little time

Inner concern: loneliness, social isolation

Environmental: crime, noise, pollution

Financial responsibility: owing money

Work: job dissatisfaction, problems with coworkers

Security hassles: job security, terrorism, investments

Life changes occurs at irregular intervals, mostly positive

Peggy Blake et al. (1984)

scale of life-change units to measure the impact of life

changes among college students

highest: death of spouse/parent

Hassles and life changes predict physical health problems

People who earned 300 or more lcu within a year = greater risk for
health problems

The American Psychological Association Assessment Survey

Yearly

Money and work were the major sources of stress (2011)

Health, intimate relationships,

45% reported that stress makes them irritable or angry

tired, headaches, indigestion, tense, depressed, could cry

Listen to music to cope

Exercise, spend time with family, reading, watching TV or

movies, praying, napping, drinking, smoking

Stress of an event reflects the meaning of the event to an

individual

We appraise events and our responses depend on their perceived

danger, our values and goals, our beliefs in our coping ability and
out social situations

Conflict

feeling of being pulled in different directions by opposing motives

Stressful

Classified into four types:

Approach-approach: least stressful type of conflict, each of the

two goals is desirable and both are within reach (chocolate or
vanilla ice cream)

Avoidance-avoidance: more stressful, motivated to avoid each

of two negative goals, avoiding one, must approach other,
each potential outcome is undesirable, if highly stressful or
there is no resolution in sight, one might withdraw from the
conflict by focusing on other matters or doing nothing (dentist
vs. tooth decay)

Approach-avoidance: same goal produces both approach and

avoidance motives, goals that produce mixed motives may
seem more attractive from a distance but undesirable up close
(cheesecake)

Multiple approach-avoidance conflict: most complex form of

conflict, each of several alternative courses of action has
pluses and minuses (eve of an examination: study or movie)

Research has connected internal conflict with various health

problems

More conflict and more ambivalence about conflict more often

reported feeling anxious and depressed, more physical
complaints and significantly more visits to the college health
center

Irrational beliefs

Albert Ellis (1913-2007)

Our beliefs about events, not just the events themselves, can
be stressors

(A) Activating event (losing a job) --> (B) Beliefs (my family will
starve) --> (C) Consequence

beliefs of the person tend to catastrophize the extent of the

loss and contribute to anxiety and depression thus raising
blood pressure

Heightened emotional reaction to the loss and fostered feelings

of helplessness impair coping abilities

Proposed that many of us carry irrational beliefs

Personal ways to distress

Can give rise to problems themselves, may magnify problems

effect

It is our own cognitive appraisal, now, that causes us to be

miserable

Types of behavior patterns

Type A: people who create stress for themselves, highly driven,
competitive, impatient, hostile and aggressive, prone to getting
into auto accidents, feel rushed and pressured to keep an eye on
the clock, rapid, restless when others work slow, attempt to
dominate group discussions, find it difficult to surrender control
or share power, reluctant to delegate authority, increases own
workload, strive for continuous self-improvement, achieve in
everything they do, earn higher grades, more money, strives for
more and more, aka coronary-prone behavior pattern

Type B: relaxes more readily, less ambitious, low blood pressure,

less impatient, paces self

PSYCHOLOGICAL MODERATORS OF STRESS

Influences or moderates the effects that stressors have on us

Self-efficacy expectations
Self-efficacy ability to make things happen
Self-efficacy expectations beliefs that we can bring about
desired changes through our own efforts, affects our ability to
withstand stress
Albert Bandura et al. (1985)
Classic experiment, assessed participants self-efficacy,
exposed them to fearful stimuli, then monitored the levels of
adrenaline and nonadrenaline (secreted when in stress) in their
blood streams as they did so
Adrenaline & nonadrenaline arouse the body: accelerate heart
rate, releases glucose from the liver
Excessive arousal distracts us from coping with the task at
hand
High self-efficacy expectations: lower levels of adrenaline and
non adrenaline, calmer (because of biological and
psychological reasons), less prone to be disturbed by adverse
events, more likely to lose weight, quit smoking, wont relapse
after, better able to function in spite of pain
Alcohol abuse was correlated with self-efficacy expectations
Individuals with feelings of powerlessness are more likely to
abuse alcohol in order to lessen stress
Psychological hardiness
Helps people resist stress
Suzanne Kobasa et al.
Business executives who are able to resist illness despite
stress, completed a battery of psychological tests
3 key characteristics
Commitment: tended to involve themselves in, rather than feel
alienated from, what they were doing or encountering
Challenge: believed that change, rather than stability, is
normal in life, change = interesting incentive to personal
growth not a threat to security
Control: high in perceived control over their lives, internal locus
of control (Julian B. Rotter, 1990) = place to which an individual

attributes control over the receiving of reinforcers, either inside

or outside the self
may be more resistant to stress because they choose to face it
Saw stress as something that made life interesting
Sense of humor

Lightens the burdens of life

Helps people cope with stress

People able to produce humor in a stressful experimental

condition are less affected by stress

Exposure to humor raised the level of immunoglobin A (measure

of the functioning of the immune system) in the saliva

Laughter stimulates the output of endorphins, might enhance

the functioning of the immune system

Laughter entails positive cognitive shifts and the positive

emotions that accompany them
Predictability and control

Ability to predict a stressor moderates its impact

Allows us to brace ourselves for the inevitable and plan ways of

coping with it

Control/illusion of being in control feel that we are not at the

mercy of the fates

Desire to assume control over situation & usefulness of

information about impending stressors (more useful for internals
people who want to exercise control over situations; than
externals)
Social support

Acts as a buffer against the effects of stress

Emotional concern: listening to peoples problems, expression of

sympathy, caring, understanding, reassurance

Instrumental aid: material supports and services that facilitate

adaptive behavior

Information: guidance and advice that enhance peoples ability

to cope

Appraisal: feedback from others about how one is doing, helping

people interpret or make sense of what happened to them

Socializing: conversation, recreation, beneficial even if it is not

oriented toward solving problems

Social support is valuable; helps people cope with health

problems, natural disasters

Introverts (people who lack social skills) and people who live
alone are more prone to infectious diseases under stress

STRESS AND THE BODY

Stress has definite effects on the body which can lead to

psychological and physical health problems

Hans Selye GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome)

The bodys response to different stressors show similarities

whether its bacterial, perceived danger or a major life change

GAS group of bodily changes, mobilizes the body for action and
can eventually wear out the body, occurs in three stages:
The alarm reaction: triggered by perception of a stressor,
mobilizes or arouses the body biologically
o Walter B. Cannon (1932) this was the basis for an
instinctive fight-or-flight reaction, kicks the endocrine,
cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems into action
o Short term stress: enhances the functioning of the
immune system, helping prevent infection from
wounds
o Long term/chronic: impairs the functioning of the
immune system
o Endocrine system: Hypothalamus secretes
corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) which causes
the pituitary gland to secrete adrenocorticotrophic
hormone (ACTH) which then causes the adrenal cortex
to secrete cortisol and other corticosteroids (steroidal
hormones, helps protect the body by combating
allergic reactions and producing inflammation)
o Corticosteroids (inflammation) can cause
cardiovascular problems, increases circulation to parts
of the body that are injured, ferries hordes of white
blood cells to fend off invading pathogens
o Sympathetic division of the ANS activates the adrenal
medulla, causing it to release a mixture of adrenaline
and nonadrenaline
o Mixture arouses body by accelerating heart rate and
causing the liver to release glucose (sugar), providing
energy that fuels the fight-or-flight reaction
o Stems from prehistory
o Once the threat is removed, the body returns to a
lower state of arousal

Resistance/adaptation stage: if the alarm reaction mobilizes

the body and the stressor is not removed
o Levels of endocrine and sympathetic activity are lower
than in the alarm reaction but still higher than normal
o Person feels tense and the body remains under heavy
burden

Exhaustion stage: stressor still not dealt with adequately

o Muscles become fatigued
o Body is depleted of the resources required for
combating stress
o The parasympathetic division of the ANS may
predominate: heartbeat and respiration rate slow
down, many aspects of sympathetic activity are
reversed
o Still under stress
o Continued stress in the exhaustion stage may lead to
diseases of adaptation (connected with constriction

of blood cells and alteration of the heart rhythm, may

lead to death)

Effects of stress on the immune system

Psychoneuroimmunology: addresses the relationship among
psychological factors, the nervous system, the endocrine
system, the immune system and disease

Stress suppresses the immune system

Immune system combats disease in several ways

o Production of white blood cells (leukocytes), which
engulfs and kills pathogens; search-and-destroy foreign
agents and unhealthy cells; recognizes them by their
shapes
o Reacts to antigens (stimulates the body to mount an
immune system response to it) by generating
antibodies (formed by white blood cells) which attach
themselves to antigens, deactivating them for
destruction
o Immune system remembers how to battle antigens by
maintaining their antibodies in the blood stream
o Inflammation: blood vessels in the area of the injury
contract (to stem the bleeding) and then dilate
(increases blood flow, cells and natural chemicals =
redness, swelling and warmth), increased blood supply
floods the region with white blood cells to combat
invading microscopic life forms such as bacteria

Exhausts us because it stimulates the production of steroids

(suppresses the functioning of the immune system)
o Persistent secretion: decreases inflammation,
interferes with the formation of antibodies = more
vulnerable to infections

PSYCHOLOGY AND CHRONIC HEALTH PROBLEMS

Biophysical approach: contraction of illnesses are dependent on

the interaction of many factors:
Biological: pathogens, injuries, age, gender and family history;
genetic predispositions = interact with the environment to
express themselves
Psychological: attitudes, emotions, behavior
Sociocultural: socioeconomic status
Environmental factors
Stressors
Coronary Heart Disease: leading cause of death in the US, most
often from heart attacks
Risk factors: family history, physiological conditions
(hypertension = high blood pressure, essential hypertension =
hypertension without an identifiable cause) , patterns of
consumption, Type A behavior, job strain, chronic fatigue,
physically inactive lifestyle

Reducing risk: stopping smoking, eating healthy, reducing

hypertension and lowering LDL (harmful) serum cholesterol,
modifying Type A behavior, managing feelings of anger and
exercising regularly

Cancer: second leading cause of death, development of abnormal,

or mutant cells that take root anywhere in the body, if not
controlled early, cancerous cells may metastasize (establish
colonies elsewhere in the body), our bodies develop cancerous
cells frequently, normally destroyed by immune system

Risk factors: genetics, behavior patterns, prolonged

psychological conditions, sociocultural, stress

Reducing risk: regular medical checkups, stopping smoking,

eating healthy, exercising regularly, detected early

Not predictable responses to specific events

Some are characterized by anxiety (may suggest disorder when it is
not appropriate to the situation)
Behaviors or mental processes are suggestive of psychological
disorders when they meet some combination of the following criteria:

Unusual

Suggests faulty perception or interpretation of reality

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Behaviors or mental processes that are connected with various kinds

of distress or significant impairment in functioning

Hallucinations: hearing voices, seeing things

Ideas of persecution: paranoia, somebody out to get you
Suggest severe personal distress
Self-defeating

Causes misery rather than happiness and fulfillment

Dangerous

Hazardous to self or others

Suicidal
Behavior is socially unacceptable

Consider cultural context of a behavior pattern