1. Health Psychology
Chapter 14
14-1

2. Health Psychology
• Health psychology is concerned with the
social and psychological factors that
influence health and illness.
14-2

3. Stress and Coping
Define stress
A biological reaction to external
events; hormones are
released that cause a rise
in heart rate, blood
pressure, and respiration.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
14-3

4. Stress and Illness
• Stressors are
demands that give
rise to the general
adaptation syndrome
(GAS), which consists
of three stages:
alarm, resistance, and
exhaustion.
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/livepsych/media/interface/index.htm?atitle=14.1%20Stress%20and%20Selye%27s
14-4

5. Stress and Illness
• Among the circumstances that could lead to stress are
catastrophes, major life changes such as divorce, traumatic
events and hassles.
• Associated with physiological responses such as increased
levels of stress hormones
• High levels of life change associated with Illness.
• Interpretation often determines whether event is stressful.
Schedule of Recent Experience:
http://www.mindtools.com/stress/ps/ScheduleofRecentExperience.htm
Social Readjustment Rating Scale:
http://chipts.ucla.edu/assessment/Assessment_Instruments/Assessment_files_ne
14-5

6. Stress and Illness
• Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in
aftermath of disturbing experience.
• A reliving of the traumatic event in
dreams, flashbacks, or intrusive thoughts.
14-6

7. Stress and Illness
• Everyday minor annoyances can
accumulate and become associated with
subsequent health problems.
• Psychosomatic illnesses
• Conflicts
14-7

8. Stress/Perfomance Connection
14-8

9. Stress and Illness
• A wide variety of stressful events can affect
immune system functioning.
• These sometimes result in psychophysiological
illnesses
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/livepsych/media/interface/index.htm?atitle=14.2%20Stress%20and%20the%20Immune%
14-9

10. Ethnic and Gender Variations in Health
• Differences in health among blacks and
whites disappear when holding SES constant.
• Gender also makes a difference in health.
– E.g., Arthritis more common
in men < 45;
in women > 45
14-10

11. Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk
• The number one cause of death in the
United States is heart disease.
• There is a strong association between
men and heart disease.
14-11

12. Heart Disease in Middle Adulthood
• A) Modifiable Factors B) Non Modifiable Factors
• Stress • Increasing age
• High Cholesterol • Male
• High Triglycerides • Family History
• Low HDL Cholesterol
• Lack of Exercise
• Diabetes
• High Blood Pressure
• Overweight or obesity
• Smoking /
Chewing Tobacco
• Type A personality/
Behavior
14-12

13. Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk
• Type A individuals tend to be aggressive,
competitive, impatient, and have difficulty
relaxing.
• The Western Collaborative Group Study
indicated that a Type A individual was twice as
likely to develop heart disease as the more
relaxed and easygoing Type B person.
• Subsequent studies do not replicate this finding
• Type H
14-13

14. 14-14

15. Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk
• Efforts to change type
A behavior reduced
the rate of recurrent
heart attacks as
compared with the
rate among victims
who received typical
heart patient
counseling

16. Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk
• AIDS is now the 19th leading cause of
death in the United States (5th among
35-44 yr-olds).
• Stress speeds onset of symptoms
• AIDS cases among men is substantially
higher than the number of cases among
women.
14-16

17. Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk
• Men and women
differ in their
likelihood of being
exposed to infection
with HIV.
14-17

18. Coping With Stress
• Physical activity is
associated with
increased longevity
and positive benefits
on physical and
psychological health.
14-18

19. Coping With Stress
• Hardiness
• Outlook
• Distractions
• Social Support
• Sense of humor
14-19