- Information
- AI Chat
Chapter 14 – Stress, Lifestyle, Health
General Psychology (PSYCH 1)
Santa Monica College
Recommended for you
Related Studylists
PsycPreview text
Chapter 14 – Stress, lifestyle, and health
What is stress?
Stress : process whereby an individual perceives and responds to events that he appraises as overwhelming or threatening to his well-being
Stressors : demanding or threatening events à How we appraise (judge) them, influences our reactions to them
Primary appraisal : judgment about the degree of potential harm or threat to well-being that a stressor might entail
- Stressor appraised as threat if thought that it could lead to harm, loss, or other negative consequences
Secondary appraisal : judgment of the options available to cope with a stressor, as well as perceptions of how effective such options will be (cfr.: self-efficacy) à Environmental events trigger stress reactions by the way they’re interpreted and the meanings they’re assigned
Eustress (Selye, 1974): good kind of stress associated with positive feelings, optimal health, and performance à A moderate amount of stress can be beneficial in challenging situations
Distress : when stress exceeds the optimal level, it’s no longer a positive force, but becomes excessive and debilitating
Stress levels have been raising is the past years
Stress evokes physiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses
Health psychology : subfield of psychology devoted to understanding the importance of psychological influences on health, illness, and how people respond when they become ill; why people make certain lifestyle choices, effectiveness of interventions aimed at changing unhealthy behaviors, identify which groups of people are especially at risk for negative health outcomes
Fight-or-flight response (Cannon, 1932): when experiencing very strong emotions (Especially those associated with threat perception), the body is rapidly aroused by activation of both sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system à Helps prepare to either fight or flee from a perceived threat
- Built-in mechanism that assists in maintaining homeostasis à Adaptive response
- Pupils dilate, respiration quickens (bronchial tubes dilate), heart rate increases, muscles tens and may tremble
General adaptation syndrome : body’s nonspecific physiological response to stress
- Alarm reaction (stage): body’s immediate reaction upon facing a threatening situation or emergency, kind of analogous to flight-or-fight response
- Resistance (stage): the initial shock of alarm reaction has worn off and the body has adapted to the stressor; the body remains on alert and is prepared to respond like during alarm reaction, but with less intensity
- Exhaustion (stage): no longer ability to adapt to the stressor, physical wear takes its toll on the body’s tissues and organs à Illness, disease, and other permanent damage to the body (to death)
Sympathetic nervous system : activated when perception of something as stressful, release of adrenaline from the adrenal glands (which activates fight-or-flight response)
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis : activated with the sympathetic nervous system, works more slowly
Hypothalamus : releases corticotrophin-releasing factor, hormone that causes the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which then activates the adrenal glands to secret some hormones into the bloodstream (ex. cortisol, which can affect virtually every organ in the body)
Cortisol : stress hormone, provides boost of energy when first encountering a stressor, preparing to fight or flee; too high levels weaken the immune system
Stressors
For individuals to experience stress, they must first encounter a potential stressor
Traumatic events or situations in which a person is exposed to actual or threatened death or serious injury
PTSD: chronic stress reaction characterized by experiences and behaviors that may include intrusive and painful memories of the stressor event, jumpiness, persistent negative emotional states, detachment from others, angry outbursts, and avoidance of reminders of the event
Many potential stressors involve events or situations that require us to make changes in our ongoing lives and require time as we adjust to those changes
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) : 43 scored life events that require varying degrees of personal readjustment (including eustress events) à Provide the amount of stress in people’s lives
- Doesn’t take into consideration individual appraisal of those life events
Accumulating a high number of life change units within a brief period (1-2 years) is related to a wide range of physical illnesses and mental health problems
Daily hassles : minor irritations and annoyances that are part of our everyday lives; they can build on one another and leave us just as stressed as life change events
- More strongly associated with physical health problems than life change events
Job strain : work situation that combines excessive job demands and workload with little discretion in decision making or job control; reinforced by chronic occupational stress
Job burnout : general sense of emotional exhaustion and cynicism in relation to one’s job
- Feelings of having invested considerable evergy, effort, and time into one’s work while receiving little in return
- Three dimensions
- Exhaustion: sense that one’s emotional resources are drained or that one’s at the end of their rope and has nothing more to give at a psychological level
- Depersonalization: sense of emotional detachment between the worker and the recipients of their services, often resulting in callous, cynical, or indifferent attitudes toward these individuals
- Diminished personal accomplishment: tendency to evaluate one’s work negatively by
Stress and illness
Psychophysiological disorders : physical disorders or diseases whose symptoms are brought about or worsened by stress and emotional factors
Immune system : body’s surveillance system; protection of the body from invading microorganisms that can harm or damage the body’s tissues and organs
Autoimmune disease: sometimes the immune system functions erroneously and attacks healthy cells
Immunosuppression : decreased effectiveness of the immune system à Susceptibility to any infection, illnesses, and diseases (ex. AIDS caused by HIV)
Perceived control : our beliefs about our personal capacity to exert influence over and shape outcomes; major implication for our health and happiness à Lower risk for physical health problems
Social support : soothing impact of friends, family, and acquaintances; psychosocial factor positively affecting health, relieves stress
Relaxation response technique : combination of relaxation with transcendental meditation
Biofeedback : technique that uses electronic equipment to accurately measure a person’s neuromuscular and autonomic activity, feedback is provided in the form of visual or auditory signals, developing strategies that help gain some level of voluntary control over normally involuntary bodily processes
The pursuit of happiness
Happiness: ambiguous, definable from different perspectives
Happiness as three elements: pleasant life, good life, and meaningful life
Pleasant life : realized through the attainment of day-to-day pleasures that add fun, joy, and excitement to our lives
Good life : achieved through identifying our unique skills and abilities and engaging in these talents to enrich our lives à Absorption in work of recreational pursuits
Meaningful life : deep sense of fulfillment that comes from using own talents in the service of the greater good, benefitting life of others or making the world a better place
Happiness : enduring state of mind consisting of joy, contentment, and other positive emotions, plus the sense that one’s life has meaning and value à Long term state
Factors that contribute to happiness: age, family, social relationships, social support network, religiosity (for nations with difficult living conditions), living conditions
We eventually emotionally adapt to changing emotional circumstances in our lives, adjusting the emotional to new normal à Dramatic life events have much less long-lasting impact on happiness than might be expected
Average national happiness scores relate strongly to six variables: GDP (reflects the country’s economic standard of living), social support, freedom to make important life choices, healthy life expectancy, freedom from perceived corruption in government and business, and generosity
Positive psychology : science of happiness, area of study that seeks to identify and promote those qualities that lead to greater fulfillment in our lives
- Study of altruism, empathy, creativity, forgiveness, compassion, importance of positive emotions, enhancement of the immune system functioning, strengthening virtues to increase happiness
Positive affect : pleasurable engagement with the environment; happiness, joy, enthusiasm, alertness, excitement
- Its characteristics can be brief, long-lasting, trait-like
Optimism : general tendency to look on the bright side of things; predictor of positive health outcomes
Flow : experience that is so engaging and engrossing that it becomes worth doing it for its own sake; people become more involved in an activity that they feel like they lose themselves in it, effortlessly maintaining concentration and focus
Chapter 15 – Psychological Disorders
What are psychological disorders?
Psychological disorder : condition characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Psychopathology : study of psychological disorders, including their symptoms, and treatment; can also refer to the manifestation of a psychological disorder
Etiology : the causes of psychological disorders
Atypical : deviating from the norm, could signify the presence of a psychological disorder (not necessarily)
Harmful dysfunction : dysfunction occurs when an internal mechanism breaks down and can no longer perform its normal function; its presence doesn’t determine a disorder; it must be harmful in that it leads to negative consequences for the individual or for others (as judged by the standards of the individual’s culture), the harm could include significant internal anguish or problems in day-to-day living
Criteria of the condition of psychological disorder (APA)
- There are significant disturbances in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
- The disturbances reflect biological, psychological, or developmental dysfunction
- The disturbances lead to significant distress or disability in one’s life
- The disturbances don’t reflect expected or culturally approved responses to certain events
à Inner experiences and behaviors can vary in their intensity, but they’re only considered disordered when they’re highly disturbing to us and/or others, suggest a dysfunction in normal mental functioning, and are associated with significant distress or disability in physical or occupational activities
Diagnosing and classifying psychological disorders
Diagnosis : appropriately identifying and labeling a set of defined symptoms à Essential to guide proper and successful treatment
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) , published by APA in 2013: categorization of psychological disorders, each disorder is described in detail
- Overview of the disorder (diagnostic features)
- Specific symptoms required for diagnosis (diagnostic criteria)
- Prevalence information (percent of the population thought to be affected by the disorder)
- Risk factors associated with the disorder
- Comorbidity : co-occurrence of two disorders
- Used for research
- More explicit disorder criteria and extensive explanatory text
Internal Classification of Diseases (ICD) , published by the World Health Organization (WHO): categories and criteria like the DSM
- Used for clinical diagnosis
Psychological disorders represent extremes of inner experience and behavior
People with psychological disorders are more than just embodiments of their disorders, a psychological disorder is not what a person is, something that a person has, through no fault of their own
These individuals deserve to be viewed and treated with compassion, understanding, and dignity
Safety behaviors : mental or behavioral acts that reduce anxiety in social situations by reducing the chance of negative social outcomes
- Performed by people with social anxiety disorders and are unable to avoid situations that provoke anxiety
- These actions actually exacerbate the problem because they don’t allow the individual to disconfirm their negative beliefs, often eliciting rejection and other negative reactions from others
- Ex.: avoiding eye contact, rehearsing sentences before speaking, talking only briefly, not talking about oneself
Behavioral inhibition: inherited trait, characterized by a consistent tendency to show fear and restraint when presented with unfamiliar people or situations
- Major risk factor for developing social anxiety
- Displayed very early in life
Panic disorder : recurrent and unexpected panic attacks, along with at least one month of persistent concern about additional panic attacks, worry over the consequences of the attacks, or self-defeating changes in behavior related to the attacks (experience an unexpected panic attack to qualify for a diagnosis)
- Often characterized as fear of fear because people fear future panic attacks so preoccupy to modify their behavior in effort to avoid future panic attacks
- Locus coeruleus : region of the brain that plays a role in this disorder, major source of norepinephrine (neurotransmitters that triggers fight-or-flight response)
- Cognitive factors may play a part in panic disorder, such as being prone to interpret ordinary bodily sensations catastrophically (which creates fear and anxiety triggering additional physical symptoms)
Panic attack : period of extreme fear or discomfort that develops abruptly and reaches a peak within 10 minutes Symptoms: accelerated heart rate, sweating, trembling, choking sensations, hot flashes or chills, dizziness or lightheadedness, fears of losing control or going crazy, fear of dying
- Sometimes the episodes are expected, other times they emerge randomly
- Not characterized as mental disorder
- Conditioning theories of panic disorder propose that panic attacks are classical conditioning responses to subtle bodily sensations resembling those normally occurring when one is anxious or frightened (people with asthma are 3 times more likely to experience panic attacks)
Generalized anxiety disorder : relatively continuous state of excessive, uncontrollable, and pointless worry and apprehension
- Often worry about routine, everyday things, even though the concerns are unjustified
- Diagnosis: diffuse worrying and apprehension (Freud calls it free-floating anxiety) is not part of another disorder, and occurs more days than not for at least six months, and is accompanied by other symptoms
- Increases the risk for heart attacks and strokes, especially in people with preexisting heart conditions
- Worry represents a mental strategy to avoid more powerful negative emotions
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders : group of overlapping disorders that generally involve intrusive, unpleasant thoughts and repetitive behaviors
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) : thoughts and urges that are intrusive and unwanted (obsessions) and/or the need to engage in repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions)
- Persistent, unintentional, and unwanted thoughts and urges that are highly intrusive, unpleasant, and distressing
Compulsions: repetitive and ritualistic acts that are typically carried out primarily as a means to minimize the distress that obsessions trigger to reduce the likelihood of a feared event
Body dysmorphic disorder : perceived flaw in physical appearance that is either nonexistent or barely noticeable to other people
- Leads to think they’re unattractive, ugly, hideous, or deformed
- Typically involve skin, face, or hair
- Drives people to engage in repetitive and ritualistic behavioral and mental acts (ex. constantly looking in the mirror)
Hoarding disorder : accumulation of excessive amounts of usually worthless items that clutter their living areas, because thought that items can be of some later use or sentimental attachment
OCD has a moderate genetic component
Orbitofrontal cortex : brain region thought to play a critical role in OCD, in the frontal lobe, involved in learning and decision-making à In people with OCD it becomes hyperactive when they’re provoked with tasks in which they’re asked for example to look at pictures hanging crookedly on a wall
OCD circuit: several interconnected regions that influence the perceived emotional value of stimuli and the selection of both behavioral and cognitive responses, heightened activity during symptom provocation à Abnormalities in these regions may produce the symptoms of OCD, people with OCD have a higher connectivity of the orbitofrontal cortex and other regions of the OCD circuit
Limitation of findings: inability to explain difference sin obsessions and compulsions, correlational relationship between neurological abnormalities and OCD symptoms can’t imply causation
Posttraumatic stress disorder
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (or shell shock or combat neurosis): caused by stressful of
traumatic events, psychological trauma
- Diagnosis: having been a first responder in a traumatic experience
- Symptoms: flashbacks (intrusive and distressing memories of the stressful event, last even days), avoidance of stimuli connected to the event, persistently negative emotional states, feelings of detachment from others, irritability, proneness toward outbursts, exaggerated startle response (jumpiness)
- Risk factors: trauma experience, greater trauma severity, lack of immediate social support, more subsequent life stress, personality characteristics (like neuroticism and somatization)
- Traumatic events that involve harm by others carry greater risk
- Social support following a traumatic event reduces risk
- Some symptoms are developed and maintained through classical conditioning (unconditioned stimulus: traumatic event; unconditioned response: extreme fear and anxiety; conditioned stimuli: cognitive, emotional, physiological, and environmental cues related to the event; conditioned response: extreme fear and anxiety evoked by traumatic reminders)
- Cognitive factors are important in the development and maintenance of PTSD: disturbances in memory for the event (no coherent memories of the trauma, disorganized, no meaning and context), negative appraisals of the trauma and its aftermath
Mood disorders
Mood disorders : severe disturbances in mood and emotions (depression, mania, elation), extreme mood fluctuations that distort outlook on life, and impair ability to function
Depressive disorders : group of disorders in which depression is the main feature; sadness, discourage, hopelessness
Cognitive theories on depression: depression is triggered by negative thoughts, interpretations, self- evaluations, and expectations à Negative and maladaptive thinking, precipitating stressful life events
Aaron Beck (1960s): depression-prone people possess depressive schemas (loss, failure, worthlessness, inadequacy) that may develop early in childhood in response to adverse experience and remain dormant until they’re activated by stressful or negative life events, or mental predispositions to think about most things in a negative way à Cognitive biases or errors in how e process information about ourselves (leading us to focus on negative aspects, interpret things negatively, and block positive memories)
Hopelessness theory : a particular style of negative thinking leads to a sense of hopelessness, which then leads to depression
- Hopelessness: expectation that unpleasant outcomes will occur or that desired outcome won’t occur, and there’s nothing one can do
- Tendency to perceive negative life events as having stable (it’s never going to change) and global (it will affect my whole life) causes
Rumination theory: repetitive and passive focus on the fact that one is depressed and dwelling on depressed symptoms, rather than distracting oneself from the symptoms or attempting to address them in active, problem-solving manner; this tendence is associated with increases in depression symptoms, heightened risk of major depressive episode, and chronicity of such episodes
Suicide : death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with any intent to die as the result of the behavior; the person is biologically and psychologically vulnerable, and has the means to perform the act, lacking the necessary protective factors that provide comfort and enable to cope (ex. social support); having a mental disorder (especially a mood disorder) poses the greater risk
- Risk factors: substance abuse problems, prior suicide attempt, withdrawal from social relationships, feeling as a burden to others, engaging in reckless and risk-taking behaviors, sense of entrapment, cyberbullying, brain chemistry (low serotonin levels)
- Suicides can have a contagious effect on people
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia : devastating psychological disorder that is characterized by major disturbances in thought, perception, emotion, and behavior; psychotic disorder (which leads to disconnection from the world in which most of us live)
- Main symptoms: hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, disorganized or abnormal motor behavior, negative symptoms
- Causes: genetics and environment
Hallucination : perceptual experience that occurs in the absence of external stimulation; auditory hallucinations are the most common among people with schizophrenia
Delusions : beliefs that are contrary to reality and are firmly held even in the face of contradictory evidence; clearly absurd
- Paranoid delusions : false belief that other people or agencies are plotting to harm the
- Grandiose delusions : beliefs that one holds special power, unique knowledge, or is extremely important
- Somatic delusion : belief that something highly abnormal is happening to one’s body
Disorganized thinking : disjointed and incoherent thought processes, usually detected by what a person says
- Ramble, loos associations, talk in a disorganized and incomprehensible way, illogical remarks, tangentiality (responding to others by remarks that either barely related or unrelated to what was said or asked)
Disorganized or abnormal motor behavior : unusual behaviors and movements; becoming unusually active, exhibiting silly child-like behaviors, engaging in repeated and purposeless movements, or displaying odd facial expressions and gestures; catatonic behaviors in some cases (decreased reactivity to the environment)
Negative symptoms : reflect noticeable decreases and absences in certain behaviors, emotions, or drives
- Avolition: lack of motivation to engage in self-initiated and meaningful activity including the most basic tasks
- Asociality or social withdrawal, lack of interest in engaging in social interactions with others
- Anhedonia: inability to experience pleasure
Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia: an overabundance of dopamine or too many dopamine receptors are responsible for the onset and maintenance of schizophrenia
Ventricles (cavities within the brain that contain cerebral spinal fluid) in people with schizophrenia are enlarged à Various brain regions are reduced in size, loss of brain tissue and gray matter
Abnormalities in the frontal lobe
Can be caused by obstetric complications during one’s birth (for the child), a mother’s emotional stress during pregnancy (for the child), marijuana use
Prodromal symptoms : early symptoms like delusions, decline in social functioning, paranoia; help predict psychotic disorders
Dissociative disorders
Dissociative disorders : when an individual becomes split off, or dissociated, from their core sense of self; memory and identity become disturbed; psychological cause
Dissociative amnesia : inability to recall important personal information, usually following an extremely stressful or traumatic experience (ex. combat, natural disasters, being the victim of violence)
Dissociative fugue : individuals suddenly wander away from their home, experience confusion about their identity, and sometimes even adopt a new identity (can last one day or longer)
Depersonalization/derealization disorder : recurring episodes of depersonalization, derealization, or both
Depersonalization: feelings of unreality or detachment from, or unfamiliarity with, one’s whole self or from aspects of the self
- Belief that thoughts and feelings are not their own, feeling robotic as though they lack control over movements and speech, disported sense of time and - in extreme cases - out-of-body experience where they see themselves from the point of another person
Derealization: sense of unreality or detachment from, or unfamiliarity with, the world, be it individuals, inanimate objects, or all surroundings
- Feeling of being in a fog or a dream, or that the surrounding world is somehow artificial and unreal
Dissociative identity disorder (or multiple personality disorder): exhibition of two or more separate personalities or identities, each well-defined and distinct from one another; memory gaps for the time during which another identity is in charge, in some cases hearing voices
People are generally skilled at adopting the role of a person with different personalities when they believe it might be advantageous to do so
After 1980s the disorder skyrocketed, possibly due to overdiagnoses of the disorder
Potentially caused by traumatic experiences, dissociate to psychologically cope with threat and danger
Disorders in childhood
Neurodevelopmental disorders : developmental problems in personal, social, academic, and intellectual functioning
Borderline personality disorder : instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and mood, marked impulsivity
- Can’t tolerate the thought of being alone, making frantic efforts to avoid abandonment and “separation”
- Intense and unstable relationships
Genetic is important in the development of borderline personality disorder, as are environmental experiences (abuse)
Antisocial personality disorder : no regard at all for other people’s rights or feelings
- Repeatedly performing illegal acts, lying to conning others, impulsivity, recklessness, irritability, aggressiveness toward others, failure to act in a responsible
- No remorse over own misdeeds
- Use whatever means necessary to get by in life
- Lack of empathy
There are gender differences in antisocial personality disorder
Both genetic and environmental factors influence the development of antisocial personality disorder, as well as general antisocial behavior
Chapter 14 – Stress, Lifestyle, Health
Course: General Psychology (PSYCH 1)
University: Santa Monica College
- Discover more from:
