By: Jennifer Foreman Image From: biovedatechnologies.com Image From: livegracefully.com

Psychosomatic Disease “The mind is ultimately affected by what the body experiences, and the body is ultimately affected by what the mind experiences” (Greenberg, 2013, p. 48). Psychsomatic= conditions with mind and body component. Can be: Psychogenic= a physical disease caused by emotional stress. For example, asthma. Somatogenic= disease occurring from a disease- causing microbe or another degenerative process. For example, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Psychoneuroimmunology= study of things that cause illness and healing of the mind and body. (Greenberg, 2013, p. 44)

Immunological System Types of White Blood Cells: 1. Phagocytes= destroy foreign substances. Macrophages. 2. T Cells= lymphocytes, puncture invading cells, kill the foreign cells. 3. B cells= produce antibodies. 4. Suppressor T Cells= halt the immune response. 5. Memory T and B Cells= remain in bloodstream and lymphatic system to respond to future attacks from the same invader. 6. Anything that decreases white blood cells or any of the parts mentioned threatens your health, stress can do this! (Greenberg, 2013, p. 45)

Serum Cholesterol & Stress Hypercholesterolemia= high cholesterol in the blood. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)= “bad” cholesterol, too much of this can lead to clogging of the arteries and is also related to coronary heart disease. (less than 100 mg, dL is optimal) High-density lipoprotein (HDL)= “good” cholesterol, removes cholesterol from the body lowering chances of getting coronary heart disease. (60 mg, dL or higher is optimal) Stress has been found to cause high levels of serum cholesterol. One experiment found that during the time tax returns were prepared there was a strong, noticeable and increase change in those people’s serum cholesterol (Friedman, Rosenman, & Carroll, 1958). (Greenberg, 2013, p )

Hypertension Hypertension= high blood pressure, it is unnecessary and harmful. Anything over 140mm/90mm Hg. Essential hypertension= hypertension with no known cause. Approximately 90% of hypertension. (Greenberg, 2013, p ) Hypertension can lead to or cause cerebral hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, plaque, apoplexy, stroke, etc. Image From:

Hypertension & Stress Stress can be attributed to the 90% of unknown or essential hypertension causes. Blood pressure and serum cholesterol have been found through research to increase during stressful times. This is why stress and hypertension have also been believed to be related and why stress management is important for hypertensive individuals. (Greenberg, 2013, p ) Image From: askdrmakkar.com

Ways to Battle Hypertension & Stress Programs that help stop or lower obesity, smoking, less salt intake also help battle hypertension by helping to lower blood pressure. Dr. Benson has used meditation to help lower blood pressure in his hypertensive patients. Dr. Dunbar also found certain personality traits to be common in hypertension patients. (Greenberg, 2013, p ) Meditation is one of the best ways to naturally get rid of stress and helps with related factors of stress mentioned above.

Other Illnesses & Stress Ulcers Ulcers affect about 7% of the entire population. Migraine Headaches Migraine Headaches caused by constriction/ dilation of carotid arteries of one side of the head. Tension Headaches Tension Headaches may be caused by muscle tension along with stress. Cancer Cancer avoidance and treatment are both related to stress. Allergies, Asthma and Hay Fever. Stress can even cause things like Allergies, Asthma and Hay Fever. Rheumatoid Arthritis Rheumatoid Arthritis inflammation and swelling of joints. Backache Backache affects 80% of people. Temporomandibular (TMJ) Syndrome Temporomandibular (TMJ) Syndrome the disc that separates the bones of the temporomandibular joint may pop lose, causing discomfort. (Greenberg, 2013, p )

PTSD, Other Conditions & Stress Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs in people have experienced a traumatic experience psychologically or physically. Affects 7.7 million American adults. Stress can also lead pregnant women to have a miscarriage. Sports injuries can also be somewhat caused by stress. “The more stressful the changes that take place in a person’s life, the greater the likelihood of serious illness within the next year or two” (Feldman & Papalia, 2012, p. 497). (Greenberg, 2013, p ) Image From: home.earthlink.net

Types of Stress and Their Effects on the Body “Chronic stressors may activate the immune system, leading to persistent inflammation and disease” (Miller & Blackwell, 2006). Acute/short term stress like speaking in front of an audience is good and strengthens the immune system where as intense or prolonged stress like that from PTSD increases the body’s chance of illness.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) & Stress T2DM is a global chronic illness affecting around 200 million people. “Even when medication, diet, and physical activity regimens are maintained, blood sugar levels might not be effectively controlled because stress triggers the release of sugar into the blood” (Morris, Moore & Morris, 2011). Ways that have been found to fight this issue of stress raising blood sugar levels is biofeedback, stress management programs for somatic and cognitive techniques and other relaxation techniques that will neutralize the effects of stress and therefore naturally lower blood sugar levels. Research like this could help fight other chronic diseases without the use of medicine and with the help of stress management skills. (Morris, Moore & Morris, 2011)

Psychosomatic Illness in Nurses & Stress Main causes of stress for the nurses in this study were having a shortage of staff, which led them to not getting jobs and duties done in time. But also due to: Patients relatives causing issues. Working overtime. Not getting paid what they thought they deserved. Nurses with scores of high stress were found to have psychosomatic problems like back pain, anger, worry, being forgetful and having acidity. Age did not increase these problems in the study but the higher the stress score the higher the psychosomatic issues. “Stress is experienced when demands made on us outweigh our resources” (Kane, 2009). Hospitals need to take this more seriously and make changes to reduce the stress that is being put on nurses and employees by having cutbacks due to budgeting and other reasons that add stress to the nurses jobs. (Kane, 2009)

Research on Stress & Illness in College Students Thomas & Borroya’s research studied psychosocial factors like affectivity, coping and social support that affected the relationship between perceived stress and illness (2011). The results of this study confirmed that individuals should know more about good coping skills and negative affectivity since they can increase the effect that stress has on illness. Image From: energyandmotivation.com

Research on Stress & Illness in College Students Zaleski, Levey-Thors, and Schiaffino (1998) found that college students with high family social support reported more physical health symptoms when faced with stress than those with low family support. Avoidant coping strategies have been found to be associated with stress, symptoms of illness, and poor health outcomes (Dyson & Renk, 2006; Pritchard, Wilson, & Yamnitz, 2007). Image From:

Best Ways to Reduce Stress & Illness Ways to better your lifestyle: Exercise Eating healthy and nutritious No smoking No drugs No alcohol Good coping skills Focus on the positive Listen to music Reading Writing Meditation Yoga Nature Stay organized Don’t procrastinate Biofeedback Autogenic training Progressive training And other techniques *These are only some of the many general ways to cope with stress. Image From: tumblr.com

Why reducing Stress Prevents Illness/Disease By coping with and lowering your stress levels you are stopping inflammation and other mentioned processes from harming your body. A relaxed mind adds to natural ability of the body to make T Cells. This strengthens your immune system. By practicing the activities on the previous slide you also prevent your body from having chronic stress a key factor in stress, illness and disease. By always practicing stress management, relaxation techniques or activities at least once or a few times a day and living a healthy lifestyle you decrease your chances of becoming ill or contracting a disease.

References Dyson, R., & Renk, K. (2006). Freshman adaptation to university life: Depressive symptoms, stress, and coping. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62, doi: /jclp Feldman, P., & Papalia, D. (2012). Experience human development. (12 ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Friedman, M., Rosenman, R., & Carroll, V. (1958). Changes in the Serum Cholesterol and Blood Clotting Time in Men Subjected to Cycle Variation of Occupational Stress. Circulation, 17: Greenberg, J. (2013). Comprehensive stress management. (13 ed., pp ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Kane, P. P. (2009). Stress causing psychosomatic illness among nurses. Indian J Occup Environ Med., 13(1), doi: /

References Continued Miller, G. E., & Blackwell, E. (2006). Turning Up the Heat: Inflammation as a Mechanism Linking Chronic Stress, Depression, and Heart Disease. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 15(6), doi: /j x Morris, T., Moore, M., & Morris, F. (2011). Stress and chronic illness: The case of diabetes. Journal Of Adult Development, 18(2), doi: /s Pritchard, M., Wilson, G., & Yamnitz, B. (2007). What predicts adjustment among college students? A longitudinal panel study. Journal of American College Health, 56, doi: /JACH Thomas, J. J., & Borrayo, E. A. (2011). An examination of moderators of perceived stress and illness behavior. Psychology, 2(6), doi: /psych Zaleski, E., Levey-Thors, C., & Schiaffino, K. (1998). Coping mechanisms, stress, social support, and health problems in college students. Applied Developmental Science, 2, doi: /s xads02032