2. Emotion, Stress & Health

3. Mind and Body ► Can the body affect the mind? ► Example? ► How about the mind affecting the body? ► Example? ► Two-way communication between mind and body

4. Psychosomatic Medicine ► Psyche (mind) ► Soma (body) ► Butterflies in the stomach ► Anxious before giving speech ► Indigestion, nausea ► Stress may contribute to getting an ulcer.

5. Relieve stress ► Meditation ► Listening to soothing music ► Taking a quiet walk ► Reduce stress ► Eliminate butterflies

6. Affects on long-term health ► Attitude towards illness can affect healing. ► Thought, beliefs and emotions have major impact on physical health. ► Link between mind and body is the immune system.

7. What is Emotion? Internal conscious states that we infer in ourselves and others. ► Emotions are private experiences. ► We use operational definitions because we cannot actually see feelings. ► We infer observable behavior associated with emotion.

8. Emotions are Multidimensional

9. Four components of Emotion Significant life event

10. Feeling component ► Emotions are subjective feelings ► Make us feel in a particular way. ► Anger or joy. ► Meaning and personal significance. ► Vary in intensity and quality. ► Rooted in mental processes (labeling).

11. Bodily Arousal ► Biological activation. ► Autonomic and hormonal systems. ► Prepare and activate adaptive coping behavior during emotion. ► Body prepared for action. ► Alert posture, clenched fists.

12. Purposive component ► Give emotion its goal-directed force. ► Motivation to take action. ► Cope with emotion-causing circumstances. ► Why people benefit from emotions. ► Social and evolutionary advantage.

13. Social-Expressive component ► Emotion’s communicative aspect. ► Postures, gestures, vocalizations, facial expressions make our emotions public. ► Verbal and nonverbal communication. ► Helps us interpret the situation. ► How person reacts to event.

14. Emotions read in the face The Japanese Female Facial Expression (JAFFE) Database

15. Biological Response to Emotion ► Scream, Run away…infers fear. ► Gut reaction: ► Heart races, energy boost. ► What coordinates body response?

16. Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Reactions ► Every situation calls for its own special mixture of arousal by the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (conservation of energy) N.S. ► Flight or Flight: Sympathetic response prepares body to meet a crisis. ► Rest or Digest: Parasympathetic calms body to aid in digestion.

17. Sympathetic and Parasympathetic flow of Autonomic Nervous System

18. Limbic System ► Brain mechanism in emotion ► A group of structures in the interior of brain ► Form a border around brain stem ► Critical for emotion

19. Limbic System

20. James-Lange Theory ► Autonomic arousal and skeletal actions come before emotional response  I experience fear because I run away ► Cognitive awareness is separate  Brain can categorize events as pleasant or unpleasant in as little as 120 milliseconds ► What we experience as an emotion is actually the label we give to our response.  I am afraid because I run away  I am angry because I attack

21. Common Sense vs. James-Lange Common Sense right? Frightening Situation Fear Fear Running Away and Increased Heart rate etc. Running Away and Increased Heart rate etc. James-Lange Theory Frightening Situation Running Away and Increased Heart rate etc. Running Away and Increased Heart rate etc. Fear Fear

22. James-Lange Key Assumptions: 1. Body’s response comes before emotion 2. Each specific emotion produces a different body response

23. Two stage theory ► Schachter-Singer Theory ► Physiological changes happen first. ► Followed by cognitive labeling. ► Heart rate goes up. ► If in graveyard  fear. ► If at a party  excitement.

24. LeDoux and the snake ► Walking in woods. ► See what may be a snake. ► Limbic system responds first: CAUTION! STOP! ► Cortex catches up a second or two later. ► Poisonous? ► Why did I sleep through that lecture on snakes of Connecticut?

25. Emotion and Cognitive Paths Amygdala Visual thalamus Visual cortex

26. Stress and Health ► Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it. ► Failing grades ► Scary movie  Even positive events in your life such as: ► Graduation ► New job ► Stress activates the Autonomic Nervous System rapidly ► Stress activates the Hypothalamus-Pituitary- Adrenal (HPA) Axis more slowly. ► Both systems have major effect on health and well-being.

27. Short term reaction to stress ► Level of responsiveness ► Sympathetic NS easily triggered. ► Hostile heart syndrome. ► Tense, impatient. ► Road rage causes 4X more accidents than drunk driving.

28. Executive Monkey (Brady) ► Pair of monkeys. ► Both could get shock. ► One monkey could press bar to avoid shock for him and his yoked control. ► Monkey with active bar called “active” monkey. ► Other monkey in pair called “passive”. ► One member of pair likely to get ulcers. ► Which one?

29. Brady’s experiment ► Active monkey is on the left. ► Press lever to avoid shock. ► Passive monkey is on the right. ► Pressing the lever does not affect shock delivery Active Passive

30. Brady’s mistake ► Brady found executive (active) monkeys got more ulcers. ► First monkey to learn task  active. ► Attempts to replicate yield the opposite result: passive monkeys get ulcers. ► Passive monkeys lack control over situation. ► More stressful if you have no control over occurrence of stress.

31. Reducing the effects of stress ► Stress is less harmful if ► Have some control (even if just belief). ► Predictable (“going to feel a little pinch”). ► Know the duration. ► Coping mechanism. ► Some way to relieve stress. ► Positive attitude. ► Active participant in process.

32. Long term stress ► What if stress continues for months or years? ► Stressful occupations: air traffic controllers ► Whether stress is real or imagined doesn’t matter to the brain and body. ► Respond in the same way. ► Brain activates the adrenal cortex.

33. Brain and Adrenal Cortex ► Prolonged stress leads to the secretion of the adrenal hormone cortisol ► Cortisol (stress hormone) elevates blood sugar and increases metabolism. ► Body is then able to sustain prolonged activity ► Also reduces inflammation

34. Response to injury ► Sprains ankle. ► Inflammation causes swelling and pain. ► Reduce ability to move. ► Life threatening injury. ► Cortisol reduces inflammation. ► Mobilizes energy. ► Survival value.

35. General Adaptation Syndrome ► Phases of GAS ► 1: Alarm reaction: ► Body’s first response. ► 2: Resistance: ► Body adapts to stressor. ► 3: Exhaustion: ► Body breaks down. ► Changes in immune system Hans Selye 1907-1982 Father of Stress

36. GAS timeline Alarm Resistance Exhaustion time Immune function and energy

37. The Immune System ► Cells that protect the body against intruders such as viruses and bacteria. ► Like a police force  Too weak and criminals (viruses etc.) run wild  Too strong and it attacks law-abiding citizens: ► The body’s own cells (Autoimmune disease)  Ex. Rheumatoid arthritis

38. Immune system Leukocytes (White blood cells) ► Most important elements ► Patrol the blood & fluids ► Antigens: Intruders have different surface proteins (nonself) than our own (self) ► WBCs attack antigens ► Macrophages and B Cells are specific defenses ► T cells: cytotoxic and helper  Cytotoxic: direct attack  Helper: stimulates Ts & B’s to multiply rapidly

39. Immune Response to Bacteria

40. Effects of Stress on Immune System ► Psychoneuroimmunology:  The study of the relationship between the nervous system and immune systems. ► All experiences, especially stressful ones, can alter the immune system. ► The Immune system in turn influences the central nervous system.

41. Effects of Stress ► Continued, long term anxiety, anger or stress is harmful.  A body focused on the cycle of increased cortisol & increased metabolism, it is not producing new proteins for the immune system and other systems. ► High cortisol levels damage hippocampus  Learning and memory suffer as a result

42. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) ► Traumatic experience leads to:  Months or even years of flashbacks and nightmares  Exaggerated arousal response to noises etc.  Avoidance of reminders of the event ► Combat veterans, rape victims, 9/11 ► Most PTSD victims have a smaller than average hippocampus

43. Emotions, Stress and Health ► They are all intricately related.