1. 6 th Edition Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-1 Psychology Stephen F. Davis Morningside College Joseph J. Palladino University of Southern Indiana PowerPoint Presentation by Fred W. Whitford Montana State University This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

2. 6 th Edition Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-2 Health Psychology Chapter 14

3. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-3 Health Psychology: An Overview Health psychology is a subfield of psychology that is concerned with how psychological and social variables affect health and illness. Health psychologists develop programs to reduce the levels of risk factors related to diseases.

4. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-4 Stress and Illness Hans Selye developed the concept of stress as the nonspecific response of the body to demands to adjust to a wide range of changes. Stressors are the environmental events that cause an organism to adjust and display this nonspecific stress response.

5. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-5 Stress and Illness Selye outlined a series of biological responses, called the general adaptation syndrome (GAS), that occur as the body deals with stressors.

6. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-6 Stress and Illness The alarm stage of the GAS is equivalent to the well-known fight-or-flight response. The combination of the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and an outpouring of stress hormones prepares the body for a brief period of physical action in response to a threat.

7. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-7 Stress and Illness During the resistance stage, the body maintains a moderate level of arousal, which enhances our ability to withstand the original stressor. When demands for adjustment exceed the body’s ability to respond, the body enters the third stage of the GAS, exhaustion. At this point, the stress response has lost its adaptive quality and actually contributes to pathological changes that result in disease.

8. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-8 Stress and Illness Among the circumstances that could lead to stress are: –catastrophes, –major life events such as divorce, –acculturative stress (the stress of adapting to a new culture), –traumatic events such as criminal victimization, and –hassles.

9. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-9 Stress and Illness Acculturative stress is the stress of adapting to a new culture.

10. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-10 Stress and Illness Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) refers to a set of symptoms that may follow deeply disturbing events. The symptoms include reliving the event, difficulty in concentrating, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and guilt.

11. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-11 Stress and Illness Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman believe that the way we deal with potential stressors begins with our appraisal of the event. When faced with a potential stressor our first task is a primary appraisal, we determine whether the event or situation is stressful.

12. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-12 Stress and Illness When we decide that an event is a stressor, we must determine how we will deal with it—a process called secondary appraisal.

13. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-13 Stress and Illness The immune system is the body’s major defense against bacteria and viruses. The substances that trigger an immune response are called antigens; these include bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Antigens are foreign substances such as bacteria, that trigger and immune response. Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of how psychological and physiological factors interact to influence the immune system.

14. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-14 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Smoking-related illnesses are the most preventable cause of death and illness in the United States. The number of smokers is declining, but people with less education are more likely to smoke than people with more education. Most smokers tried their first cigarette before age 18. Peer pressure is a major factor leading individuals to start smoking.

15. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-15 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Although there are many programs to help people stop smoking, most people who quit do so on their own, usually after several unsuccessful attempts. Anticipated weight gain after quitting is often cited as a reason for continuing to smoke.

16. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-16 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk The number one cause of death in the United States is cardiovascular disease. Although most of the research on heart disease has been done on men, it is important to realize that both men and women are susceptible to heart disease. One of the risk factors for heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), occurs at a higher rate among African Americans than among other Americans and Africans.

17. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-17 Death Rates from Heart Disease

18. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-18 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Type A behavior has been considered a risk factor in the development of heart disease. Type A behavior is a collection of personality characteristics and behaviors that includes aggressiveness, competitiveness, impatience, and the inability to relax. By contrast, a more easygoing and relaxed person is called a Type B person.

19. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-19 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Inconsistent results of various Type A studies led some researchers to consider that perhaps some of the characteristics that make up Type A behavior are related to heart disease but others are not. The focus of research on Type A behavior thus switched to identifying the “toxic” component of this behavior.

20. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-20 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk The prime candidates seem to be hostility and anxiety, which have been related to early death, especially from heart disease. Type A behavior can be changed in many heart attack victims.

21. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-21 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk There are devastating health threats lurking in our environment that our lifestyle may bring us in contact with.

22. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-22 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that is usually contracted through the transfer of semen, blood, or vaginal secretions and is the cause of AIDS. AIDS is the 10 th leading cause of death in the United States. The year 1996 was a watershed in the history of AIDS in the United States: After more than a decade of increases, deaths from AIDS declined.

23. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-23 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a viral disease transmitted via bodily fluids such as blood and semen, usually during sexual relations or by sharing needles used by a person infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus attacks the body’s immune system, resulting in vulnerability to infections and diseases, which eventually cause death.

24. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-24 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk A major reason for this drop in deaths and disease was the introduction of several powerful drugs that retard the activity of HIV, with special importance attached to the increasing use of therapies that combine several drugs. The picture of the HIV epidemic is not as encouraging in other parts of the world.

25. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-25 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Men and women differ in their likelihood of being exposed to infection with HIV.

26. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-26 HIV is actually a fragile virus that does not survive well outside the body. When HIV infects the body, however, it sets up a struggle between the immune system and the virus. The most effective and popular treatment is highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk

27. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-27 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk For some people, employment may be characterized by high levels of stress and frustration, eventually creating a condition known as burnout. Burnout is a feeling of emotional and physical exhaustion that interferes with job performance and can lead to reduced self- esteem and, eventually, depression.

28. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-28 Industries with the Most Cases of Occupational Stress

29. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-29 Lifestyle Influences on Disease Risk Several theories suggest that women’s work experiences are related to their health. Overall, women’s employment has been found to have a positive effect on their health. Women who are consistently in the labor force are healthier than women who are intermittently employed or consistently out of the labor force.

30. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-30 Coping with Stress Coping refers to cognitive and behavioral efforts that are used to reduce the effects of stress. Many people benefit from certain psychological and social characteristics that reduce their vulnerability to the harmful effects of stress. Among them are hardiness, explanatory style, distraction, social support, and a sense of humor.

31. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-31 Coping with Stress Hardiness is a psychological characteristic composed of commitment, a sense of control, and a tendency to view change as a challenge. Hardy individuals react differently to stressful events and experience fewer illnesses than less hardy individuals.

32. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-32 Coping with Stress A person’s perspective on current and future events can also influence health status in both the short and long terms. For example, the tendency to use pessimistic explanations for bad events has been associated with poorer health than an optimistic style.

33. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-33 Coping with Stress One way to deal with stressful situations is to ignore them. Getting away may not eliminate stressful events, but the distraction or diversion can make difficult situations more tolerable, at least for a while.

34. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-34 Coping with Stress Social support is the availability of comfort, recognition, approval, advice, money, or encouragement from others. Social support in the form of comfort, information, recognition, companionship, approval, and even financial assistance can have an important impact on the development and reduction of stress symptoms.

35. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-35 Coping with Stress Several lines of research seem to support the notion that humor and laughter can have positive psychological and physical benefits. Researchers have shown that there is a positive correlation between measures of religion and spirituality and health: The greater a person’s religiosity/spirituality, the better his or her health.

36. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-36 Coping with Stress Many people have never developed the skill of relaxing. Several approaches that reduce arousal are available now. They include relaxation techniques, biofeedback, and exercise.

37. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-37 Coping with Stress Progressive relaxation involves a series of exercises consisting of alternately tightening and relaxing major muscle groups. Relaxation response is a relaxation technique that involves the use of a mental device. Biofeedback involves providing information about some ongoing biological process such as muscle tension in the hope that a person will learn to adjust the process.

38. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-38 Coping with Stress A sedentary lifestyle can lower your life expectancy and contribute to the development of chronic diseases. Physical activity is associated with increased longevity and positive benefits on physical and psychological health. Some research suggests that exercise helps reduce the negative effects of stress.

39. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved. 14-39 Coping with Stress Resilience is a person’s ability to bounce back or rebound psychologically after being confronted by stress. Positive psychology is a movement that stresses healthy psychological functioning, positive emotions and resilient coping.