M2 - Health Psychology

Coping

the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional ways that people deal with stressful situations and includes any attempt to preserve mental and physical health

Approach (vigilant) coping

Confront a stressor head-on by gathering information, taking direct action

Avoidant (minimizing) coping

Avoid the problem in whatever way they can, through passive behaviors, such as avoiding people and not thinking about their problem, antisocial behaviors, or fantasizing

What do psychological defenses do?

Allow us to distance ourselves from a stressful situation by temporarily denying it's existence, but do not eliminate the source of stress

Problem-focused coping skills

Deal directly with the stressful situation either by reducing its demands or increasing our capacity to deal with the stressor

Emotion-focused coping skills

Attempt to regulate our emotional reaction to a stressful event

When do problem-focused coping skills develop?

Childhood

When do emotion-focused coping skills develop?

early adolescence

What skills are more linked with better health outcomes?

problem-focused skills

What type of emotion-focused coping has been linked to emotional distress?

Rumination

Rumination

thinking repetitively about an upsetting situation and how it relates to past and future problems associated with a stressor

Emotional cascade

• a vicious cycle in which intense rumination makes the person more upset, which causes more rumination

• end result = self-amplifying feedback loop of rumination and negative emotion that may lead to self-destructive behaviors

Emotional-approach coping (EAC)

• comprised of two emotion-regulating processes: emotional processing and emotional expression

• involves working through our emotional reactions to a stressful event, is adaptive and healthy

Psychological control

the perception that one can determine one’s own behavior and influence the environment to bring about desired outcomes

Microaggressions

insults, indignities, and marginalizing messages sent by well-intentioned people who seem unaware of the hidden messages they are sending

Hardiness

formed by stress-buffering traits: commitment, challenges, and control

What trait describes someone who approaches life with enthusiasm, always seems to be taking on more challenges, and remains healthy in the face of adversity?

Hardy

Health outcomes of hardy people

• healthier, avoid stress-related physical and physiological reactions that lead to illness, and successful adjustment to numerous health problems

• stronger protective effect against illness than exercise or social support

Coping strategy that believes little or nothing can be done to alter a stressful situation

Emotion-focused coping

Coping strategy that believes our resources and situations are changeable

Problem-focused coping

What is the better coping strategy?

emotion-focused in controlling initial emotional impulse and problem-focused in later dealing more constructively with the stressor

Physiological difference of men

• Men have stronger catecholamine reactivity to stressors and may reflect the tendency to be more aggressive

• problem-focused strategies

Physiological differences of women

• stronger glucocorticoid response may explain gender differences in coronary disease

• emotion-focused strategies

Socialization Hypothesis

• girls and boys are socialized in different ways

Role-constraint hypothesis

• when the stressors are the same, gender is irrelevant

Lower SES impact on health

• substandard housing, limited access to healthcare

• greater incidence of health-compromising behaviors

• less problem-focused coping

• greater toll on women than men

Resillience

the ability to bounce back from stressful experiences and to adapt flexibly to changing environmental demands

Biological resilience

refers to protective factors (genetic, demographic, socio-cultural, psychological, gender-linked and environmental) that contribute to positive outcomes in the elderly

Origins of resilience

• easy temperaments, high self-esteem, sense of personal control, well-developed academic, social and creative skills (social cognition)

• social support and model

Pessimism

those with a negative explanatory style that tend to explain failures in terms that are global, stable, and internal

Pessimism is believed to lead to:

harmful health behaviors and earlier mortality

Explanatory style

a person’s general propensity to attribute outcomes always to positive causes or negative causes

Optimism

• shorter hospital stays, faster recoveries, longer and healthier lives

• positive emotions increase a person’s physical, cognitive and social resources

Personal control and choice

the belief that we make our own decisions and determine what we do or what others do to us

Self-efficacy

a belief in our ability to handle potentially stressful situations

Personal control and choice

• Seligman

  • helplessness → depression → health-compromising behaviors → life-threatening

Personal control and coping strategies

• personal control is associated with adaptive, problem-focused coping, and healthier lifestyle behavior

• those who feel a strong sense of psychological control are more likely to exercise direct control over health-related behaviors

Personal control and biological effects

strong sense of control → minimal physiological arousal & immune system impairment → little health risk

Regulatory control

capacity to modulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, is a part of everyday life

Cardiovascular reactivity

changes in cardiovascular activity that are related to psychological stress

Implications of good regulatory control

calmer, less aggressive, resistant to frustration, able to delay gratification, control emotions, and more constructive problem-focused coping

Implications of uncontrolled

impulsive, unable to delay gratification, aggressive, venting, depression, dwelling on self-defeating thoughts, avoidant coping

How does choice enhance feelings of personal control

• being able to choose the order in which a task is performed appears to reduce anxiety

• situations where there is no choice have been linked to detrimental effects on motivation, performance, and health

Threat appraisals impact on cardiovascular reactivity

linked with enhanced vascular responses, as reflected by increases in diastolic blood pressure and total peripheral resistance

Challenge appraisals impact on cardiovascular reactivity

linked with increased myocardial reactivity as reflected by increases in heart rate and cardiac output

Most changes in heart rate are controlled by

vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve, which functions to lower blood pressure and heart rate

Repressive coping style

emotion-focused coping style in which we attempt to inhibit our emotional responses, especially in social situations, so we can view ourselves as imperturable

James Pennebaker on disclosure

• emotional suppression triggers the fight-or-flight response

• emotional disclosure helps us cope with stress

Social support

companionship from others that conveys emotional concern, material assistance, or honest feedback about a situation

Evidence of high social support leading to less stress

• Faster recovery and fewer medical complications

• Lower mortality rates

• Less distress in the face of terminal illness

Buffering hypothesis

• social support mitigates stress indirectly by helping us cope more effectively

• people who perceive strong social support are less likely to ruminate

Direct effect hypothesis

social support enhances the body’s physical responses to challenging situations

Who receives social support

people with better social skills

When is social support not helpful

• person might not perceive it as beneficial

• the type of support offered may not be the one needed at the moment

• too much social support can increase a person’s stress

Types of social support

• Instrumental - assistance

• Emotional - encouragement

The critical factor in social support is:

having at least one close friend to confide in

Sedentary lifestyle leads to

medical disorders, reduced ability to cope, risk of depression, lower productivity, greater absenteeism

Significant benefits following exercise at 60-80 percent of VO² max

• enhanced blood flow to the brain

• lower blood pressure and resting heart rate

• reduced cardiovascular reactivity to stress

• fewer stress-related health problems

Physiological effects of exercise

• most effective strategy for minimizing the impact of stressful events on physiological health

• enhances blood flow to the brain

• stimulates ANS

• triggers release of hormones

Other factors that affect our ability to cope are:

practicing gratitude, humor, pets, and spirituality

High vagal tone means

greater variability in heart rate as a person breathes in and out, reflects greater regulatory control by the vagus nerve

Low vagal tone means

measured as a more stable heart rate pattern, reflects weaker regulatory control

Invisible support

perception that people in the community care and are standing by to provide assistance if needed

Tangible assistance

means of material support, usually in religion

What accounts for the strong correlation between religious practices and longevity?

• Religious people tend to eat healthier

• Religion tends to be communal

• Spiritual activity may promote health by fostering more positive emotions

Repression activates the:

sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system

Negative affectivity is

a coping style or personality dimension consisting of chronic negative emotions and distress; aka neuroticism