Health Psychology and Psychological Disorders

Flashcards covering key terminology and concepts related to health psychology and psychological disorders.

Psychoneuroimmunology

Imagine you are feeling stressed about a difficult exam. You notice that when you are anxious, you often catch colds or feel fatigued. This scenario emphasizes the interaction between your psychological state (stress), nervous system (anxiety), and immune system (getting sick).

Problem-focused coping

You have a project deadline approaching. Instead of panicking, you create a detailed plan to break down the tasks, allocate time for each, and seek help from teammates to ensure you meet the deadline—directly addressing the source of your stress.

Tend-and-befriend Response

After receiving bad news, you gather your friends and family for support. You find comfort in spending time with them and nurturing relationships, demonstrating the tend-and-befriend response to stress.

Resistance Phase

During a challenging period at work, you work long hours and take on more responsibilities. While your body is initially coping well, you start feeling tired but push through, showing that you are in the resistance phase of stress.

Exhaustion Phase

You’ve been working without a break for months, feeling increasingly drained and overwhelmed. Eventually, you find it hard to concentrate and get sick frequently, indicating you’ve reached the exhaustion phase.

Eustress

You are excited about starting a new job that challenges you. The nervous energy you feel motivates you to prepare and perform well, demonstrating eustress.

Distress

You are dealing with a heavy workload, personal issues, and financial stress. This overwhelming feeling is causing you anxiety and affecting your daily life, representing distress.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

You're going through a rough patch: first, you receive an unexpected bill (alarm stage), then you adjust your budget to cope (resistance stage), but over time, the continuous pressure leaves you worn out (exhaustion stage).

Feel-good, do-good phenomenon

You volunteer at a local shelter after having a great day. You notice you are more patient and willing to help others compared to when you’re feeling low, showcasing the feel-good, do-good phenomenon.

Coping

After your team loses an important game, you gather your teammates to discuss what went wrong and come up with strategies for improvement, demonstrating proactive coping strategies.

Immune Suppression

You’ve been under a lot of stress due to your job. You notice that you get sick more often during these periods, showing how stress can lead to immune suppression.

Catharsis

After a long week, you decide to go for a run and end up crying during the last mile, releasing emotions and feelings that you’ve been holding back, demonstrating catharsis.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)

Reflecting on your childhood, you remember experiencing a traumatic event. This experience has shaped some of your adult relationships and emotional responses, illustrating the impact of ACE.

Positive Psychology

You start practicing gratitude by writing down three positive things that happened each day. This practice enhances your wellbeing and outlook on life, a concept central to positive psychology.

Resilience

After facing a job loss, you quickly adapt by seeking new employment and learning new skills, demonstrating resilience amid adversity.

Gratitude

After receiving help from a friend, you take a moment to express your thankfulness, realizing that this appreciation boosts both your mood and your relationship.

Signature strengths

You identify your natural ability to empathize with others, which you leverage in your role as a counselor, demonstrating your signature strengths.

Virtues

You choose to stand up for what’s right, even when it’s unpopular, showing virtues such as courage and integrity in a challenging situation.

Posttraumatic growth

After experiencing a difficult life event, you find new meaning in your life, leading you to help others who have gone through similar circumstances, illustrating posttraumatic growth.

Cognitive Perspective

You encounter a problem at work and reflect on your thought patterns and beliefs about the challenge, considering how they influence your response—an example of the cognitive perspective.

Biopsychosocial Model

When addressing your health issues, you consider not just the biological factors (like diet and exercise), but also psychological aspects (stress levels) and social influences (support systems), reflecting the biopsychosocial model.

Diathesis-stress model

You often feel anxious in social situations, but a recent stressful life event (like moving to a new city) triggered more intense feelings of anxiety, illustrating the diathesis-stress model.