Psych Positive Psychology and Health

health psychology

subfiled of psychology that explores the impact of psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors on health and welness

psychoneuroimmunology

stufy of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect our immune system and resulting health

stress

prcoess where we perceive (think) and respond (behavior) to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

eustress

positive and motivating

distress

negative and debilitating

stressors

large-scale disasters, significant life changes, daily hassels

approach and avoidance motives

drive to move toward or away from a stimulus

gernal adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to sress in three phases - alarm, resistance, exhaustion

tend-and-befriend response

under stress, people (especially women) may nurture themselves and other (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend)

coronary heart disease

clogging of vesselsthat nourish the heart muscles; a leading cause ofdeath in many developing countries

Type A

competitive, hard driving, impatient, veryablly agsressive, anger prone, more at risk for heart problems

Type B

easygoing, relaxed

fear

natural response, helpful, occasional, general, rational

phobia

affects daily life, specific phobia, unnatural, learned

catharsis

anger release (western). idea that releasing agressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

anger

1. wait (time)

2. healthy distraction/support

3. move away from situation (physically of mentally)

disorder

disturbance in people’’s thoughts and emotions or behaviors that cause distress (sufferer or people alarmed) or suffering and impairs their daily lives

medical model (bio approach)

mental diseases can have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases cured through treatment in a hospital. treats mental illness

biopsychosocial model

biology: genes, general health, drugs

social: relationships with family, friends, parners, work, school

psychological: coping skills, social skills, self-esteem, trauma

external locus control

outside forces of control our fate

internal locus

we control our fate

problem-focused coping

alleviating stress by attempting to change the stressor or how we interact with it (addresses the situation)

emotion-focused coping

avoding the stressor and attending they emotional needs ofthe stress reaction (soother yourself)

learned helplessness

hopelessness that causes a human/animal to just give up. usually during repeated aversive events

anxiety disorders

dsitressing, persistent, anxious symptoms, and maladaptive behavior (behavior meant to deal with the “problem” but actually makes life worse

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

continual tension, apprehensive, constant ANS arousal, anxiety is “free-floating” (cloud). sometimes people can’t identify, deal, or avoid its cause. 6+months

Social Anxiety Disorder

• intense fear and avoidance of social situations

• fear of bring harsly judged so the person will avoid parties, presentations, eating in public, unfamiliar social situations

Panic Disorder

unpredictable minutes (10-15) of intense dread where a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, and other frightening situations

specific phobia

persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation

OCD

• unwanted, rumenatiing thoughts (can’t let it go)

• compulsive behavior (responses to the thoughts)

• persistently interfere with everyday living

Major Depressive Disorder

• at least 5 signs of depression that last at least 2+ weeks

• depressed mood most of the time

• dramatically reduced interest or enjoyment in most activities most of the time

• significant changes regulating sleep

• physical agitation or lethargy

• feeling listless or less energy than normal

• problems in thinking or concentratin or making decisions

• thinking repetitively of death or suicide

Persistent Depressive Disorder

experience a mildly depressed mood more often than not in a two year period:

• difficulty concentrating + decision-making

• poor self-esteem

• problems regulating sleep

• decreased energy levels

• problems regulating appetite

Bipolar Disorder

switch between mania and depression

treatments: mood stabilizers, lithium bicarbonate, depakote

Bipolar 1

• most sever

• moves between depressive state+mania

• Mania = euphoric, talkative, highly energetic, overly ambitious (lasts about 1 week Bipolar 2

Bipolar 2

maina = not as strong (hypomania)

Schizophrenia

• disturbed perceptions and beliefs (hallucinations and delusions)

• disorganized speech (word salad)

• diminished and inappropriate emotions

schizophrenia spectrum disorder

group of disorders where people suffer from delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thoughts

psychotic disorder (schizophrenia)

characterized by irrational beliefs, distorted perceptions, and loss of contact with reality

acute schizophrenia

less serious, comes out of experience, treat it and it goes away

chronic schizophrenia

when disease progresses slowly and people develop both positive+negative symptoms. serious+harder to treat. Dissociative Disorders

Dissociative Disorders

• conscious awareness separates from painful memories, and thoughts, identity, perception, body representation, and motor control

• can only be treated with therpay

• 100% environmental factors (childhood abuse)

• can result in dissociative fugue

dissociative fugue

loss of memory and change in identity and usually opeople who have this wander off and disappear

paranoid personality disorder

suspiciousness, distrust of others

schizoid personality disorder

docial detachmental; limited emotional expression

schizotypal personality disorder

intense social discomfort; distorted cognitions or perceptions; behavioral eccentricity

antisocial personality disorder

indifference to (and willingness to violate) others’ rights; impulsiveness; criminal behavior

• interplay of genes (family)

• negative environemntal influences (social cog.)

• low ANS arousal (not scared/nervous) expecially in response to threats

boderline personality behavior

impulsity; unstable relationships and self image

histrionic personality disorder

extreme emotional expression; a need for attention

narcissistic personality disorder

grandosity; admiration-seeking behavior; deficient empathy

avoidant personality disorder

social inhibition; feeling inadequate; sensitivity to criticism

dependent personality disorder

submissive behavior; emotional neediness

obessive-compulsive personality disorder

a fixation on orderliness; the need for perfection and control

feed and eating disorders

a group of disorders marked by altered consumption or absorption of food that impairs health or psychological functioning

• usually start in infancy

Anorexia Nervosa

eating disorder where a person (usually women) maintians a starcation diet despite being significantly underweight and has an inaccurate self-image perception sometimes accopmanied by excessive exercise

Bulima Nervosa

a person’s binge eating (usually high caloric foods) is followed byy inappropriate weight loss promoting behavior such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise

binge eating disorder

significatn eating with remorese but no exercusing or purging (can lead to obesity)

Pica

eats things that raren’t food

orthorexia

ovelry healthy eaters to the extreme

Neurodevelopmental disorders

CNS abnormalities that start in childhood and alter thinkingg and behavior (intellectual limitations or psychological disorder)

positive psychology

the scientific study of human flourishing with the goals of promoting strengths and virtues that foster well-being, resilience, and positive emotions, and that help individuals and communities to thrive

subjective well-being

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. used a long with measures of objective well-being (physical and economic indicators) to evaluate a person’s quality of life

feel-good, do-good phenomenon

people’s tendency to be helpful whenisn't a good mood

adaptation-level phenomenon

our tendency to form judgements (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

relative deprivation

the perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves

broaden-and-build theory

proposes that positive emotions broaden our awareness, which over time helps us build novel and meaningful skills and resilience that improve well-being

resilience

the personal strength that helps people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma

aerobics exercise

sustained exercise that increase heart and lung fitness; also helps alleviate depression and anxiety

mindfulness meditation

a reflective practice where people attend to current experiences in a nonjudgemental and accepting manner

gratitude

an appreciative emotion people often experience when they benefit from other’s actions or recognize their own good fortune

diathesis-stress model

the concept that genetic predispositions (diathesis) combine with environmental stressors (stress) to influence psychological disorder

epigenetics

“above” or “in addition to” (epi) genetics; the study of molecular mechanisms by which environments can influence genetic expression (without a DNA change)

DSM-5-TR

the American Psychiatric Association’s Diganostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Reivision; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders

agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open spaces; where one may experiences a loss of control and panic

hoarding disorder

a persistent difficulty parting with possessions, regardless of their value

PTSD

disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, avoidance of trauma-relatied stimuli, social withdrawl, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for 4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience

trauma-and-stressor-related disorders

a groupof disorders in which exposure to a traumatic or stressfull event is followed by psychologival distress

dissociative amnesia

a disorder where people with intact brains reportedly experience memory gaps; people with this disorder may report not remembering trauma-related specific events, people, places, or aspects of their identity and life history

specific learning disorders

• chronic difficulties perceiving and processing info

• treatment=make adjustments to learning environment

motor disorders

• appears from 5-18

• ex. Tourette disorder

• frontal lobe that controls planning, movement, and sometimes speech are affected

• extreme clumsiness, stereotyped movement

Autism Spectrum disorder

disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by limitations in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors

• poor communication in brain regions that help us with viewpoints of faces

• sognitive and social and emotion disorder

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity

• treatments: CBT —> retrain activities

deinstitutionalization

the process, begun in the late 20th century, of moving people with psychological disorders out of institutional facilities

psychotherapy

ttreatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interatiocns between a trained therapist and someones seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

• theraputic alliance

biomedical therapy

prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person’s physiology

free association (Freud)

say whatever comes to mind

resistance (Freud)

blocks the flow of free Association's, repressing (ex. not coming, coming late, not accpeting therapists’s interpretations)

interpretations

analyst’s ideas about meanings, meant to provide your with insight

transference

putting strong feelings onto an analyst

psychoanalysis

Freud’s theraputic technique. believed patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences—and the anaylsts’s interpretations of them—released previously repressEd feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight

eclectic approach

an approo psypsychodyanmic therapychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therpay

psychodyamic therapy

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition; views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight

insight therapies

therapies taht aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses

person-centered therapy

a humanistic approach therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, where the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathetic environment to facilitate clients’ growth. (aka clinet-centered therapy)

active listening

empathic listening where the listener echoes, restates, and seekings clarification.

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop a self-awareness and sel-acceptance

behavior therapy

therapy that uses learning principles to reduce unwanted behaviors

counter coniditoning

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggeringunwanted behaviors; linclude exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

exposure therapies

behaviolr techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid

systematic desnsitization

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxedstate with graduallly increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. commonly used to treat specific phobias

aversive conditioning

associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an wanted behavior