General Psychology Chapter 11

Health Psychology

This subfield of psychology investigates the psychological related to wellness and illness, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical problems.

effects of psychological factors

stress on illness

Health psychologists investigate the ______________ such as _________.

psychological principles

disease

illness

Health psychologists examine the ____________ underlying treatments for ____ and ____.

Prevention

Health psychologists also study _____: how healthier behavior can help people avoid and reduce health problems such as stress and heart disease.

good health

cope with illness

Health psychologists recognize that ______ and the ability to ____ with illness are affected by psychological factors.

Thoughts

Emotions

Ability to Manage Stress

These examples pertain to the psychological factors that health psychologists study.

Immune System

Health psychologists pay particular attention to the ________, the complex system of organs, glands, and cells that constitutes our bodies’ natural line of defense in fighting diseases.

mind-body

Ancient Greeks

Health psychologists take a decisive stand on the enduring ________ issue that philosophers and, later, psychologists have debated since the time of the __________.

mind

body

In the mind of health psychologists, both ____ and ____ are clearly linked rather than representing two distinct systems.

Psychoneuroimmunology or PNI

Health psychologists are known to be the primary investigators in a growing field called ____________.

Psychoneuroimmunology or PNI

A field primarily developed by health psychologists, this studies the relationship among the psychological factors, the immune system, and the brain.

Psychological Factors

Immune System

Brain

The relationship between these three concepts are studied in the field of psychoneuroimmunology.

person’s emotional state

success of the immune system in fighting disease.

Psychoneuroimmunology has led to discoveries such as the existence of an association between a ___________ and the ____________________.

Short-term infections

In the early 20th century, the primary causes of death were ________ from which one either rapidly recovered or died.

Chronic illnesses

In the current time, this type of illness are now considered to be the major causes of death, posing significant psychological issues because they often cannot be cured and may linger for years.

Heart Disease

Cancer

Diabetes

These are considered to be major examples of chronic illnesses.

Physicians

Nurses

Social Workers

Dietitians

Pharmacists

Occupational therapists

Clergy

These health-care professionals are said to receive training in health psychology.

Stress

In the simplest definition, this phenomenon refers to an individual’s response to events that threaten or challenge them.

Stressors

These are sources of stress that produce threats to an individual’s well-being.

Exam deadline

Family problem

Ongoing threat of a terrorist attack

It is said that life is full of circumstances that can be referred to as stressors. These can manifest in ______, _______, or __________.

planning a party

beginning a sought-after job

Even for pleasant events—such as _______ or _______— can produce stress, although negative events result in greater detrimental consequences than positive ones do.

perceiving a threat

considering ways to cope with it

ultimately adapting to the threat

Some health psychologists believe that daily life actually involves a series of repeated sequences of _______, _________, and __________ with greater or lesser success.

adaptation

Although _____ is often minor and occurs without our awareness, _____ requires a major effort when stress is more severe or long lasting.

biological

psychological

Ultimately, our attempts to overcome stress may produce ____ and ____ responses that result in health problems.

personal

Stress is considered to be a very ____ concept.

Perception

Stress is dependent on a person’s ____ of the activity.

threatening

challenging

lack all the resources

For people to consider an event as stressful, they must perceive it as ____ or ____ and must _______ to deal with it effectively.

stressful

no stressful reaction at all

Consequently, the same stressful event may at some times ____ and at other times provoke ___________.

interpretation of events

A person’s ________ plays an important role in the determination of what is stressful.

Cataclysmic Events

Personal Stressors

Background Stressors

These are the three general types of stressors.

Cataclysmic Events

These refer to a strong type of stressor that occur suddenly and typically affect many people simultaneously.

Tornadoes

Plane Crashes

Terrorist Attacks

These disasters are considered to be prime examples of cataclysmic events because they can affect hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously.

they do not

Although it might seem that cataclysmic events would produce potent, lingering stress, in many cases ________.

less stress

In fact, cataclysmic events involving natural disasters may produce ______ in the long run than events that initially are not as devastating.

clear resolutions

One reason that cataclysmic events may produce less stress is because they are said to have a ________.

knowing that the worst is behind them

Once cataclysmic events are over, people can look to the future ______________________.

share the stress

Another reason why cataclysmic events are less stressful is because individuals who experience it tend to _______ induced by these events.

social support

firsthand understanding of the difficulties others are going through

The sharing of stress by cataclysmic events permits people to offer one another ________ and a _____________.

World Trade Center in 2001

Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013

These are examples of historical terrorist attacks that can be categorized as cataclysmic events that produce considerable stress.

deliberate

Terrorist attacks are ____, and victims (and observers) know that future attacks are likely.

heightened terror alerts

Due to terrorist attacks, government warnings in the form of ________ may further increase stress.

exposure to related events

increased sensitivity to stress

_________, whether experienced directly or through media, may lead to _________.

Personal Stressors

This category of stressors includes major life events such as the death of a parent or spouse, the loss of one’s job, a major personal failure, or even something positive such as getting married.

Death of a parent or spouse

Loss of one’s job

Major personal failure

Getting married

These are considered to be major examples of personal stressors.

immediate major reaction

Personal stressors produce an ________ that soon tapers off.

greatest

cope

Stress arising from the death of a loved one tends to be ______ just after the time of death, but people begin to feel less stress and are better able to ____ with the loss after the passage of time.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD

Victims of major catastrophes and severe personal stressors may experience ______, in which a person has experienced a significantly stressful event that has long-lasting effects that may include re-experiencing the event in vivid flashbacks or dreams.

episode

innocent stimulus

A/An _____ of PTSD may be triggered by an otherwise _________, leading the person to re-experience a past event that produced considerable stress.

Emotional numbing

Sleep difficulties

Interpersonal problems

Alcohol and drug abuse

Suicide

These are noted to be the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

military veterans

Iraq

Afghanistan

twice as high

Following PTSD in mind, the suicide rate for _____, many of whom participated in the ____ and ____ wars, is _____ as for nonveterans.

10-18%

Between _____ of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan show symptoms of PTSD.

$3 billion

The United States spends _____ a year on treating PTSD within military veterans.

Victims of child abuse or rape

Rescue workers facing overwhelming situations

Victims of sudden natural disasters or accidents

These people—whose experiences resulted in producing feelings of helplessness and shock—may suffer from PTSD.

constant vigilance

intolerance for carelessness

extreme decisiveness

Soldiers who thrive during years of combat face their own kind of PTSD, and may have to unlearn skills that helped them survive in the warzone such as _____, ______, and _______.

high instances of PTSD

Terrorist attacks produce _________.

11%

____ of people in New York City had some form of PTSD in the months after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

proximity to the attacks

From the statistic of people suffering from PTSD in New York City after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the responses varied significantly with a resident’s _________.

closer

greater the likelihood of PTSD

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the ____ someone lived to the World Trade Center, the ________________.

effects of PTSD

For many people, the ________ were still evident a decade after the attacks.

Background Stressors

The third major category of stressors can be exemplified by standing in a long line at a bank or getting stuck in a traffic jam, and other irritations of life that we all face time and time again.

Daily Hassles

Background stressors are also informally known as ___________.

long-term chronic problem

experiencing dissatisfaction with school or a job

being in an unhappy relationship

living in crowder quarters without privacy

Another type of background stressor is a ________ such as _____________, ______________, or _________________.

coping

response

emotions

moods

Daily hassles, do not require much _____ or even a _____ on the individual’s part, although they certainly produce unpleasant ______ and _____.

single, more stressful incident

Daily hassles can add up—and ultimately, they may take as great of a toll as a ____________.

psychological symptoms

health problems

The number of daily hassles people face is associated with ______ and ______.

Flu

Sore Throat

Backaches

In association with daily hassles, these are the most common health problems that people face as a result of them.

Uplifts

These are known as the flip side of hassles—the minor positive events that make us feel good, even if only temporarily.

relating well to a companion

finding one’s surroundings pleasing

Primarily, uplifts range from ______ to ________.

psychological health

An intriguing aspect about uplifts is that they are associated with people’s ____________ in just the opposite way that hassles are.

greater the number of uplifts

fewer the psychological symptoms

According to this principle in uplifts, in contrast to hassles, the ______ we experience, the _______ we report later.

biological

psychological

Stress has both ______ and ______ consequences.

instantaneously

unfold over time

Some consequences of stress begin almost _______, whereas others __________.

biological

The most consequent or immediate reaction of stress is ______.

hormone secretions

adrenal glands

increase in heart rate

blood pressure

how well the skin conducts electrical impulses

Specifically, exposure to stressors generates a rise in ______ by the ______, an ________ and ______, and changes in ______

emergency reaction

sympathetic nervous system

On a short-term basis, biological responses to stress may be adaptive because they produce a/an _________ in which the body prepares to defend itself through activation of the __________________.

more effective coping

Defense mechanism responses to stress may allow _________ with the stressful situation.

decline

constant secretion of stress-related hormones

Continued exposure to stress results in a _______ in the body’s overall level of biological functioning because of the ______________________.

deterioration of body tissues

blood vessels

heart

Over time, stressful reactions can promote ____________ such as ______ and the _______.

more susceptible

lowered

Ultimately, with constant exposure to stress, we become _______ to disease as our ability to fight off infection is _______.

produce

worsen

Stress can _____ or _____ physical problems.

Psychophysiological Disorders

____________________ are medical problems that are influenced by an interaction of psychological, emotional, and physical difficulties.

Psychological

Emotional

Physical

Interactions between difficulties of the ______, and _____, and ______ aspects of personhood can influence and lead to medical problems called psychophysiological disorders.

High blood pressure

Headaches

Backaches

Skin rashes

Indigestion

Fatigue

Constipation

Common psychophysiological disorders include ______, _______, _____, ______, ______, ______, and ________.

common cold

In connection to psychophysiological disorders, stress has even been linked to the _________.

adequately coping with life

On a psychological level, high levels of stress prevent people from __________________________.

minor criticism

Psychologically, people under high levels of stress can become clouded in their view of the environment, such as how a __________ made by a friend is blown out of proportion.

emotional responses

unable to act at all

At the highest levels of stress, __________ may be so extreme that people are ____________.

new stressors

People under a lot of stress may also become less able to deal with ___________.

increase the risk that we will become ill

directly cause illness

make us less able to recover from a disease

may reduce our ability to cope with future stress

In terms of illness, stress may _______, ________, ________, and __________.

Hans Selye

The effects of long-term stress are illustrated in a series of stages proposed by ________, the “Father of Stress-Related Research” and a pioneering stress theorist.

General Adaptation Syndrome or GAS

This refers to the model that Hans Selye developed that suggests that the physiological response to stress follows the same set pattern regardless of the cause of stress.

same set pattern regardless of the cause of stress

The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model suggests that the physiological response to stress follows the ____________________.

three

The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) models consists of _____ phases.

Alarm and Mobilization

Resistance

Exhaustion

The 3 phases of General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model are the following:

Alarm and Mobilization

The first stage of GAS, _________, occurs when people become aware of the presence of a stressor.

Sympathetic Nervous System

During the alarm and mobilization stage of GAS, on a biological level, the _____________ becomes energized, helping a person cope initially with the stressor.

Resistance

If the stressor persists despite the first stage of GAS, the second response stage is activated: _________.

biological level

During the resistance stage of GAS, the body is actively fighting the stressor on a ______________.

cope

physical

psychological

During the resistance stage of GAS, people use a variety of means to ____ with the stressor—sometimes successfully but at a cost of some degree of _____ or _____ well-being.

Exhaustion

If resistance is inadequate, people enter the last stage of the GAS: ________.