Health Psychology

Middle ages

illness was gods punishment

Stone age

if a oerson was sick it was because they were possessed by evil spirts

renaissance

mid 1700s (illness through history)

• All illnesses was caused by the same thing

• Capillary tension was the cause of illness

• blood letting was the solution to illness

1800s (illness through history)

treatment was worse than the disease

non-invasive treatment

1900s (illness through history)

• biomedical model

• penicillin

• All illness has a biomedical cause

• jThe body is separated from the mind

1918 spanish flu

worst single epidemic

killed over 100 million people

killed even health people

smallpox

The most feared disease across history

killed 30% of people who got it

there has never been a treatment

smallpox vaccine

First vaccine ever created

Smallpox was 100% eradicated in the world by 1977

in the us anyone currently younger than age 50 wasn’t vaccinated

evoulntion of biomedical model

treated acute illness but did not focus on chronic illnesses

The most common causes of death in the US

heart diseases and cancer

Behaviors associated with the most common causes of death

smoking (cigarettes)

alcohol

biopsychosocial model

bio factors: organs, cells, tissues, biochemical

psych factors: individuals, motivations, beliefs

social factors: family, friends

Herd immunity

When enough people in a population are vaccinated so that even unvaccinated people are safe

reasons for vaccine backlash (gov.)

1.1 billion dollars cut in funding for vaccines

stress

a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that are directed either towards altering the stressful event or accommodating to its effect.

types of stressors

physical and psychological

acute and chronic

physical stressor

These stressors are things that all animals might list as stressful, ex. heat, food, pain

acute stessor

demand immediate attention and do not last long

chronic stressor

require immediate attention, but last a long time

Daily stressors

relatively minor events that are a nuisance and come from everyday living

cumulative stress

the sum of chronic stressors across many life domains, ex. work and school

General Adaptation syndrome

Results from experiment:

Enlarged adrenal glands

shuken lymph nodes

bleeding ulcers

• a nonspecific response of the body to any demand placed upon it.

  three stages to the syndrome:

  • alarm

  • resistance

  • exhaustion

lazarus and stress apprasial

what matters is not what event occurs, but how we perceive and interpret that event.

Primary appraisal

positive, negative, neutral

if negative, is it: harmful, threatening, or challenging

Secondary appraisal

Are my coping abilities and resources sufficient to overcome the harm, threat or challenge posed by the event?

Autonomic nervous system

sympathetic nervous system is activated

• fight or flight response activated

• release of catecholamines

parasymp

Hypothalamic pituotary adrenocortial axis

HPA activation

some type of short term stressors lead to a larger cortisol response

what dose stress do to your body

mobilizes energy

raises heart rate

slows digestion

slows growth

reproduction

blunts pain

speeds aging

suppresses immune system