Unit 5 – Mental and Physical Health

Unit 5 – Mental and Physical Health

5.1 - Introduction to Health Psychology

  • Stress: Defined as distress.

    • Hedonic Adaptation: The process by which individuals become accustomed to a certain level of happiness, resulting in diminished awareness of that happiness over time.

    • Types of Stress:

      • Distress: Characterized as unpleasant, similar to punishment without comprehension, and associated with long-term health issues.

        • Includes concepts like:

          • Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict: Choosing between two undesirable options.

          • Learned Helplessness: A state where individuals feel unable to control the situation due to previous experiences.

          • External Locus of Control: Belief that outcomes are controlled by external factors (e.g., a strict teacher's unfair grading).

      • Eustress: Considered challenging but not unpleasant, with potential long-term benefits linked to approach-avoidance conflict.

        • Includes elements like:

          • Optimum Arousal: A balanced state of alertness and engagement.

          • Internal Locus of Control: Belief that outcomes are influenced by one's own actions (e.g., trying something new).

    • Psychological causes are complex and often elusive; avoidance of the term "cause" is suggested.

    • There are 3 main types of stressors

      • Catastrphes: large- scale disasters

        • damage emotionsl and physical health can be signiificant

      • Significant life changes

      • Daily hassles and social stress- happenn overtime but affect mental health the most

    • 2 types of people

      • Type A: Competitive, hard driving impatient, verbally aggressive and anger prone to people.

      • Type B: Easy going relaxed people

    • Coping with stress

      • Problem-focused coping: Attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with it.

      • Emotion-focused coping: Attemting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignorinng the stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction.

      • Learned Helplessness: the helplessness and passive resignation humans and other animals learn when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

      • Self-control:The ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards

5.2 - Positive Psychology

  • Positive Psychology: The scientific study of human strengths and virtues focusing on human flourishing and optimal functioning, emphasizing what is right within individuals rather than their deficiencies.

    • Happiness:

      • Subjective: Influenced by personal feelings or interpretations.

      • Objective: Impartial and uninfluenced by personal opinions.

  • Self-assessments are used to measure happiness, with key vocabulary including well-being, resilience, and gratitude.

    • Key Terms in Positive Psychology:

      • Well-being: A state of happiness and contentment characterized by low distress and good physical and mental health.

      • Gratitude: As an action: appreciation of received tangible or intangible benefits; as a state: being thankful.

      • Resilience: The ability to adapt positively in the context of adversity, trauma, or stress.

        • Keys to Well-being: Altruism, Awe, Compassion, Empathy, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Mindfulness, Purpose, Social Connection, Intellectual Humility, and Bridging Differences.

        • Signature Strengths: Individual characteristics that define a person, operating signature strengths correlate with higher happiness and well-being.

        • Posttraumatic Growth: Positive experiences that may arise after trauma, including personal strength, greater appreciation for life, and spiritual development.

      • Subjective well-being: self-percieved happiness or satisfaction with life

      • Feel-good,do-good: people’s tendancy to be helpful whenn in a good mood (vice versa is also true)

      • Adaptation-level phenomenon:forming judgments relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

      • Social comparison: happiness and social comparison ussually have a negative correlation

      • Broaden-and-build theory:posiitive emotions broaden our awarness whihch over time helps us build novel and meaningful life skills and ressiliiance that imporves well-being

      • Enhanncing well being

      • Aerobic exercise helps alleviate depression and anxiety, fight heart disease,

        and is associated with better cognitive functioning

      • Mindfulness meditation: a reflective practice in which people attend to

        current experiences in a nonjudgemental and accepting manner; boosts

        happiness and lessens anxiety and depression

      • Faith factor :the finding that religiously active people tend to live longer than

        those who aren’t religiously active

5.3 - Explaining and Classifying Psychological Disorders

  • The Three D's of Phycological Disorders:

    • Deviant: Behavior that deviates from societal norms.

    • Distressful: Causes significant anxiety or distress.

    • Dysfunctional: Impairs normal functioning.

  • Diagnosing Psychological Disorders:

    • Requires specialized training and evidence-based diagnostic tools.

    • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM): Current edition is DSM-5-TR, developed by the American Psychiatric Association, classifying disorders without specifying causes.

      • Examples of DSM Categories:

        • Neurodevelopmental Disorders

        • Depressive Disorders

        • Anxiety Disorders

        • Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

        • Bipolar and Related Disorders

        • Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders

        • Dissociative Disorders

        • Feeding and Eating Disorders

        • Sleep-Wake Disorders

    • International Classification of Diseases (ICD): Current edition is ICD-11, developed by the World Health Organization to standardize health information.

    • Medical model: the concept that diseases (psychological disorders,in this case) have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured

    • The biopsychosocial perspective assumes that disordered behaviour comes from the interaction of biological characteristics, psychological dynamics, and social-cultural circumstances

    • Diatheses-stress model (aka vulnerability-stress model):genetic predispositions (diathesis) combine with environmental stressors to influence psychological disorder

    •  Epigenetics:the study of molecular mechanisms by which environments influence genetic expression (without DNA change)

    • DSM-5:Diagnosticand Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders,by the APA

      ○ Doesn’t explain causes

    •  ICD-11:International Classification of Disease, by the WHO

    • Perspectives on phycological disorders

      • Phycodynamic: Unresolved childhood conflicts and unconscious thoughts

      • Humanistic: Lack of social support and the inability to fullfill onnes potential

      • Behavioural: Maladaptive learned associations

      • Cognitive: Maladaptive thoughts, beleifs, attitudes, or emotions

      • Biological: Genetic or physiological predispositions

      • Evolutionary: Maladaptive forms of behaviours that enabled human survival

      • Sociocultural: Problamatic social and cultural contexts

5.4 - Consequences of Diagnostic Labeling

  • Positive Consequences:

    • Relief from understanding symptoms.

    • Directs individuals towards appropriate treatment options.

    • Enhances communication using a common language in research.

    • Can predict future issues.

  • Negative Consequences:

    • Possible feelings of shame and reduced self-esteem.

    • Stigmatization and avoidance of seeking help.

    • Self-limiting beliefs reinforced by diagnostic labels.

5.5 - Cultural Differences in Mental Health Perception

  • Individualistic Cultures: Tend to normalize mental health issues and actively seek help.

  • Collectivist Cultures: Often view mental health issues as weaknesses and may avoid seeking help.

    • Prejudice vs. Discrimination:

      • Prejudice: Unwarranted negative beliefs about individuals or groups.

      • Discrimination: Negative treatment based on those beliefs.

5.7 - Selection of Categories of Psychological Disorders

  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders:

    • Symptoms reflect appropriateness for age and maturity, typically persisting throughout life (e.g., Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder).

  • Causes of Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Genetic and prenatal environmental factors influence these disorders, notably heritability rates (e.g., ADHD at ~74%).

  • Schizophrenia Spectrum:

    • Characterized by symptoms affecting reality perception, including delusions and hallucinations.

  • Diagnosis:

    • Requires presence of specific symptoms over a defined duration, with factors like prenatal exposure to viruses or childhood trauma increasing vulnerability.

    • Dopamine Hypothesis: Suggests imbalances of dopamine are linked to psychotic symptoms.

5.8 - Depressive and Bipolar Disorders

  • Mood Disorders: Previously categorized collectively, now distinctly viewed in DSM-5.

    • Depressive Disorders: Include Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD), with symptoms that pervade daily function.

      • Depressive Disorders :a group of disorders characterized by an enduring sad,

        empty, or irritable mood, along with physical and cognitive changes that

        affect a person’s ability to function

      •  Major depressive disorder: a disorder in which a person experiences

        symptoms of depression nearly all the time, for two or more weeks, in the

        absence of drug use or a medical condition

      •  Persistent depressive disorder:a disorder in. which a person may experience

        milder depression symptoms and depressed mood on more days than not for at least two years

    • Bipolar Disorder: Involves manic episodes alternating with depressive periods (Bipolar I includes at least one manic episode; Bipolar II includes depressive and less severe hypomanic episodes).

      • Bipolar I Disorder: the most severe form;people experience a euphoric, talkative, highly energetic and overly ambitious state that lasts a week or longer, then usually plunge back into depression or go back and forth in a rapid cycle    

        • Atleast one manic episode that lasts for atleast 7 days or is so severe that it requires immediate hospitalization

      •  Bipolar II disorder: people cycle between depression and a milder hypomania

        • Depression is predominant;people last longer in depressive states than

          hypomanic ones

        • Nopsychosis

    • Mania: a hyperactive wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgment is common

      • Symptoms of mania include grandiosity and excessive talkativeness.

  • Causes: Cognitive theories elucidate differences in thought processes between depressed and non-depressed individuals; behavioral components consider learned helplessness; biological factors involve activation in specific brain regions linked to emotion regulation, with genetic studies suggesting polygenic contributions to depressive risks and socio-cultural stressors (e.g., poverty and trauma) also contributing to onset.

5.9 - Anxiety Disorders

  • General Characteristics: Anxiety is a normal reaction but becomes a disorder when excessive.

  • Examples of Anxiety Disorders:

    • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Characterized by unwanted intrusive thoughts (obsessions) leading to repetitive behaviors (compulsions).

    • Specific Phobias: Intense fear of specific situations or objects (e.g., arachnophobia).

    • Panic Disorder: Characterized by instances of panic attacks.

    • Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Persistent anxiety not linked to specific threats.

  • Causes: Genetic predispositions, learned behaviors, and cognitive distortions influence anxiety development.

5.10 - Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders

  • Diagnosis criteria based on exposure to trauma or stressors.

  • Types of Symptoms in PTSD: Intrusions (e.g., flashbacks), alterations in cognition/mood, avoidance behaviors, and marked arousal/reactivity.

5.11 - Dissociative Disorders

  • Description: Involves separation of consciousness components.

  • Types of Dissociative Disorders:

    • Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): Presence of multiple distinct personalities.

    • Dissociative Amnesia: Memory loss linked to trauma, differing from organic amnesia, with symptoms including sudden travel or dissociation from memory.

5.12 - Feeding and Eating Disorders

  • Criteria: Pathological intake or absorption of food leading to health impairments.

  • Types:

    • Anorexia Nervosa: Low body weight due to restricted intake and intense fear of gaining weight.

    • Bulimia Nervosa: Binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors (e.g., vomiting).

  • Causes of Feeding and Eating Disorders: Biopsychosocial influences intertwine in the development of these disorders.

5.13 - Personality Disorders

  • Definition: Enduring patterns of behavior and internal experience deviating from cultural norms, affecting functioning and causing distress.

  • Clusters of Personality Disorders:

    • Cluster A: Odd or Eccentric (e.g., Paranoid, Schizoid).

    • Cluster B: Dramatic or Erratic (e.g., Anti-Social, Narcissistic).

    • Cluster C: Fearful or Anxious (e.g., Avoidant, Dependent).

  • Causes: Interactions between genetic predispositions and environmental factors shape personality disorders.

5.14 - Treatment of Psychological Disorders

  • Trends in Treatment: Emphasizes therapeutic alliance, evidence-based practice, and applications of meta-analysis in therapy.

  • Cognitive Therapies: Use cognitive restructuring techniques for maladaptive thoughts.

  • Behavioral Therapies: Incorporate exposure therapies and aversive techniques.

    • Biofeedback: Helps clients learn to control physiological responses through feedback mechanisms.

  • Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Integrates cognitive and behavioral techniques; emphasizes changing thoughts to alter emotions.

  • Humanistic Approaches: Client-centered therapy focuses on self-awareness and personal growth; relies on active listening and unconditional positive regard.

  • Historical Overview of Therapeutic Methods: Evolution from ancient practices like trephining to modern eclectic therapy which blends various approaches.

  • Psychopharmaceuticals: Medications influencing neurotransmitter actions in treating disorders.

  • Surgical Interventions: Include electroconvulsive therapy and neuromodulation techniques like TMS.