Stress, Illness, and Coping

Hostility and Social Support

• Hostile individuals experience conflict and reduced social support, creating a vicious cycle.

• They show greater physiological reactivity in interpersonal situations and don't benefit from social support during stress due to distrust.

• Hostile people have delayed stress recovery and tend to ruminate, impacting sleep quality and cardiovascular health.

Hostility, Health Behaviors, and CHD

• Hostility is linked to unhealthy behaviors (drinking, obesity, smoking), increasing CHD risk even when considering these behaviors.

Other Type A Behaviors

• Social dominance is linked to coronary atherosclerosis and greater physiological reactivity during challenges.

Psychosocial Modifiers of Stress

• Social support, personal control, and Type A/B behavior modify stress impact.

• High support/control reduce stress; Type A behavior increases stress and cardiovascular illness.

Diathesis-Stress Model

• Vulnerability depends on predisposition (genetic/environmental) and stress levels.

• Example: High stress + high cholesterol can lead to CHD.

Experiment on Stress and Colds:

• High stress increases cold vulnerability after virus exposure.

• Positive emotions reduce cold risk; sleep problems increase it.

How Stress Affects Health:

• Stress leads to illness directly (physiological changes) and indirectly (behavioral).

Stress, Behavior, and Illness:

• Stress alters behavior, worsening conditions (e.g., poor diet, less exercise, smoking, alcohol).

• It impairs sleep, leading to accidents and injuries.

Stress, Physiology, and Illness:

• Stress causes physiological changes, especially with chronic stress.

• Allostatic Load: Repeated stress causes wear and tear, increasing mortality.

• Links exist between illness and reactivity in cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems.

Cardiovascular System Reactivity and Illness:

• High cardiovascular reactivity is linked to CHD, hypertension, and stroke.

• Stress increases blood clotting factors and unfavorable cholesterol, promoting atherosclerosis.

Monkey Study on Stress and Atherosclerosis:

• Stressful social adjustments in monkeys increased atherosclerosis.

• Blocking the sympathetic nervous system prevented these effects.

Rate Variability (HRV) and Cardiovascular Health:

• High vagal tone (parasympathetic activity) lowers cardiovascular disease risk.

Endocrine System Reactivity and Illness:

• High hormone levels from stress can cause erratic heartbeats and atherosclerosis.

• Social support lowers endocrine reactivity.

Metabolic Syndrome:

• Stressors worsen metabolic syndrome, increasing cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk.

Immune System Reactivity and Illness:

• Stress alters immune function, suppressing specific immunity during chronic stress.

• Stress disrupts the immune system, affecting conditions from colds to cancer.

Psychoneuroimmunology:

• Psychosocial and biological systems are interrelated.

• These systems form a feedback loop involving neurotransmitters, hormones, and immune system chemicals.

Emotions and Immune Function:

• Pessimism, depression, and stress impair immune function.

• Positive emotions can boost immune function; negative events reduce antibodies.

• Crisis-related emotional states suppress immune processes.

Psychosocial Modifiers of Immune System Reactivity:

• Strong social support strengthens immune systems and reduces impairments from stress.

Disclosure:

• Expressing feelings about stress can improve immune function.

Optimism:

• Optimism's influence depends on stress duration; it's generally associated with better immune functioning.

Lifestyles and Immune Function:

• Healthful lifestyles strengthen immune functioning.

Conditioning Immune Function:

• Immune suppression can be conditioned in animals and humans.

Stress and Wound Healing:

• Stress impairs wound healing; interventions that reduce stress can facilitate it.

Psychophysiological Disorders:

• Psychophysiological disorders result from the interplay of psychosocial and physiological processes.

Digestive System Diseases:

• Stress plays a role in ulcers by increasing stomach-acid production.

• It also relates to flare-ups of inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

Asthma:

• Stress can trigger asthma attacks.

• Psychosocial factors (adversity, low support) are implicated in asthma.

Recurrent Headache:

• Stressors trigger migraine and tension-type headaches, though it's only one factor.

Other Disorders:

• Other disorders include rheumatoid arthritis, dysmenorrhea, and skin disorders, with unclear biological and psychosocial interplay.

Stress and Cardiovascular Disorders:

• Psychosocial modifiers affect health, like the increased CHD risk for hostile people.

Hypertension:

• Risk factors include obesity, diet, alcohol, inactivity, family history, and psychosocial factors (stress, anger, anxiety).

Stress, Emotions, and Hypertension:

• Occupational stress, crowding, aggression, pessimism, anger, and hostility are linked to hypertension.

• Stress can complicate diagnosis due to "white coat hypertension."

Stress and Sociocultural Differences in Hypertension:

• Perceived racism is a stressor contributing to hypertension among African Americans.

Coronary Heart Disease:

• Stress (job stress, conflict, PTSD, anger) predicts CHD development.

• Stress contributes to atherosclerosis, ischemia, myocardial infarction, and heart rhythm disturbances.

• Stress evokes increases in lipids and inflammatory substances, cardiovascular reactivity, and catecholamine/corticosteroid release.

• Stress can cause cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with behavioral risk factors (smoking).

Does Acculturation Increase Blood Pressure?

• Adapting to a new culture can increase blood pressure, especially in the initial months after relocating.

Stress and Cancer:

• Stress-related psychosocial factors predict cancer occurrence and medical course.

• Stress may play a causal role in cancer development or progression through angiogenesis and metastasis.