AP Psychology - Mental & Physical Health

Studying Stress

  • Health psychology studies psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine.
  • Stress diverts energy from the immune system, increasing vulnerability to illness.
  • Stress doesn't directly cause diseases but affects immune function, influencing disease progression.

What is Stress?

  • Stress is the process of appraising and responding to threatening or challenging events.
  • Stressors can be:
    • Eustress: "good" stress, challenging but manageable, leading to growth. Examples include significant life changes like moving or marriage.
    • Distress: "bad" stress, difficult and negative. Examples include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), catastrophes, significant life changes (divorce, death), and daily hassles (traffic, deadlines).

Coping with Stress

  • Coping involves emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods to alleviate stress.
    • Problem-focused coping: Addressing stressors directly when feeling control over the situation.
    • Emotion-focused coping: Seeking support when unable to change the situation, which may sometimes be maladaptive.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

  • Hans Selye’s GAS describes the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases:
    • Phase 1 (Alarm reaction): Sympathetic nervous system activation.
    • Phase 2 (Resistance): Maintaining high temperature, blood pressure, and respiration as the body copes with the stressor.
    • Phase 3 (Exhaustion): Depletion of body’s reserves, increasing vulnerability to illness or collapse.

Impact of Stress

  • Prolonged stress can harm the body; severe childhood stress can lead to increased adult stress responses and disease risk.
  • Women may exhibit a tend-and-befriend response, while men may withdraw socially or turn to harmful substances.

Positive Psychology

  • Focuses on human flourishing by discovering and promoting strengths and virtues.

Six Virtues & Strengths of Positive Psychology

  • Wisdom: Creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, perspective.
  • Courage: Bravery, honesty, perseverance, zest.
  • Humanity: Love, kindness, social intelligence.
  • Justice: Teamwork, leadership, fairness.
  • Temperance: Forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation.
  • Transcendence: Appreciation of beauty, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality.

Effects of Happiness

  • Subjective well-being is the perception of happiness or life satisfaction.
  • Good moods enhance perceptions and promote the feel-good, do-good phenomenon.

Resilience

  • Resilience is the ability to recover from adversity, stress, or trauma through adaptive coping strategies and support.

Aerobic Exercise & Meditation

  • Aerobic exercise improves fitness, mood, and cognitive function.
  • Meditation reduces stress by relaxing muscles, lowering blood pressure, and improving immune function.

Practicing Gratitude

  • Gratitude elevates happiness, fosters positive emotions, and serves as a buffer against anxiety and depression.

Impact of Outlook & Support

  • Optimism and strong relationships improve immune function, blood pressure, recovery, and life expectancy.

Post-Traumatic Growth

  • Positive changes resulting from struggling with traumatic events, leading to personal growth and resilience.

How to Be Happy

  • Take control of your time.
  • Act happy.
  • Seek engaging work and leisure.
  • Buy shared experiences.
  • Exercise.
  • Prioritize sleep and close relationships.
  • Focus beyond self, practice gratitude.

Psychological Disorder

  • A syndrome marked by significant disturbance in cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior; characterized by the 3 D’s: dysfunctional, deviant, and distressing.

DSM-V-TR

  • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used in the U.S.
  • Comorbidity: Co-occurrence of multiple disorders.

Psychological Perspectives on Disorders

  • Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic: Internal, unconscious drives.
  • Humanistic: Failure to strive to one’s potential.
  • Behavioral: Reinforcement history, environment.
  • Cognitive: Irrational thoughts.
  • Sociocultural: Dysfunctional Society.
  • Biomedical/Neuroscience: Organic problems, biochemical imbalances.

Biopsychosocial Approach

  • Mental illness influenced by biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors also influence our behavior, thoughts and feelings.

Social-Cultural Influences

  • Culture-bound syndromes: Disorders specific to certain cultures (e.g., Susto, Tajin-kyofusho, Amok).

Diathesis-Stress Model

  • Mental disorders develop from interaction between a pre-existing vulnerability (diathesis) and external stressors.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

  • Involve developmental deficits in the brain, affecting communication, learning, and behavior (e.g., autism, ADHD).

Schizophrenia

  • A disorder with delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thoughts, and inappropriate emotional expression.
  • Psychotic disorders: irrational ideas, distorted perceptions, loss of contact with reality.

Understanding Schizophrenia

  • Dopamine overactivity, abnormal brain activity, prenatal environment, and genetics are implicated.

Symptoms

  • Paranoia, disturbed perceptions, disorganized speech, diminished emotions.

Positive vs. Negative Symptoms

  • Positive: Addition of inappropriate behaviors (hallucinations, delusions).
  • Negative: Lack of appropriate behaviors (flat affect, reduced social interaction).

Onset & Development of Schizophrenia

  • Typically occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood (19-21), with chronic or acute presentations.

Mood Disorder

  • Characterized by extreme emotions.
    • Depressive disorders are unipolar.
    • Bipolar disorders have opposing sides.

Major Depressive Disorder

  • Involves prolonged depressed mood and/or loss of interest, plus other symptoms like changes in appetite, sleep, or energy.

Influences on Mood Disorders

  • Genetic, neuroscientific (neurotransmitters), nutrition, social-cognitive factors.

Bipolar Disorder

  • Alternation between depression and mania (euphoric, overexcited state).

Addressing Overdiagnosis in Kids

  • Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) is often diagnosed instead of bipolar in children with persistent irritability and temper outbursts.

The Reality of: Bipolar Disorder

  • Eating disorder and self-harm

Myths of Bipolar

  • Bipolar Disorder is not rare, and can be manageable by getting educated.

Bipolar I and II

  • Bipolar I is more severe with mania and depression, treated with mood stabilizers.
  • Bipolar II is less severe, with hypomania and depression.

What is an anxiety disorder?

  • Anxiety disorders involve distressing anxiety or maladaptive behaviors.

Anxiety

  • Anxiety presents itself in many different ways

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

  • GAD involves chronic tension, apprehension, and autonomic nervous system arousal.

Panic Disorder

  • Marked by unpredictable episodes of intense dread and fear, sometimes leading to agoraphobia.

Phobias

  • Involve persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of specific objects or situations.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

  • Characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and actions (compulsions).

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

  • Involves haunting memories, nightmares, and anxiety lasting for weeks after a traumatic experience.

Understanding Anxiety Disorders: Explanations from Different Perspectives

  • Understanding Anxiety Disorders

Dissociative Disorders

  • Involve separation of conscious awareness from memories, thoughts, or feelings such as Dissociative Amnesia and Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

  • Involves two or more distinct personalities, often linked to childhood trauma.