health psych

Health Psychology: 

• A feild in psychology that acts as an interpreter for the effects of mental processes on the human body/health 

  • Health psychologists work in hospitals, clinics, private practices, universities and study the effect of thoughts and behaviors on physical health

Stress:

•  the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as challenging or threatening 

• Common reactions to stress: 

  • Physical: increased heart rate, nausea, chest pain, fatigue, sweating, blood pressure, panic attacks

    • Panic Attack: an extreme physical reaction to stress; can be mistaken as a heart attack

      • panic attacks peak at 10 minutes; BOTH= numbing, chest pressure/pain, arm and leg pain, pain during physical excursion, kidney pain

  • Emotional: anxiety, anger, irritability, fear, helplessness, depressed feelings

  • Cognitive: racing thoughts, negative thoughts, challenges feel like threats, indecisiveness, memory loss 

  • Behavioral: avoidance, irrational/aggressive behavior, eating: NOT or overeating, sleeping less, self-medication

Stressors: events that cause a stress reaction; distress + eustress

• Distress: something unwanted that causes stress

• Eustress: a stressor that is wanted (ex. job interview)

  • Post traumatic growth: the idea that we use a stressor to bring up change; sometimes seen as beneficial. (ex. deadlines put stress to get things done)

• Types of Stressors: 

  • Major Life Events: require adaptation and change (ex. moving out)

  • Hassles: daily annoyances of everyday life

  • Pressure: urgent demands or expectations from the outside that make you feel as if you must work harder and fasterto meet deadlines or achieve goals, often leading to feelings of overwhelm and anxiety.