Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health
5.1 - Introduction to Health Psychology
What is Health Psychology
Health psych: Studies how behavior and mental processes affect physical health and illness.
Biopsychology Model: health is shaped by Biological factors (immune system, genetics), Psychological factors (stress, coping) and Social Factors (relationships, income, support)
Look at health behaviors like dieting, exercise, how consistently a person follow’s medical treatment, and promoting behaviors that reduce disease.
Stress and Effects on Body
Prolonged Stress: Weakens body ability to fight diseases. Chronic stress → hypertension (high BP)
Eustress: Positive stress, ends up motivating individual to take on challenge. (PR in 400m stress)
Distress: negative stress that overwhelms individual.
Traumatic Stress: From extreme events like PTSD.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE): Abuse, neglect in household. Linked to risks like heart disease, depression.
General Adaptation Syndrome: Looks at how a person’s body reacts to stress when confronted for long periods of time.
Stage 1: Alarm Reaction - Experience Fight-Flight-Freeze response for stressor. Also releases cortisol/adrenaline.
Stage 2: Resistance - If stressor persists, body adapts to it. Body uses more energy.
Stage 3: Exhaustion - If it continues, body’s energy stores become depleted.
Coping Strategies
Problem-Focused coping: Views stressor as a situation that can be solved. Implementing a plan and find solutions.
Emotion-Focused coping: Focuses on managing emotional reactions to stressor, instead of trying to change stressor itself. (deep breathing)
5.2 - Positive Psychology
Trying to understand what makes life worth living.
Positive emotions: How feelings like joy and love broaden person’s thinking and foster growth.
Character strength: Look at personality traits of individual to see what qualities contribute to better life.
Resilience and Wellbeing: How people recover from set backs and keep positive health.
Signature Strengths (virtues)
Wisdom: Creativity and curiosity
Courage: bravery and integrity
Humanity: interpersonal strength like love
Justice: fairness and leadership
Temperance: strengths that protect against humility, self-control
Transcendence: lead to better connection like gratitude or hope.
5.3 - Explaining and Classifying Psych Disorders
3 Factors to Disorder
Dysfunction Level: How well or poorly they carry day-today activities and complete responsibilities. (taking care of themselves, going to work)
Distress: Negative emotions, pain or stress related to individuals mental processes or behaviors. Reacting to own thoughts, feelings
Social Norms Deviation: Mental processes deviate from what is considered normal for society, can be seen as disorder.
Varies across cultures and societies.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Internalize negative stereotypes about their disorder and limiting themselves.
Psychological Perspectives on Disorders
Eclectic Approach: Combining ideas and techniques from different psychological perspectives.
Behavioral: Focuses n mental disorders coming from maladaptive learned associations btw response and stimuli. (Little Albert)
Psychodynamic: How disorders originate from unconscious conflicts from childhood.
Humanistic: How disorders develop due to person lacking social support or not achieving potential. Lack of unconditional positive regard.
Cognitive: Come from distorted beliefs and thought patterns.
Evolutionary: Cause abnormal behaviors come from individuals genetics. Once used traits for survival are not used anymore.
Sociocultural: Influenced by group dynamics, cultural norms, factors.
Biological: Physiological and genetic factors like neurotransmitter imbalances, brain chemistry.
How disorders come from interaction btw genetic and biological vulnerabilities and stressful life events.
5.4 - Selection of Categories of Psychological Disorders
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Begin in childhood and involve behavior that isn’t developmentally appropriate for a child’s age. Difficulties manifesting relationships, comms.
ADHD: Inattention, hyperactivity, having hard time maintaining focus.
Autism Spectrum: Challenges with social communication, restricted movement, increased sensitivity to sensations.
Causes: Neurodevelopment Disorders can be caused by genetic mutations of inherited genes, or how the brain is growing/functioning.
Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorders
Delusions: false beliefs, positive symptoms because beliefs are being added to individual
Delusions of Persecution: Others are out to harm you
Delusions of Grandeur: Belief that you have exceptional abilities, fame.
Hallucinations: Positive symptom because sensory experience is happening without an external stimuli. (hearing voices most common)
Disorganized Motor Behavior: Both Positive, negative. Catatonia - Affects person’s movement or behavior.
Catatonic Excitement: Experience sudden movements. Catatonic Stupor - State of near-unresponsiveness. Negative symptom.
Flat Affect: Reduced emotional expression, monotone voice.
Causes: Can run in families + increased dopamine.
Depressive Disorders
Mood changes, like feeling sad or empty.
Major Depressive Disorder: Diminished interest in activities, negative thoughts.
Permissive Depressive Disorder: Symptoms less intense than MDD, but symptoms are longer lasting. Chronic form of depression.
Causes: Biological factors - inherited vulnerabilities + low levels of serotonin/epinephrine. Cultural Influences - stigmas against mental health. Behavioral - lack of exercise, inadequate coping mechanisms dealing with stress. Cognitive - pessimistic thoughts, attribution style.
Bipolar Disorders
Shift between two mood states.
Manic Episodes: moment of euphoria, impulsivity.
Depressive Episodes: Low energy, hopelessness
Bipolar 1: One full manic episode lasting one week, following depressive episodes for 2 weeks.
Bipolar 2: Hypomania episodes which are less severe than full mania, but still noticeable shift in behavior.
Anxiety Disorders
Acrophobia: Fear of heights
Agoraphobia: Fear of being in situation where there is no help; avoiding public spaces.
Panic Disorders: Ataque de Nervous - Experienced among Iberian/Caribbean descent, specific to culture.
Social Anxiety Disorders: Fear about being watched judged, or criticized. Fear of scrutiny.
Tajin Kyofusho: Focuses on offending or displeasing others rather than embarrassment.
Generalized Anxiety Disorders: Worry about health, work, finances, school.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessions: Intrusive unwanted thoughts
Compulsions: Repeated behaviors to reduce anxiety caused by obsession. Maintained by negative reinforcement. Hoarding Disorder.
Dissociative, Eating Disorders
Disconnection from consciousness, identity, perception. Causes detachment
Dissociative Amnesia: cant recall personal important info to trauma. Selective - only forgets specific aspects of an event, or generalized.
Dissociate Fugue: Forgets key details about themselves and also includes traveling/wandering away.
Dissociative Identity Disorder: Presence of two or more distinct personality states or identities. Trauma in childhood, which → separate states of mind for coping strategy. (ALTER EGO)
Anorexia Nervosa: Food restriction and fear of gaining weight. (Nervosa = nervous about gaining weight)
Bulimia Nervosa: binge eating followed by purging.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Hypervigilance: always on the lookout for danger, flashbacks, and insomnia, as well as hostility
PTSD: Re-experience traumatic event they witnessed through nightmares.
Selected Personality Disorders
Patterns that remain fixed over time, lead to emotional suffering that differ from expectations of culture
Cluster A: Social awkwardness difficulty relating to others. (Odd or Eccentric)
Paranoid Personality: Want to frame them or deceive them, → distrusting others.
Schizoid Disorder: Detachment from social relationships.
Schizotypal Disorder: Discomfort in social settings, odd behaviors.
Cluster B: Intense emotions, impulsive behaviors, need for attention. (Dramatic, Emotional, or Erratic)
Antisocial Borderline Personality: Disregard rights of others. Impulsive.
Histrionic Personality: Excessive emotionality, attention-seeking.
Narcissistic: Need for admiration, lack of empathy for others.
Borderline Personality Disorder: Instability in relationships self-image.
Cluster C: anxiety, fearfulness, behaviors aimed at avoiding rejection. (Anxious or Fearful)
Avoidant Personality Disorder: Social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, sensitivity to negative evaluation.
Dependent: Strong need to be taken care of. Cant make decisions independently.
Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder: perfectionists, seeking control over aspects of life, want things in set order.
5.5 - Treatment of Psychological Disorders
Psychotherapy
Treatment to manage emotional, psych, behavioral challenges through convos with menta health professional.
Meta Analysis: uses statistical methods to calculate an effect size which measures how effective treatment is. Large effect size = Difference btw groups, results are more meaningful in real world.
Deinstitutionalization Movement: With psychotropic medications being effective, people in asylums decreased, move patients back into communities.
False Memories: during Hypnosis, if individual is asked leading q’s while in this state, it may implant details in memory that never happened.
Psychoactive Medications: Used to alter brain chemistry to manage symptoms.
Antidepressants: boost levels of serotonin to regulate mood.
Ant-anxiety Drugs: Enhance action of GABA - a transmitter that produces calmness → reducing anxiety symptoms.
Lithium: Stabilize mood swings, used to treat bipolar disorder and help with swings btw mania and depression.
Antipsychotic medications: Block dopamine receptors to reduce excessive dopamine activity.