Stress and Health: How psychological factors can affect our

1
Stress and Health

• How psychological factors can affect our immune
  system

2
Central Nervous System

• Brain and Spinal Cord

3
Peripheral Nervous System

• 3 kinds of neurons
• sensory
• motor
• interneurons

4
Peripheral Nervous System
Peripheral NS
Autonomic NS
Somatic NS
5
Peripheral Nervous System
Peripheral NS
Somatic NS
Autonomic NS
Sympathetic NS
Parasympathetic NS
6
Sympathetic

• Fight or flight response

7
Parasympathetic

• Rest and digest system

liver processes fat
8
Summary of autonomic differences
9
Psychoneuroimmunology

• The study of how psychological factors can affect
  health and illness
• There is an interaction between the brain and the
  immune system emotional/cognitive/behavioral
  events result in physiological events.

10
Definition

• Stress An internal state involving cognitive,
  emotional, physical, and behavioral disturbances
• distress
• eustress
• Stressor An environmental event capable of
  evoking stress

11
Three (really four) Kinds of Stressors

• Catastrophe an unpredictable, large-scale event
  that creates a tremendous need to adapt and
  adjust as well as overwhelming feelings of
  threat.
• Major Life Events life events that cause change
• Hassles daily annoyances
• Chronic Role Strains

12
Acculturative Stress

• stress resulting from the need to change and
  adapt a persons ways to the majority culture.
• Four Methods of Acculturation
• Integration
• Assimilation
• Separation
• Marginalization

13
Need vs. Dont Need

• Oxygen
• Nutrients
• Blood
• Energy
• glucose
• cholesterol
• Senses

• Immune system
• Growth/Tissue repair
• Long-term nutrient storage
• Reproduction
• Digestion

14
Selyes General Adaptation Syndrome

• Alarm
• Resistance
• Exhaustion

15
The Immune System

• the system of cells, organs, and chemicals of the
  body that responds to attacks from diseases,
  infections, and injuries.
• Natural killer cell - immune system cell
  responsible for suppressing viruses and
  destroying tumor cells.

16
Evolution of Research

• Initial Research SgtR
• Nothing cognitive intervenes between a stressful
  event (stressor) and a stress response
• Modern Research SgtOgtR
• Cognitions intervene between a stressful event
  (stressor) and a stress response

17
What affects how we perceive stress?
STRESSOR
COGNITION (PERCEPTION)
FEELING STRESSED

• There is nothing either good or bad but thinking
  makes it so. (Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2, line 259).

18
The Importance of Perception

• Lazarus (1956) Circumcision Study
• All subjects watch a bloody circumcision.
• Three IV conditions are created
• Painless
• Focus on Ritual
• Control Condition
• DV Skin conductance level

19
The Stress Process
20
Appraisal
Stress Perceived Perceived Demands
Resources

•  

21
Appraisal Factors

• Explanatory style (Optimism vs. Pessimism)
• Self-efficacy
• Sense of humor
• Sense of control

22
Appraisal Factors Personality Style

• Type A
• hostility
• Type B
• Type C
• Hardiness

23
Coping How to deal

• Problem-Focused Coping
• vs.
• Emotion-Focused Coping

24
(No Transcript)
25
Coping Forgiveness

• physiological response to letting things go
• provides empathy
• NOT the same as forgetting

26
Coping Rethinking the Problem

• Reappraisal
• Learning from experience
• Social comparison
• sense of humor

27
Coping Ideas

• Exercise
• Social support
• Timing
• good diet, sleep, relaxation
• get married ! (maybe)

28
Pennebaker (1988)- Affect Expression

• Students in one of two conditions for 4 days
• write about traumatic events in their lives they
  had not previously discussed much with others OR
• write about trivial topics
• mood, BP, HR, immunological tests before, after
  and 6 weeks after experiment
• initially, group 1 felt worse
• over time, group 1 had better immune system
  functioning
• WHY?

29
Meditation Learn to relax!

• Studies have shown meditation to increase coping
  ability and lessen stress
• Subsequently, this increases immune system
  functioning

30
(No Transcript)
31
Burnout

• characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and
  inefficacy
• Work-related burnout and risk of cardiovascular
  disease
• Students and burnout
• Burnout contagion
• Vacations and burnout
• Jungs natural efficiency and falsification of
  type