Psychology chapter 11- Traditional Medical Model: people are passive recipients of disease and of the medical treatments designed to return them to health after illness- Psychologists take a more holistic and active approach to health and well-being- Health psychology: an area of study that integrates research on health and on psychology o Apply their knowledge of psychological principals to promote health and well-being,instead of thinking about health merely as the absence of disease - Well-being: positive state in which we feel our best o Strive for optimal health & life satisfaction (to achieve optimal health: participate in health-enhancing behaviors) - Psychologists study how our behavior and social systems affect our health and how ethnic and sex differences influence health outcomes- Health psychology combines theories and research from various health areas and psychologyBiopsychosocial: (biopsychosocial model) a model of health that integrates the effects of biological behavior and social factors on health and illness- Biological, behavioral and social factors put together (you genes, your lifestyle and your family and influence) o Thoughts and actions effect the environment we chose to interact with and those environments effect the biological underpinnings of our thoughts and actions o Biopsychosocial model is central to understanding the difference between the traditionalmedical model and the approach taken by health psychologistso Traditional model: individual is passive (lets something happen without a fight or response), health psychologists: individual’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors are central to understanding and improving health Behaviors to leading causes of death: People are more likely to die from causes that are from their own behavior… EX: 1) hearth disease kills 25% of 2.5 million ppl (not eating healthy, obesity, lack of exercise, smoking) - Personality traits contribute to these causes of death - Heart disease can occur in health ppl also but we all can change our behaviors to reduce the likelihood Accidents leading cause of death… some are beyond our control, others are avoidable - What are not avoidable, we can reduce the probability (car crash, reduce by driving safe and wearing our seatbelt)- 100% avoidable sexually transmitted diseases - 48% (almost half) deaths are accidental (usually car crashes, homicides (13%), suicide (11%)- Childhood to young adult hood is when we are in best physical shape but our choices as young adults can effect our lifestyle in the future (bad food leads to heart disease) - Hunger and malnutrition are huge death causes in developing countries whereas US has cheap, tasty fast food- Biopsychosocial model: good and bad behaviors influence environment and environments influence the good and bad biological behaviors Placebos = powerful medicine: Sugar pills= placebos (unknown to patient but tricks them to feeling better)- Study drugs and treatments with placebos - Experimental group receives the drug/treatment and control group receives placebo- The improvement from those on a placebo attributed to the inert drug/bogus treatment and this process is called the placebo effect - To make the effect improve your heath, the participant must believe it so they cannot know about the placebo- Placebos that produce minor drug effects such as a dry mouth have the strongest effect on the person - Placebo is attributed to ease anxiety which then reduce pain and help you recover but the placebo effect is more then reduction of anxiety… we can’t separate mind and body so when the placebo effect is “all in the head” it is working- This gives psychologists a better understanding of biological bases - Pain is more than sensory experience… depends on variables like context (being home or at work), expectations (anxious and calm), thoughts about the pain (more or less intense)- Calmer = less intense pain so find ways to reduce anxiety… placebos replace pain perspective- Positive expectations of placebos = neutral processes to responding to it and activates a biological response - Placebo effect = biopsychosocial model at work o Belief the medicine will work =psychological effect o It helping the body = biological effect o Social effect = if when and how the body responds to placebo How to cope with stress? Stress does not exist objectively instead it results about how we think of events in our lives Stress: a pattern of behavioral, psychological, and physiological responses to events that match or exceed an organism’s ability to respond in a healthy wayStressor: environmental event or stimulus that threatens an organism Coping response: a stressor elicits this, which is a response an organism makes to avoid, escape or minimize an aversive stimulus - We perceive different discrepancies of situations (biological, psychological and social) o A doctor can deal with the stress of a death better than a bystander- Positive and negative life changes are stressful… the greater number of changes, the greater the stress and more likely it is that the stress will effect our physiological states- Eustress: good (positive) stress, distress (duress): bad (negative) stress - Stress is usually referred negatively however both types of stress strain our bodies- We test our stress limits to see how much we can handle and it helps use making life choices such as our career path- Two categories for stress: major stressors and daily hassles - Major life stressors: changes or disruptions that strain central areas of people’s lives- Daily hassles: small, day-to-day irritations and annoyances (combined daily hassles can be comparable to major life stressors) - More intense and frequent the hassles, the poorer the physical and mental health Stress has physiological components: Stressors activate complex chain of events in what is known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) (A STRESSFUL EVENT WILL SET OFF A COMPLEX CHAIN OF RESPONCES IN THE BODY)- 1) Stress begins in the brain… the hypothalamus sends chemical messages to the pituitary gland (major gland located just below the brain) 2) The pituitary gland secretes a hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) 3) ACTH travels through the bloodstream and eventually reaches the adrenal glands (located near the kidneys) 4) Adrenal glands then secret cortisol 5) Cortisol increases the amount of glucose in the blood stream 6) The adrenal glands also release norepinephrine and