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UT Arlington PSYC 1315 - chp 17 notes

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A related discipline, behavioral medicine, is an interdisciplinary fi eld that focuses on developing and integrating behavioral and biomedical knowledge to promote health andreduce illness. Th e concerns of health psychology and behavioral medicine overlap: Health psychology primarily focuses on behavioral, social, and cognitive infl uences (Brannon & Feist, 2010; Norris & others,2009), whereas behavioral medicine centers on behavioral, social, and biomedical factors.Health psychology emphasizes psychology’s role in establishing and maintaining health and preventing and treating illness. Th is subfi eld of psychology refl ects the belief that lifestyle choices, behaviors, and psychological characteristics can play important roles in health.The biopsychosocial model (abbreviated "BPS") is a general model or approach positing that biological, psychological (which entails thoughts, emotions, and behaviors), and social factors, all play a significant role in human functioning in the context of disease or illness. Indeed, health is best understood in terms of a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors rather than purely in biological terms.Thisis in contrast to the traditional, reductionist biomedical model of medicine that suggests every disease process can be explained in terms of an underlying deviation from normal function such as a pathogen, genetic or developmental abnormality, or injury.General adaptation syndrome (GAS) is Selye’s term for the common eff ects on the body when stressful demands are placed on it ( Figure 17.2 ). Th e GAS consists of threestages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Selye’s model is especially useful in helping us understand the link between stress and health.Th e body’s fi rst reaction to a stressor, in the alarm stage, is a temporary state of shock during which resistance to illness and stress falls below normal limits. In trying to cope with the initial eff ects of stress, the body quickly releases hormones that, in a short time, adversely aff ect the functioning of the immune system, our body’s network of natural defenses. During this time the individual is prone to infections from illness and injury.In the resistance stage of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome, a number of glands throughout the body manufacture diff erent hormones that protect the individual in many ways. Endocrine and sympathetic nervous system activity are not as high as in the alarm stage, although they still are elevated. During the resistance stage, the body’s immune system can fi ght off infection with remarkable effi ciency. Similarly, hormones that reduce the infl ammation normally associated with injury circulate at high levels.If the body’s all-out eff ort to combat stress fails and the stress\ persists, the individual moves into the exhaustion stage. At this point, the wear and tear on the body takes its toll—the person might collapse in a state of exhaustion, and vulnerability to disease increases. Serious, possibly irreversible damage to the body, such as a heart attack, or even death may occur.Interest in links between the immune system and stress spawned a new fi eld of scientific inquiry, psychoneuroimmunology, which explores connections among psychologicalfactors (such as attitudes and emotions), the nervous system, and the immune system.Th e immune system and the central nervous system are similar in their modes of receiving, recognizing, and integrating signals from the external environment (Sternberg& Gold, 1996). Th e central nervous system and the immune system both possess “sensory” elements, which receive information from the environment and other parts of the body, and “motor” elements, which carry out an appropriate response. Both systems also rely on chemical mediators for communication. CRH, the hormone discussed above, is shared by the central nervous system and the immune system, uniting the stress and immune responses.Suppression of Immune system could happen in three ways.The first way Immune system is suppressed is by the stressor going through hypothalamus to putiatry gland and adrenal cortexThe second way Immune system is suppressed is by the stressor going through hypothalamus to sympathetic nervous system and adrenal medulla.The third way Immune system is suppressed is by the stressor going through hypothalamus to sympathetic nervous system and lymph nodes.Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain's use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.Catecholamine any of a group of sympathomimetic amines (including dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine), the aromatic portion of whose molecule is catechol.In the human body, the most abundant catecholamines are epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and dopamine, all of which are produced from phenylalanine and tyrosine. Release of the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal medulla of the adrenal glands is part of the fight-or-flight response.-Nerves of Sympathetic part of Autonomic nervous system go directly to the lymph nodes to suppress lymphocytes which are small white blood cells that bear the major responsibility for carrying out the activities of the immune system.-Time pattern is different for different adrenal hormonesAdrenalin- Stress by this hormone is depended upon the stressor itself meaning if stressor goes down then adrenal hormones would go down.Non Adrenalin Stress Rises during stressor and continues to rise after stressor removalCorticosteroids- Rises during stressor and shows very slow decline after stressor removal.Frankenhaeuser (1975) studied groups of workers such as sawyers, who have to cut timber into predetermined sizes. These jobs were very dull and repetitive and workers had little control over the pace of their work as it is determined by the machine. The work cycle was about 10 seconds long so that decisions had to be made very quickly. Finally, in a very noisy environment, social contact was minimal. Predictably, it was found that these workers had high levels of stress hormones. Compared with other workers they had high rates of headaches, higher blood pressureand gastrointestinal disorders such as ulcers.Frankenhaeuser et al. (1976) compared boys and girls taking examinations and found that boys showed a more rapid rise in stress hormone levels that took longer to return to normal.


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