Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(7th Ed)
Chapter 14
Stress and Health
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers
Stress and Health
 Behavioral Medicine
 interdisciplinary field that integrates
behavioral and medical knowledge and
applies that knowledge to health and disease
 Health Psychology
 subfield of psychology that provides
psychology’s contribution to behavioral
medicine
Stress and Illness
 Leading causes of death in the US in 1900
and 2000
Stress and Illness
 Stress
 the process by
which we
perceive and
respond to
certain events,
called stressors,
that we appraise
as threatening or
challenging
Stress Appraisal
Appraisal
Response
Threat
(“Yikes! This is
beyond me!”)
Panic, freeze up
Challenge
(“I’ve got to apply
all I know”)
Aroused, focused
Stressful event
(tough math test)
Cerebral cortex
(perceives stressor)
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Pituitary hormone in the
bloodstream stimulates
the outer part of the adrenal
gland to release the stress
hormone cortisol
Pituitary gland
Sympathetic nervous
system releases the
stress hormones
epinephrine and
norepinephrine
from nerve endings
in the inner part of
the adrenal glands
Adrenal glands
Stress and Illness
The body’s resistance to stress can
last only so long before exhaustion sets in
Stress
resistance
Stressor
occurs
Phase 1
Alarm
reaction
(mobilize
resources)
Phase 2
Resistance
(cope with
stressor)
Phase 3
Exhaustion
(reserves
depleted)
 General
Adaptation
Syndrome
 Selye’s concept
of the body’s
adaptive
response to
stress in three
stages
Stressful Life Events
 Catastrophic Events
 earthquakes, combat stress, floods
 Life Changes
 death of a loved one, divorce, loss of job,
promotion
 Daily Hassles
 rush hour traffic, long lines, job stress,
burnout
Stressful Life Events
 Chronic Stress by Age
Perceived Control
 Health consequences of a loss of control
“Executive” rat
To shock control
“Subordinate” rat
To shock source
Control rat
No connection
to shock source
Perceived Control
 Equality and Longevity
Stress and the Heart
 Coronary Heart Disease
 clogging of the vessels that
nourish the heart muscle
 leading cause of death in many
developed countries
Stress and the Heart
Hopelessness
scores
3.5
3
Men who feel extreme hopelessness
are at greater risk for heart attacks
and early death
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Heart attack
Low risk
Death
Moderate risk
High risk
Stress and the Heart
 Type A
 Friedman and Rosenman’s term for
competitive, hard-driving, impatient,
verbally aggressive, and anger-prone
people
 Type B
 Friedman and Rosenman’s term for
easygoing, relaxed people
Stress and the Heart
Stress and Disease
 Psychophysiological Illness
 “mind-body” illness
 any stress-related physical illness
 some forms of hypertension
 some headaches
 distinct from hypochondriasis-misinterpreting normal physical
sensations as symptoms of a disease
Stress and Disease
 Lymphocytes
 two types of white blood cells that are
part of the body’s immune system
 B lymphocytes form in the bone marrow
and release antibodies that fight bacterial
infections
 T lymphocytes form in the thymus and,
among other duties, attack cancer cells,
viruses, and foreign substances
Stress and Disease
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(immune
suppression)
CS
(sweetened
water)
CS
(sweetened
water)
 Conditioning of
immune
suppression
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(immune
suppression)
CR
(immune
suppression)
Stress and Disease
 Negative emotions and health-related
consequences
Heart
disease
Persistent stressors
and negative
emotions
Unhealthy behaviors
(smoking, drinking,
poor nutrition and sleep)
Release of stress
hormones
Immune
suppression
Autonomic nervous
system effects
(headaches,
hypertension)
Promoting Health
Depression 14
score 13
No-treatment
group
12
11
10
Relaxation
treatment
group
9
8
7
6
Aerobic
exercise
group
5
4
3
Before treatment
evaluation
After treatment
evaluation
 Aerobic Exercise
 sustained
exercise that
increases heart
and lung fitness
Promoting Health
 Biofeedback
 system for
electronically
recording,
amplifying, and
feeding back
information
regarding a subtle
physiological state
 blood pressure
 muscle tension
Promoting Health
 Modifying Type A life-style can reduce
recurrence of heart attacks
Percentage 6
of patients
with recurrent 5
heart attacks
(cumulative 4
average)
3
Control patients
Modifying life-style
reduced recurrent
heart attacks
2
Life-style modification patients
1
0
1978
1979
1980
Year
1981
1982
Promoting Health
 Social support across the life span
Percentage
with high
support 100%
90
80
70
60
50
12-14
18-19
15-17
25-34
20-24
45-54
35-44
Age in years
65-74
55-64
75+
Life events
Personal appraisal
Challenge
Threat
Personality type
Hostile
Depressed
Pessimistic
Easy going
Nondepressed
Optimistic
Personality habits
Smoking
Sedentary
Poor nutrition
Nonsmoking
Regular exercise
Good nutrition
Level of social support
Close, enduring
Lacking
Tendency toward
Health
Illness
Promoting Health
 Predictors of mortality
1
Relative
risk 0.8
of dying
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Not smoking Regular exercise Weekly religious
attendance
Women
Men
Promoting Health
 Religious Attendance
Promoting Health
 The religion factor is mulitidimensional
Healthy
behaviors
(less smoking,
drinking)
Religious
involvement
Social support
(faith
communities,
marriage)
Positive
emotions
(less stress,
anxiety)
Better health
(less immune system
suppression, stress
hormones, and suicide)
Promoting Health
 Complementary and Alternative
Medicine
 unproven health care treatments not
taught widely in medical schools, not
used in hospitals, and not usually
reimbursed by insurance companies
Subfields of Alternative Medicine
Alternative systems of
medical practice
Health care ranging from self-care according to folk principles,
to care rendered in an organized health care system based on
alternative traditions or practices
Bioelectromagnetic
applications
The study of how living organisms interact with electromagnetic
(EM) fields
Diet, nutrition,
life-style changes
The knowledge of how to prevent illness, maintain health, and
reverse the effects of chronic disease through dietary or
nutritional intervention
Herbal medicine
Employing plan and plant products from folk medicine traditions
for pharmacological use
Manual healing
Using touch and manipulation with the hands as a diagnostic
and therapeutic tool
Mind-body control
Exploring the mind’s capacity to affect the body, based on
traditional medical systems that make use of the interconnectedness of mind and body
Pharmacological and
biological treatments
Drugs and vaccines not yet accepted by mainstream medicine
Promoting Health
 Smoking-related early deaths
40,000
Number
of deaths
per 100,000 30,000
33,348
20,000
10,000
0
1,686
1,135
Smoking Suicide Vehicle
crash
556
HIV/
AIDS
Cause of death
202
Homicide
The
Physiological
Effects of
Nicotine
Promoting Health
 Fewer Canadian smokers
60%
Percentage
of Canadians 50
smoking
Males
40
Females
30
20
10
0
1970
1974
1978
1982
Year
1986
1990
1994- 19961995 1997
Smoking Prevention
 U.S. teen smoking
Smoking Prevention
 Results of a smoking inoculation program
Percentage 20
of students
who smoke 15
Control school
Fewer teens took up
smoking when “inoculated”
against it
10
5
School with smoking
Prevention program
0
0
4
Seventh grade
9
12
16
21
Eighth grade
Months of study
33
Ninth grade
Obesity and Weight
Control
 Obesity and
body mass
index
Obesity and Weight
Control
 Obesity and mortality
2.8
Relative
risk of
death
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
18.5 18.5- 20.5- 22.0- 23.5- 25.0- 26.5- 28.0- 30.0- 32.0- 35.020.4 21.9 23.4 24.9 26.4 27.9 29.9 31.9 34.9 39.9
Men
Body-mass index (BM I)
Women
40
Weight Discrimination
7
6
 When women
applicants were
made to look
overweight,
subjects were less
willing to hire
Willingness
to hire scale 5
(from1:
definitely 4
not hire to
7: definitely 3
hire)
2
1
0
Women
Normal
Men
Overweight
Weight Control
 Effects of a severe diet
165
Metabolism:
Oxygen
consumption
in liters
per hour
26
160
25
155
24
150
23
145
22
140
21
Body
weight
in
kilograms
Caloric
intake
in
calories
per day
3000
2000
1000
0
8
16
Days
24 32
8
16
24
Days
32
8
16
24
Days
32
Weight Control
 Trading risks
Weight Control
 Thinning of Miss America
Weight Control
10
Weight 5
change
in pounds 0
 Most lost
weight is
regained
Starting
point
Normal trend for untreated obese
people: Gradually rising weight
-5
-10
After participation in behavioral
Program: Much of initial weight
loss regained
-15
-20
Post
treatment
1
2
3
Years of follow-up
4
5
Weight Control
 Obesity was
more
common
among those
who watched
the most
television
Skinfold fat
measure (mm) 32
30
28
26
24
22
20
<2
2-3
>4
Hours of television watched per day
in 1990s study
Boys
Girls