Emotions, Stress & Health
Dr Kelly Norwood
PSY311
What we will cover
- Emotions
- Components of emotions
- Theories of emotions
- Stress response
- Stress & physical health
- Stress & mental health
What is Emotion?
• Often called Feelings:
• Love, hate, anger, sadness
• Normally short in duration
• Moods are longer in duration
• Emotions are private experiences
Emotions
We all experience
emotions
There is not an
overall agreement
on:
Definition of
emotions
How they should be
measured
Emotions are
complex with both
physical and mental
components
Emotions have the
following
components:
subjective feelings
physiological (body)
responses
Behaviour
Subjective feelings
• Feelings that we experience INDIVIDUALLY
• Difficult to define & measure
• Subjective feelings are hard to observe - emotions must be described
• Each person's description and interpretation of a feeling may be slightly different
• For example, two people falling in love
Physiological (body) responses
• Easy to measure
• We can measure body responses: heart rate, sweat, respiration
• We have similar physiological responses to the same emotions
• For example, when under stress our bodies release adrenaline and this
prepares the body for fight or flight
• Happens regardless of gender or ethnicity
Behaviours
• Expressive behaviour is the outward sign that an emotion is
being felt
• Flushed face, facial expressions, tone of voice, rapid breathing,
restlessness, muscle tensing
• The outward expression of an emotion lets you know what
someone is experiencing and helps social interactions
Four components of Emotion
Feelings
SocialExpressive
Emotion
Sense of
Purpose
Physiological
response
Feelings component
• Emotions are subjective feelings
• Make us feel a particular way
• Anger or joy
• Meaning and personal significance
• Vary in intensity and quality
Physiological Response
• Fight-flight-freeze
• Autonomic nervous system (ANS)
• Sympathetic & para-sympathetic
• Prepare and activate behavior during emotion
• Body prepared for action
Sense of purpose
• Give emotion its goal-directed force
• Motivation to act
• Cope with emotion-causing circumstances
• Why people benefit from emotions
• Social and evolutionary advantage
Social-Expressive component
• Emotion’s communicative aspect
• Postures, gestures, vocalisations, facial expressions make our
emotions public
• Verbal and nonverbal communication
• Helps us interpret the situation and how we react to events
https://youtu.be/JtSP7gJuRFE
Autonomic Nervous System
During an emotional experience, our autonomic nervous system can calm or stimulates us:
• Flight or Flight: Sympathetic response prepares body to meet a crisis
• Rest or Digest: Parasympathetic calms body to aid in digestion
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1. James-Lang Theory
2. Cannon-Bard Theory
Theories of
emotion
3. Schachter Two Factor Theory
4. Lazarus Cognitive-Mediation Theory
Activity: which theory do you think is best?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDYz32srgsU
Stress: Introduction
When exposed to threat physiological changes occur - the stress
response/stress
Stressors are experiences that induce the stress response -produce
these physiological changes
It is chronic stress that has been most frequently implicated in ill
health
Stress response
o The amygdala (functions in emotional processing), sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus
o Hypothalamus is like a ‘command centre’ for the brain – communicates with the rest of the body preparing
you to fight or flee
o Hypothalamus controls involuntary body functions - breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat
Stress response
• The hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system by sending signals through the autonomic
nerves to the adrenal glands
• Adrenal glands pump the hormone epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and cortisol into the bloodstream
• These are known as stress hormones
• These changes happen so quickly that we aren't aware of them
• That's why we can jump out of the path of an oncoming car before
we think about what we are doing
Stress and physical health
When short-lived stressors may have positive effects and can be adaptive:
- In a fearful or stress-causing situation, we can run away and save our lives
- It can increase our alertness and help us perform better e.g. exams, sports
However, stress can be maladaptive:
- If it is prolonged (chronic stress), it increases our risk of illness and health problems
- Psychological states can cause physical illness
- When we feel severe stress, our ability to cope with it is impaired
https://youtu.be/v-t1Z5-oPtU
Stress and the Heart
How does stress increase the risk of heart disease?
- Stress alone does not cause heart disease but combining stress with unhealthy coping mechanisms might
- For example: less exercise, increased alcohol and nicotine intake
Can stress increase blood pressure?
- Yes but it should return to normal after the stressful event/situation passes
- Unhealthy coping mechanisms such as long-term unhealthy diet and drinking too much alcohol can cause
long-term increases in blood pressure
Can stress cause a heart attack?
- Stress alone does not cause heart attacks but combining stress with unhealthy coping mechanisms might
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Psychoneuroimmunology
B lymphocytes fight bacterial infections
T lymphocytes attack cancer cells and viruses
Macrophages ingest foreign substances
During stress, energy is taken away from the immune system making it vulnerable
Lennart Nilsson/ Boehringer Ingelhein International GmbH
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Stress and the immune system
Research suggests that stress has adverse effects on the immune system
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/
Segerstrom and Miller (2004) conducted a meta-analysis reviewing approximately 300 studies of stress and
immune system function:
1.
Found that the effects of stress on immune function depended on the type of stress
2.
Acute (brief) stressors: those lasting less than 100 minutes e.g. public speaking, an athletic competition,
or a musical performance improved immune function
3.
Chronic (long-lasting) stressors: caring for an ill relative or experiencing a period of unemployment,
adversely affected immune function
Stress and the immune system
Not a straightforward relationship (Morey et al., 2015).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4465119/
Stress in early life:
1.
Evidence for long-term effects on the immune system
2.
Stress in early life can lead to a chronic inflammatory response
Stress and aging
1.
Naturally, aging comes with changes in our immune response to stressors
2.
This can be due to physical and/or psychological responses
3.
Telomere length can be reduced due to stressors
Psychosomatic Disorders
 Psychosomatic disorders are diseases which include the body and mind. Psychosomatic means mind (psyche)
and body (soma)
 Some physical diseases are identified as being made worse by mental factors such as stress and anxiety
 Chronic psychological stress increases the risk of developing (Oken et al., 2015):







Cardiovascular problems
Neurologic and psychiatric diseases such as epilepsy
Parkinson's disease
Multiple sclerosis
Eating disorders, addictions
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Sleep difficulties
Gastric ulcers and stress
 Gastric ulcers were one of the first medical disorders to be classified as
psychosomatic. They are painful lesions of the stomach and duodenum,
which in extreme cases can be life-threatening
 The view of gastric ulcers as the prototypical psychosomatic disorder
changed with the discovery that they seemed to be caused by bacteria
 It was claimed that the bacteria Helicobacter pylori (i.e., H. pylori) are
responsible for all cases of gastric ulcers except those caused by nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory agents such as aspirin
 This seemed to rule out stress as a causal factor
Stress and depression
What are the top 10 most stressful life events?
Lifestyle choices that can increase stress:
 Excessive alcohol consumption
 Not getting enough exercise
 Smoking or using illegal drugs
 Working for long periods of time without taking a break
 Not eating a well-balanced diet
 Spending too much time watching television or playing video games
 Looking at a smartphone in bed, which can keep you from falling asleep
 The development of depression can be unrelated to stress
 Research into life events has found higher levels of significant stressors prior to the onset of major depressive episodes in
patients compared to controls - 80% of depression cases were preceded by major life events (Hammen, 2005)
Stress and depression
 One of the most widely accepted explanations of the cause of depression is abnormal brain
chemistry
 Monoamine neurotransmitters:
 Serotonin
 Dopamine
 Norepinephrine
 Brain structures are affected also – hippocampus is approximately 25% smaller in the depressed
brain
Stress and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD can develop after an extremely traumatic or stressful event
Vivid flashbacks, nightmares & uncontrollable thoughts about the event
- Road traffic accidents
- Childbirth experience
- Violent pnysical assaults, sexual assaults
PTSD can develop immediately after a traumatic event, weeks, months or years later
PTSD is estimated approx. 1 in 3 people who have a traumatic experience
Stress and PTSD
PTSD and the brain:
1.
The amygdala is our natural alarm system
2.
The pre-frontal cortex is the brake system and helps us to make decisions
Not a good combination
 An overactive amygdala combined with an underactive prefrontal cortex creates conflict
 It’s like pressing on your car’s accelerator, when you don’t need to, only to discover the brakes don’t work
 This might help you understand why someone with PTSD might:
(1) feel anxious around anything even slightly related to the original trauma that led to the PTSD
(2) have strong physical reactions to situations that should not provoke a fear reaction
(3) avoid situations that might trigger those intense emotions and reactions
Stress and PTSD
 Unclear why some people develop PTSD while others don’t
 The exact causes of the condition are not clear - though some of the risk factors are understood
 Brain regions particularly involved are the hippocampus and the amygdala
 The amygdala (which processes fear) is hyperactive in people with PTSD, perhaps creating a kind of “false
alarm”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zhnLG3GW-8
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