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Definition
| An interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medical knowledge and applies that knowledge to health and disease. |
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| A subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine. |
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Definition
The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging.
Stress is the result of a psychological appraisal in which we evaluate the significance of an event, and a (behavioral and physiological) response.
How we appraise an event influences how much stress we experience and how effectively we respond to it. |
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| General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) |
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Definition
| Selye's conecpt of the body's adaptive response to stress in three stages -- alarm, resistance, exhaustion. |
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| The clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in many developed countries. |
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| Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people. |
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| Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people. |
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| Psychophysiological illness |
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| Literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches. Note: This is distinct from hypochondriasis -- misinterpreting normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease. |
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| The 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 other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances. |
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| Alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods. |
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| Attempting to alleviate stress directly -- by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor. |
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| Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one's stress reaction. |
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| Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety. |
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| A system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension. |
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| daily hassles and minor annoyances (ex. traffic jams, Psych 101 exams) |
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| The sympathetic nervous system causes the release of stress hormones from the adrenal glands. The celebral cortex evaluates the stressful event and then (by the way of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland) causes the release of glucorcorticoid stress hormones from the adrenal glands. Both tracks activate the fight or flight response. |
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| What stress can do to your body? |
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Definition
1. Accumulation of abdominal fat
2. Loss of bone minerals
3. Atrophy and death of neurons in the hippocampus ( and resulting impairments of memory) |
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| Stress hormones suppress disease-fighting lymphocytes (white blood cells), thereby suppressing the immune system. |
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| Physical Strategies: Relaxation and mediation |
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| Lowers blood pressure and levels of stress hormones. |
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| Physical Strategies: Massage |
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Definition
| Provides contact comfort and relaxes tense muscles. |
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| Physical Strategies: Exercise |
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Definition
| Reduces stress levels, lowers blood pressure, helps reduce depresssion, increases production of neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine, increases levels of endorphins. |
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| Strong sense of time urgency, impatient, competitive, driven to succeed, sometimes hostile, easily angered; associated with high-rates of heart disease. |
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| Relaxed, easy-going, patient, no sense of urgency; unlikely to develop heart disease. |
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| Exhibits Type A personality traits, but is resistant to stress. |
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