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What is Health Psychology?

10/13/2011 by 3icreative

Healthy psychology is a specialization within the field of psychology devoted to the scientific study of:

  • How people can stay healthy
  • Why people become ill
  • How people respond when they are ill

Health psychology also considers the broader perspectives of the healthcare system. Based upon the information and understanding gained through their studies, health psychologists may then go on to develop interventions that promote better health.

A more formal definition might say that health psychology is focused on:

  • Health promotion and maintenance
  • The etiology (origins and causes) and correlates of health, illness and dysfunction
  • The healthcare system and the formulation of health policy

Health psychology also includes the study of broader perspectives of the healthcare system:

  • Enhancement of health
  • Prevention and treatment of illness
  • Evaluation and modification of health policies that influence healthcare

Health psychologist may be involved in tasks like developing educational interventions for the public, formally evaluting programs to improve them and promote better health behaviors, administering health agencies, charting progress of particular diseases, and monitoring health threats in the workplace.

Psychological Perspectives

  1. Biological
  2. Social
  3. Cognitive – including “self-efficacy” – must have enough confidence to carryout and complete goals. Whether people are optimistic or pessimistic impact health.
  4. Developmental
  5. Clinical – Disorders like depression and anxiety  are generally thought of as a mental health issue, but they greatly impact physical  health.

It is one of the youngest areas of psychology, and was recognized in 1978 as an independent division of the American Psychological Association.  The first Health Psychology textbook was published in 1982. Slowly but surely, health psychology has  been gaining greater acceptance within the  medical community. Once reserved for “problem patients,” health psychologists are often now part of an integrated treatment program.

Why is health psychology gaining in popularity?

  • Demonstrated contributions to health, including the development of successful behavioral interventions to help patients manage pain and treatment side effects. Health psychology has also shown success in modifying risk behaviors, which impacts disease incidence.
  • Methodological contributions, including research methodology and statistical analysis.

Filed Under: Psychology Tagged With: Health Psychology

Epidemiology & Interesting Health Statistics

10/11/2011 by 3icreative

Red = unhealthiest states, White = healthiest states, based on 21 health factors measured in 2005. Health Care State Rankings, Morgan Quinto Press

Epidemiology is the tracking of the changing patterns of illness, including the frequency, distribution and causes of illness in a population. Each week, the CDC issues the MMWR – The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Morbidity is the number of cases of a particular disease. Mortality refers to the number of deaths due to a particular cause. Tracking these types of statistics helps health psychologists examine the physical and social environment to help determine the cause of, and prevent/reduce, illness.

Major contributors to death in the United States*

  • Tobacco (400,000)
  • Diet and activity patterns (300,000)
  • Alcohol (100,000)
  • Microbial agents (90,000)
  • Toxic agents (60,000)
  • Firearms (35,000)
  • Sexual behavior (30,000)
  • Motor vehicles (25,000)
  • Illicit drug use (20,000)

* stats from 2000

Note that most of these are behavior-related issues that could/should be changed. Because these are linked to decision-making, the Health Psychologist plays an important role in promoting change. They study why people make poor health decisions, or fail to follow-through when it comes to executing healthy lifestyle changes.

More Interesting Health Statistics

  • Americans spend over $1.7 TRILLION annually on healthcare services – more than other developed counties.
  • The healthcare industry is the largest service sector in the U.S.
  • From 2007 – 2009, the healthcare industry added 428,000 jobs.

Filed Under: Psychology Tagged With: Health Psychology, Statistics

Health Benefits of a Positive Affect (Optimism)

10/06/2011 by 3icreative

Health Benefits of a Positive AffectDispositional optimism is a generalized expectation that outcomes will be positive. Optimistic people typically have less stress, more social support and a positive interpretation of events. They are more likely to use problem-focused, active coping skills, and more often seek social support, when under stress. They also tend to emphasize the positive aspects of a stressful situation. I’ll call them the “glass half full” group…

Why Optimism Is Good

Having an optimistic attitude provides many health benefits. A small sampling includes:

  • Lower blood blood pressure and heart rate
  • Protection from heart disease, and middle-age depression
  • Reduced side effects when under-going cancer treatment, and lower cancer mortality
  • Reduced impact on social and recreational activities for breast cancer patients
  • Quicker healing/faster rate of recovery after hospitialization

How To Be More Optimistic – Fordyce’s Prescription for Happiness

Increasing your positive affect, or optimism, means making changes in your attitudes and behaviors. You need to increase the frequency of your positive emotions. some recommended ways to accomplish this include:

  • Strengthening your close relationships (quality, not quantity is important here!)
  • Become more social and outgoing
  • Keep busy doing things you enjoy by engaging in personally meaningful activities
  • Reduce worrying and adopt optimistic thinking patters (counseling can help with this, and therapy often uses reappraisal)

The Health Prone Personality

Just like the Disease Prone Personality has health consequences, the Health Prone Personality offers health benefits. The Health Prone Personality is marked by optimism, a sense of control, conscientiousness, high self-esteem and resilience. Intelligence is another factor that contributes to wellness and longevity. A positive affect has been linked to lower cortisol levels, better responses to vaccinations, improved immunity (flu virus) and lower coronary heart disease risks.

Notes from my Health Psychology class.

Filed Under: Psychology Tagged With: Health Psychology, Optimism, Personalities

Understanding Negative Affect

10/04/2011 by 3icreative

Negative affect refers to a pervasive negative mood, anxiety, depression or hostility. Other words used to describe this personality are gloom, irritability and worry. A person with a negative affect will express distress, discomfort and dissatisfaction in many situations. Health psychologists often refer to this as the “Disease Prone Personality.” NOTE: The “D” stands for “Distressed.”

The consequences of a negative affect (neuroticism) include:

  • Higher health risk behaviors, like drug and alcohol abuse
  • Higher disease incidence, including diabetes, arthritis, kidney and liver disease, stomach and gall bladder problems, ulcers, asthma, headaches and coronary artery disease.

Characteristics of the Disease Prone Personality

  • Sometimes the Type D personality is confused with the Type A personality. However, it is possible to be a Type A without the negativeness and hostility associated with the Type D personality. It is more recent classification than Type A and Type B.
  • The Disease Prone Personality is marked by psychiatric distress, along with anger, depressions, anger, hostility and anxiety.
  • People with a Type D personality typically have higher cortisol levels due to higher levels of chronic, daily stress. They also usually have increased heart rates.
  • When faced with a medical issue, such as a surgical procedure, people with Type D personalities typically have poorer outcomes and problematic recoveries.
  • In addition, Type D personalities typically have higher reports of physical symptoms. As reported in a study by S. Cohen in 2003, people with a negative affect reported more health complaints, and were more likely to use health services, although their symptoms were no worse than people low in negative affectivity. They are more likely to show psychological distress, physical symptoms and illness behavior, even when not sick.

Measuring Affect – The PANAS Questionnaire

PANAS is short for Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. PANAS is a 20-question, self-reporting quiz that measures mood on a 5-point Likert scale. The mean score for positive affect is 35.7 (SD = 6.2) and for negative affect is 19.5 (SD 6.0) (Watson & Clark, 1994). The quiz comes in an extended version, too (PANAS-X).

You can take the PANAS test online at Authentic Happiness.

Notes from my Health Psychology class.

Filed Under: Psychology Tagged With: Health Psychology, Personality

Psychology & Stress

09/27/2011 by 3icreative

Stress is an emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive and behavioral changes that are directed either toward altering the stressful event or accommodating to its effects. Stressful events are referred to as “stressors.”

The top 5 stressors reported in the U.S. are problems with:

  1. Money
  2. Economy
  3. Work
  4. Family
  5. Health

An event may be stressful to some people, but not others. How a potential stressor is appraised determines whether it will be experienced as stressful.

 Common Responses to  Stress

  • Cognitive responses – Distractibility, inability to concentrate, disruptions on tasks, intrusive, repetitive or morbit thoughts
  • Emotional reactions – Can include fear, anxiety, excitement, embarrassment, anger, depression or denial. Rumination can keep stress responses elevated.
  • Behavioral responses – Vary greatly.

Measuring Stress

Physiological measures of stress include:

  • Catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine)
  • Catecholamine metabolites
  • Cortisol – Amazingly, we can now measure levels of stress in ancient mummies because we have the technology to measure their cortisol levels.

Some of the common problems associated with measuring stress on a physiological level include:

  • Active reuptake and regulation of systems; there is not a linear relationship.
  • Variations in circadian rhythms.
  • Subject variables, like sodium intake, smoking, alcohol consumption and age.
  • Obtaining a sample is often a stressful process for patients.

Filed Under: Psychology Tagged With: Health Psychology, Stress

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