Health
Psychology
Health Psychology
• Health Psychology addresses:
– How to remain healthy
– Why we become ill
– How we respond when we become ill
Theories of Illness & Cures
• Trephination
– Drill holes in one’s head to allow evil spirits to escape
• Humoral Theory of illness
– Suggested physical and psychological problems
resulted from an imbalance of four fluids:
• Blood
• Bile
• Yellow bile
• Phlegm
Theories of Illness & Cures
• Cartesian Dualism
– Descartes’ theory that suggested the mind and
body are completely separate entities
• Cellular theory of illness & Biomedical
model
– Disease can be traced to individual cells
Theories of Illness & Cures
• Psychometric Medicine
– Freud’s contention that social and
psychological variables combine with
biological factors to influence health and illness
• Biopsychosocial model
– Current theory is similar to, and evolved from,
Freud’s model
Biopsychosocial Model
• Evidence for the
biopsychosocial model
can be found in the
evolving causes of
death in the USA
• In 1900 key causes
were acute disorders
• In recent years leading
causes are preventable
Healthy Behavior
• Focus on why we engage in healthy or
health adverse behaviors
• Health Belief Model
– Perceived susceptibility to a health threat
• Optimistic Bias
– Perceived seriousness of a health threat
– Benefits and barriers to ceasing unhealthy
behavior
– Cues to action
Healthy Behavior
• Protection motivation theory of health
– Incorporates the four aspects of the health
belief model and adds self-efficacy
– Self-Efficacy is our confidence that we can
actually engage in healthy behavior
Healthy Behavior
• Theory of Reasoned Action & Theory of Planned
Behavior
– Suggest that behavior is a function of behavioral
intentions. Behavioral intentions are a function of:
• Attitudes
– Beliefs that particular outcomes will follow from a behavior and
our evaluation of those beliefs
• Subjective Norms
– Our perception of how significant others feel about the behavior
and the person’s motivation to comply with those feelings or
desires
Obesity
• Obesity is defined as the amount of excess
fat found in the body using the Body Mass
Index (BMI)
• Obesity
– 30%+ excess body weight for women
– 20%+ excess body weight for men
• Overweight
Obesity
• Organic health problems
– Heart disease
– Type II diabetes
– High blood pressure
– Some cancers
– Pregnancy complications
– Sleep apnea
Obesity
• Psychological health problems:
– Depression
– Isolation
– Poor self-image
– Constant teasing of obese children
– Overt displays of prejudice
– Victims of blatant discrimination (still legal in
the USA)
Contributors to Obesity
• Heredity
– Genes
– Hormones
• Decreased levels of leptin leads to hunger
• Socio-economic Status
– Higher economic status - Less obese
– Lower economic status - More obese
Contributors to Obesity
• Portion Size
– Europeans serve much smaller portions of food at
meals
– Americans super size portions of food
• Sedentary Life Style
– Passive (lack of exercise) life style
• Comfort food
– Food as a coping mechanism when sad or under stress
Smoking
• Of the estimated 3000 adolescents that begin
smoking each day, half will die from smoking
related illnesses
• 28% of high school aged adolescents smoke
• Cigarette smoking is the most preventable source
of major illnesses
• 435,000 smokers die yearly in the USA from their
habit
Treatments for Obesity
• Diet
– Amazon. COM has 15, 401 titles that refer to dieting
– Quick fix versus long term change in consumption
patterns
• Exercise
– Short term versus sustained habit
• Gastric Bypass Surgery
Smoking Related Diseases
• Heart Disease
• Lung Cancer
• Emphysema
• Bronchitis
• Other respiratory Problems
• Birth defects and disorders
• Cancers of the:
• Mouth
• Bladder
• Esophagus
• Pancreas
Regular and Smokers Lungs
• Normal lung • Smoker’s lung
• Insert picture of a • Insert picture of a
healthy lung here smokers lung here
Contributors to Smoking
• Primarily Social Influences
– Reference groups
• Economic Status
– Low income smoke much more than the
affluent
• Genetic
– Some evidence for a genetic link
Treatment
• Very difficult to overcome nicotine
addiction
• Prevention is more effective than cessation
programs
• Steps taken by society to prevent second
hand smoke isolates and stigmatizes
smokers
Alcohol Abuse
• Alcoholics
– Overwhelming physiological dependence on
alcohol
– Symptoms of withdrawal in the absence of
alcohol
• Problem Drinkers
– Physiological dependence on alcohol
– Problems develop due to alcohol consumption
– Better able to control intake than alcoholics
Contributors to Alcohol Abuse
• Heredity
– Inherited from parent(s)
• Escape Mechanism
– Used to escape pressures of every day life
• Social Influences
– Peer group behavior
Consequences of Alcohol Abuse
• Physical
– Liver damage
– Accidental death
– Cognitive Deficits and neurological problems
– Impaired judgment when under the influence leads to
high risk behaviors
• Social
– Divorce
– Loss of employment
Treatment for Alcoholics
• Detoxification
– Impatient treatment often necessary
• Aversion Therapy
• Alcoholics Anonymous
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• 20 + serious diseases are transmitted
through sexual contact
– HIV most notable
• Over 50% of STDs infect those < 25
• Some STDs are incurable
Barriers to Health Promotion
• Negative behaviors are immediately rewarding & impacts
are long term
– Getting high is fun
– Chocolate tastes better than celery
• Family impacts on behaviors
• Community and cultural barriers to good health practices
• Health system barriers to obtaining preventive health care
Stress
• Stressful events
– produce physiological and emotional arousal
– Elicit cognitive and behavioral efforts to cope
• General adaptation syndrome
– Alarm
• Higher blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and blood sugar
levels
– Resistance
• Sustained high alert level
– Exhaustion
Stress
• Transactional Model of Stress
– Stress involves a transaction between an
individual and the environment
– An environmental event that is stressful for one
person creates no stress for another
• Snakes
Stress
• Primary appraisal
– One decides if a situation is benign, stressful or
irrelevant
• Emotional forecasting
– One evaluates feelings particular situations will
produce
• Secondary appraisal
– Evaluate options and decide how to react
Sources of Stress
• Holmes-Rahe Scale
– Measure of life
stressors
• Perceived Stress Level
– Total score on the
Holmes-Rahe scale
Symptoms of Prolonged Stress
• Depression
• Sleep Disturbances
• Fatigue
• Panic Attacks
• Loneliness
• Increased Mortality Rate
Key Stressors
• Loss of a loved one
– Especially life long partner
• Unemployment
– Common in free economies like the USA
• Acculturative
– Adapting to a new culture
• Catastrophes
– Hurricane Katrina
• Daily Hassles
– Cumulative affect
Impact of Stress
• Immune System
– Weakens immune system so that diseases have
a better chance of taking hold
• Poor health
– Heart problems
– High blood pressure
– Ulcers
– Unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol used as a
means to escape the stress
Coping with Stress
• Problem Focused
– Remove the stressor (end the relationship)
– Quit a stressful job
• Perception of the stressor
– Make a choice to not let something bother you
– Change your anchor
• Compared to Donald Trump I don’t have much stuff
• Compared to many in my own community I’m well off
• Emotion focused
– Choose to not get upset
– Meditation approaches
Stress and Social Support
• Social support involves the presence of others in whom
one can confide and expect support
• Buffering Hypothesis
– Suggests social support can protect us from the harmful effects of
acute stress
• Social support can have an adverse impact if it prevents us
from addressing the stressor
– Support system should not enable you to continue in an abusive
relationship