Health Psychology

Psychophysiological disorders

• Stress has been linked to physiological issues such as hypertension, headaches, and immune suppression.

• Stress has no impact on physiological health.

• Stress only affects mental health, not physical health.

• Stress can improve immune function.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

• A theory that suggests a person’s response to a stressor consists of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

• A model that describes the stages of sleep and their effects on health.

• A concept that explains the stages of grief and loss in individuals.

• A framework for understanding the stages of cognitive development in children.

Problem-focused coping

• Involves avoiding the stressor and seeking emotional support.

• Involves seeing stress as a problem to be solved and working on solutions until a solution is found.

• Involves accepting the stressor and adapting to it without trying to change it.

• Involves using humor and distraction to cope with stress.

Eustress

• Motivating positive stress.

• A type of negative stress that hinders performance.

• Stress that has no impact on performance.

• Stress that is always harmful.

Tend-and-befriend theory

• Some people react to stress by tending to their own needs and/or the needs of others and seeking connection with others. This phenomenon seems to occur mostly in women.

• Most people react to stress by becoming aggressive and confrontational.

• The tend-and-befriend theory suggests that stress responses are identical for all genders.

• Tend-and-befriend theory is primarily focused on financial stress management.

Distress

• A state of emotional well-being.

• Debilitating negative stress.

• A feeling of happiness and contentment.

• A temporary state of anxiety.

Emotion-focused coping

• Involves managing emotional reactions to stress as a means of coping, such as deep breathing, meditation, or taking medication aimed at reducing stressful emotional responses.

• Involves changing the stressful situation itself to reduce the impact of the stressor.

• Involves seeking social support to help deal with stress and emotional challenges.

• Involves ignoring the stressor and hoping it resolves itself over time.