Week 3 - Stress and Mental Health Flashcards
The field of _________ is concerned with the
effects of stress and other psychological factors in the development and maintenance of physical problems.
health psychology
Health psychology is a subspecialty within _______ _______.
behavioral medicine
Within ___________ ________ there is also a focus on the effects of stress on the body, including the immune, endocrine, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems
behavioral medicine
The key factors of stressor severity involve:
(1) the severity of the stressor,
(2) its chronicity (i.e., how long it lasts),
(3) its timing,
(4) how closely it affects our own lives,
(5) how expected it is, and
(6) how controllable it is.
The term _____ is used to refer to times when a stressful situation threatens to exceed or exceeds the adaptive capacities of a person or a group
crisis
Is narcisism a coping mechanism to childhood trauma?
Finally, it is interesting to note that people who are
very self-confident and who view themselves in an overly positive light also tend to cope remarkably well in the face of trauma
The biological cost of adapting to stress is called the _____ ______
allostatic load
The sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) system is designed to mobilize resources and prepare for a fight-or-flight response. The stress response begins in the hypothalamus, which stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). This, in turn, causes the inner portion of the adrenal glands (the adrenal medulla) to secrete adrenaline (also known as epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). As these circulate through the blood, they cause an increase in heart rate (familiar to all of us). They also get the body to metabolize glucose more rapidly
The second system involved in the stress response is called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system. In addition to stimulating the SNS, the hypothalamus releases a hormone called corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). Traveling in the blood, this hormone stimulates the pituitary gland. The pituitary then secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This induces the adrenal cortex (the outer portion of the adrenal gland) to produce the stress hormones called glucocorticoids. In humans, the stress glucocorti-coid that is produced is called cortisol
________-________ can cause stress-induced immunosuppression.
gluco-corticoids
white blood cells. These leukocytes (or lymphocytes) are produced in the bone marrow and then stored in various places throughout the body, such as the spleen and the lymph nodes.
two important types of leukocytes.
B cell
T cell
called a B-cell (because it matures in the bone marrow), produces specific antibodies that are designed to respond to specific antigens.
Antigens (the word is a con-traction of antibody generator) are foreign bodies such as viruses and bacteria, as well as internal invaders such as tumors and cancer cells.
The second important type of leukocyte is the T-cell (so named because it matures in the thymus, which is an important endocrine gland)
T-cells circulate through the blood and lymph systems in an inactive form.
However, the T-cells are unable to recognize antigens by themselves. They become activated when immune cells called macrophages (the word means “big eater”) detect antigens and start to engulf and digest them.
