PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Psychosomatic Medicine, Morgellons, Chronic Condition
Definition of Health
Definition of Unwell
Stress and sickness
DEFINITION OF HEALTH
E.g. religious/spiritual health, mental health, environmental (no pollution in surrounding etc.)
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Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity -
WHO Constitution 1948
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DEFINITION OF UNWELL
Short-term
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Life goes on afterwards
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E.g. flu, cold
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No long-term changes
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Acute illness
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Often lifelong
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Usually no cure
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Lifestyles
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E.g. depression, allergies, asthma, anxiety etc.
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Medical treatment
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Manageable
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Chronic illness
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Disease (biological): pathological, outside biological normal function, objective evidence, can develop without
knowing
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Illness (psychological): subjective experience of being unwell
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Sickness (social): social role
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Being unwell
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Something you don't see or look like you are sick
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People don't usually realise that you are sick; just because someone can't see it doesn't mean you don't feel
horrible
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E.g. Depression and anxiety
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Chronic pain
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Gastrointestinal disorders
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There is the psychological illness and the biological disease but not the social sickness
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Invisible illnesses
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Psychological distress (anxiety, depression, etc.) can be expressed as physical symptoms
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High distress
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Skin biopsies and testing of wound fibers (CDC)
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Not caused by infection or parasites
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Fibers from fabrics (likely cotton)
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No identifiable diseases
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E.g. Morgellons (psychosomatic illness)
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Some people becomes mislead and see it as a physical symptom but is predominantly a psychological disease
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E.g. feeling nervous and we start trembling
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We all have psychosomatic illness and this is normal
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Psychosomatic illnesses
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STRESS AND SICKNESS
Fast or thumping heart
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Feeling sick to your stomach
Effect of anxiety and stress on the body
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10C - Health Psychology (Faasse)
Monday, May 14, 2018
10:00 AM
PSYCH 1001 Page 1
Document Summary
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity - E. g. religious/spiritual health, mental health, environmental (no pollution in surrounding etc. ) Disease (biological): pathological, outside biological normal function, objective evidence, can develop without knowing. Something you don"t see or look like you are sick. People don"t usually realise that you are sick; just because someone can"t see it doesn"t mean you don"t feel horrible. There is the psychological illness and the biological disease but not the social sickness. Psychological distress (anxiety, depression, etc. ) can be expressed as physical symptoms. Some people becomes mislead and see it as a physical symptom but is predominantly a psychological disease. Skin biopsies and testing of wound fibers (cdc) We all have psychosomatic illness and this is normal. Effect of anxiety and stress on the body. Stress in evolutionary history have been brief and short.