PSYC 4321 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Behavioral Medicine, Sympathetic Nervous System
13 Oct 2018
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Document Summary
Some major contributions to illness and death are psychological and behavioral. Lowering stress levels and having a rich social network are associated with better health, living longer, and less cognitive decline. Health and health-related behavior: behavioral medicine: knowledge derived from behavioral science is applied to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical problems. Interdisciplinary: psychologists, physicians, other health professionals: health psychology: subfield of behavioral medicine, not interdisciplinary, psychological factors that are important to health, analyze and recommend improvements in healthcare systems and health policies. Psychosocial factors can affect the basic biological processes that lead to illness and disease. Stress is the physiological response to a stressor (stimulus) The physiology of stress: activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) Increased activity of the endocrine system: stress hormones include cortisol. Increased levels of cortisol in response to chronic stress may kill nerve cells in the hippocampus.
