Emotions, Stress & Health

Michelle McBride Graduate Assistant CCSU Psychology Dept.

What would you do?

What is Emotion?

Internal conscious states that we infer in ourselves and others.

Do animals have emotion? How about fish? Insects?

Emotions are private experiences We use operational definitions because we cannot actually see feelings We infer observable behavior associated with emotion.

Sympathetic Nervous System

Scream, Run away…infers fear What other external operations do we use to define fear or other emotions?

Must be conscious to feel emotions  Absence seizures in epilepsy leaves person with no memory and no

emotions

of that time We do not need to feel strong emotions to be conscious though.

Limbic System

A group of structures in the interior of brain Form a border around brain stem Critical for emotion More important for consciousness than previously thought… It is possible to have an emotion without being conscious of what caused it.

Ex: Severe memory loss, but emotional attachment remains intact

Limbic System

Are Emotions Useful?

Extreme emotions can impair reasoning Decisions require prediction of outcome Will you or others feel good or bad about the decision and consequences?

People who cannot anticipate the unpleasantness of likely outcomes tend to make bad decisions.

Damage to Prefrontal cortex experience loss of emotion and make poor decisions

James-Lange Theory

Autonomic arousal and skeletal actions come

before

emotional response  I experience fear

because

I run away Cognitive awareness is

separate

 Brain can categorize events as pleasant or unpleasant in as little as 120 milliseconds What we experience as an emotion is actually the label we give to our response.

 I am afraid

because

I run away  I am angry

because

I attack

Common Sense vs. James-Lange

Common Sense right?

Frightening Situation Fear Running Away and Increased Heart rate etc.

James-Lange Theory Frightening Situation Running Away and Increased Heart rate etc.

Fear

James-Lange

Your Perception of your body influences your emotion Locked-in syndrome: Damage in the ventral part of brain stem   People can only blink eyes to communicate Patients remarkably tranquil… Cannot send out messages for fidgeting, butterflies in stomach Brain only receives messages of tranquility from body Key Assumptions: 1.

Body’s response comes before emotion 2.

Each discriminable emotion produces a different body response

Sympathetic (S) and Parasympathetic (P) Reactions

Every situation calls for its own special mixture of arousal by the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (conservation of energy) N.S.

 Flight: Sympathetic response includes redirection of blood flow to

specific

muscles  Nausea: Parasympathetic response includes increased stimulation of the stomach (decreased secretions) Sympathetic response includes increased salivation and intestinal contractions

Other Theories

Cannon-Bard Theory  Emotional experience and physical arousal occur simultaneously but independently Schachter-Singer Theory  Physiological changes need to be appraised cognitively to be able to identify which emotion it is.

Sympathetic and Parasympathetic flow of Autonomic Nervous System

Stress and Health

Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it.

Failing grades Scary movie  Even positive events in your life such as: Graduation New job Stress activates the Autonomic Nervous System rapidly Stress activates the Hypothalamus-Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis more slowly.

Both systems have major effect on health and well-being.

Hypothalamus-Anterior Pituitary-Adrenal Cortex Axis Prolonged stress leads to the secretion of the adrenal hormone cortisol Cortisol (stress hormone) elevates blood sugar and increases metabol.

Body is then able to sustain prolonged activity But immune system activity is decreased as a result

The Immune System

Cells that protect the body against intruders such as viruses and bacteria.

Like a police force  Too weak and criminals (viruses etc.) run wild  Too strong and it attacks law-abiding citizens: The body’s own cells (Autoimmune disease)   Ex. Lupus Erythmatosis Ex. Hashimoto’s Disease

Immune Response to Bacteria

Elements of the Immune System

Leukocytes ( White blood cells )

Most important elements Patrol the blood & fluids Antigens: Intruders have different surface proteins (nonself) than our own (self) WBCs attack antigens Macrophages and B Cells are specific defenses Antibodies search for specific antigens to attach to T cells: cytotoxic and helper   Cytotoxic: direct attack Helper: stimulates Ts & B’s to multiply rapidly

Natural Killer Cells Attach to certain kinds of tumor cells and infected cells.

Relatively non-specific Cytokines Chemicals released to activate immune system cells to attack and communicate with brain Tells brain that body is ill Stimulate vagus nerve receptors Relays message to hypothalamus and hippocampus

Some Symptoms Explained

Cytokines are instigators  Fever Viruses do not thrive at high temperatures  Sleepiness  Decreased Muscle Activity  Decreased Sex Drive  Decreased appetite Viruses need iron To Conserve energy

Effects of Stress on Immune System

Psychoneuroimmunology:  The study of the relationship between the nervous system and immune systems All experiences, especially stressful ones, alter the immune system  New antibodies, B & T cells, etc.

The Immune system in turn influences the central nervous system.

 Hypothalamus and Hippocampus involvement

Effects of Stress

Continued, long term anxiety, anger or stress is harmful.

 A body focused on the cycle of increased cortisol & increased metabolism, it is not producing new proteins for the immune system and other systems.

Ex. Three-Mile-Island High cortisol levels damage hippocampus (brain damage folks)  Learning and memory suffer as a result

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Traumatic experience leads to:  Months or even years of flashbacks and nightmares   Exaggerated arousal response to noises etc.

Avoidance of reminders of the event Combat veterans, rape victims, 9/11 Most PTSD victims have a smaller than average hippocampus (which came first?) Symptom of stress OR mechanism of coping with it?

damage from prolonged elevation of cortisol?

OR predisposed vulnerability to stress?

Emotions, Stress and Health

They are all intricately related.