Transcript Using POCS Method of Problem

Chapter 13 : Psychology & Health
Michael L. Farris
Psychology 101
Behavioral Medicine (Coon, p. 417)
– The study of behavioral factors in
medicine, physical illness, and medical
treatment.
– Psychologists working in the allied field of
behavioral medicine apply psychology to
manage medical problems, such as
diabetes or asthma.
– Their interests include pain control, helping
people cope with chronic illness, stressrelated diseases, self-screening for
diseases (such as breast cancer), and
similar topics.
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Disease-Prone Personality (Coon, p. 418)
– A personality type associated with poor
health; marked by persistent negative
emotions, including anxiety, depression,
and hostility.
– Such people tend to be chronically
depressed, anxious, hostile, and frequently
ill. In contrast, people who are
intellectually resourceful, compassionate,
optimistic, and non-hostile tend to enjoy
good health.
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Burnout (Nevid, p. 476)
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A job related condition of mental, physical, and
emotional exhaustion.
The problem has three aspects:
emotional exhaustion (affected persons are
fatigued, tense, apathetic, and suffer from
physical ailments; they feel used up, and have
an “I don’t care anymore” attitude toward work).
Depersonalization (or detachment from others),
in which burned out workers no longer care
about their clients and coldly treat them like
objects. And…
Reduced personal accomplishment (burned out
workers do poor work and feel helpless,
hopeless, or angry. Their self-esteem slumps
and they yearn to change jobs or careers.
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Burnout
(Coon, p. 424, Nevid, p.476)
– Burnout may occur in any job, but it is a
marked problem in emotionally
demanding helping professions, such
as nursing, teaching, social work, child
care, counseling, caring for AIDS
patients, or police work.
– It is ironic that the same work that
produces burnout can also be highly
rewarding.
– People are more likely to burn out if they
feel they have little control over their work.
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Frustration
 A negative
emotional state that
occurs when one is prevented from
reaching a goal. Frustration is a
common source of stress.
 A common response to
frustration is aggression. (Nevid,
p.502; Coon, p. 426)
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Scapegoating
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(A scapegoat is a person who has become
a habitual target of displaced aggression.)
Scapegoating is blaming a person or
group of people for conditions not of
their making.
Psychologists attribute much hostility and
violence to displaced aggression.
An example of scapegoating is the
disturbing finding that when unemployment
increases, so does child abuse.
(Coon, p. 427)
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Defense Mechanism

A habitual and often unconscious psychological
process used to reduce anxiety. Specifically,
defense mechanisms are used to avoid, deny, or
distort sources of threat or anxiety. They also help
protect an idealized self-image so that we can
comfortably live with ourselves. Many of the
defenses were first identified by Sigmund Freud,
who assumed they operate unconsciously.
Everyone at one time or another has used defense
mechanisms.

Defense mechanisms prevent us from being
overwhelmed by immediate threats.

Please refer to Nevid, p. 348; or Coon, p. 431.
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Denial

A basic defense mechanism in which one
refuses to accept an unpleasant reality.

Denial is closely linked with death, illness,
and similar painful and threatening events.
If you were told you have three months to
live, your first reaction may be “the doctor
must be mistaken” or “it can’t be true!”.

Similar denial and disbelief are common
reactions to the unexpected death of a
friend or relative: “It’s just not real. I don’t
believe it. I just don’t believe it!” (Nevid, page
347)
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Repression

Unconsciously preventing painful or
dangerous thoughts from entering
awareness (forgetting).

Freud noticed that his patients had
tremendous difficulty recalling shocking
or traumatic events from childhood.

Feelings of hostility toward a family
member, the names of people we dislike,
and past failures are common targets of
repression. (Nevid, p. 348; Coon, p. 431)
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Reaction Formation

Preventing dangerous impulses from being expressed in
behavior by exaggerating opposite behavior. In Freudian
theory, a defense mechanism involving behavior that
stands in opposition to one’s true motives and desires to
prevent consciousness awareness of them.

For example, a mother who unconsciously resents her
children may, through reaction formation, become absurdly
overprotective and overindulgent. Her real thoughts of “I
hate them” and “I wish they were gone” are replaced by “I
love them” and “I don’t know what I’d do without them”.
The mother’s hostile impulses are traded for “smother”
love, so that she won’t have to admit she hates her
children.

Thus, the basic idea in reaction formation is that the
individual acts out an opposite behavior to block
threatening impulses or feelings.
(Nevid, p. 348; Coon, p. 431)
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Regression

Retreating to an earlier stage of
development or to earlier, less demanding
habits or situations.

If you’ve ever seen a child get homesick at
summer camp or on vacation, you’ve
observed regression.

An adult who throws a temper tantrum or a
married adult who “goes home to mother” is
also regressing. (Coon, p. 432-433)
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Projection

Attributing one’s own feelings,
shortcomings, or unacceptable impulses
to others.

Projection is an unconscious process that
protects us from the anxiety we would feel if
we were to discern our faults.

A person who is projecting tends to see
his or her own feelings, shortcomings, or
unacceptable impulses in others.

Projection lowers anxiety by exaggerating
negative traits in others. This justifies one’s
own actions and directs attention away from
personal failings.
(Nevid, pgs. 347-348; Coon, p. 432)
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Rationalization

Justifying personal behavior by
giving reasonable and “rational” but
false reasons for it.

The making of excuses comes from a
natural tendency to explain our
behavior. When the explanation you
give for your behavior is reasonable
and convincing, but not the real
reason, you are rationalizing.
(Nevid, pgs. 347-348; Coon, p. 432)
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Rationalization

For example, Taylor failed to turn in an
assignment made at the beginning of the
semester in one of his classes. Here’s the
explanation he gave his professor:
My car broke down 2 days ago, and I couldn’t
get to the library until yesterday. Then I couldn’t
get all the books I needed because some were
checked out, but I wrote what I could. Then last
night, as the last straw, the cartridge in my printer
ran out, and since all the stores were closed, I
couldn’t finish the paper on time.
When asked why he left the assignment until the
last minute (the real reason it was late), Taylor
offered another set of rationalizations. Like many
people, Taylor had difficulty seeing himself
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without the protection of his rationalizations.
Compensation (Coon, p. 433)

Counteracting a real or imagined weakness by
emphasizing desirable traits or seeking to excel
in the area of weakness or in other areas.

Compensatory reactions are defenses against
feelings of inferiority. A person who has a defect
or weakness (real or imagined) may go to unusual
lengths to overcome the weakness or to
compensate for it by excelling in other areas.

Examples of compensation include Franklin D.
Roosevelt whose achievements in politics came
after he was stricken with polio, and Stevie
Wonder and Ray Charles, both blind, yet very
successful musicians.
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Sublimation

Working off frustrated desires or
unacceptable impulses in substitute
activities that are constructive or
accepted by society.

For example, a very aggressive person
may find social acceptance as a
professional soldier, boxer, or football
player. Greed may be refined into a
successful business career. Lying could
be sublimated into storytelling, creative
writing, or politics.
(Nevid, pgs. 347-348; Coon, p.433)
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Learned Helplessness

A learned inability to overcome obstacles
or to avoid punishment; learned passivity
and inaction to aversive stimuli. (See dog
example on Coon page 433).

A psychologist named Martin Seligman
has described this reaction in Vietnam
prisoner of war camps (Coon p. 433) in
which a young marine POW was promised
release on a certain date if he cooperated,
then was never released. He became
depressed, refused to eat or drink, and
died shortly thereafter.
(Nevid, pgs. 401-402; Coon, p. 433)
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Depression
A state of despondency marked by
feelings of powerlessness and
hopelessness.
Many psychologists (including
Seligman) have argued that there is a
close connection between
depression and learned
helplessness.
Nevid, pgs. 400-404; Coon, pgs. 434-435
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Psychosomatic Disorders

Illnesses in which psychological factors contribute to
bodily damage or to damaging changes in bodily
functioning. (Coon, p. 440)

In psychosomatic disorders, physiological damage is
caused by psychological stress.

Hypochondria: Complaining about illnesses that
appear to be imaginary.

The difference between psychosomatic problems and
hypochondria is that psychosomatic illnesses are real
(asthma, a migraine headache, or high blood pressure can
be psychosomatically caused), whereas a hypochondriac
imagines problems that aren’t really there.

Severe psychosomatic disorders can be fatal. The person
who says “Oh, it’s just psychosomatic” misunderstands the
seriousness of stress-related diseases.
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Biofeedback

Information given to a person about his or
her ongoing bodily activities; aids
voluntary regulation of bodily states.

Biofeedback is often recommended to an
individual who would like to learn to
control his or her high blood pressure.

This “Electronic yoga” is described on
Coon, page 441.
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General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S.)
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a consistent series of bodily reactions to prolonged
stress, occurring in three stages (alarm,
resistance, and exhaustion).
In the alarm stage, the body mobilizes its
resources to cope with added stress. The pituitary
gland signals the adrenal gland to produce more
adrenaline and noradrenaline. In the first phases of
the alarm reaction, people have such symptoms as
headache, fever, fatigue, sore muscles, shortness
of breath, diarrhea, upset stomach, loss of appetite,
and a lack of energy.
In the resistance stage, bodily adjustments to
stress stabilize. Outwardly, everything seems
normal.
In the exhaustion stage, the body’s resources are
drained and stress hormones are depleted. Unless
a way of relieving stress is found, the result will be
a psychosomatic disease, a serious loss of health,
or complete collapse. (Nevid, pgs. 459-461; Coon, 22
p. 443)
Stress Management

The application of behavioral
strategies to reduce stress and
improve coping skills.

Exercise, meditation, and relaxation
are important factors in stress
management because they relieve
the physical tension of stress.
(Nevid, pgs. 475-478; Coon, p. 448)
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Type A Personalities vs. Type B Personalities

Type A is a personality type with an
elevated risk of heart disease;
characterized by time urgency,
anger, competitiveness, and hostility.

Type B personality includes all types
other than type A. A low cardiac risk
personality.
Nevid, pgs. 455-456; Coon, pgs. 441-442
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