Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Adrenal Medulla, Glucocorticoid, Cortisol
Stress!
•a pattern of psychological, behaviour, emotional and cognitive responses to real or
imagined stimuli that are perceived as blocking a goal or endangering a well being !
•stress response!
•can be broken down into three things !
•stressors !
•catastrophes!
•life changes!
•hassles !
•intervening factors!
•appraisal!
•perceived control!
•personality!
•social support !
•coping !
•stress reaction !
•physiological!
•emotional!
•behavioural !
•sense stress!
•leads to sympathetic N.S releasing epinephrine from adrenal medulla!
•OR!
•signal to hypothalamus which leads to secretion of glucocorticoids
(cortisol) into blood stream!
•cortisol !
•effects similar to epinephrine !
•converts protein to glucose!
•makes fats available for enegry !
•increased blood flow !
•almost every cell in body has receptor for cortisol!
•immune system !
•stress can suppress the immune system, making the person more vulnerable !
•how?!
•stress results in release of glucocorticoids directly suppress the
action of white blood cells !
•ex. rats with inescapable shock showed a decrease in lymphocyte
production !
•ex. husbands show decreased immune response after wife death !
•people are more likely to be sick a few days after exposure to a stressful event !
•acute infectious disorders increase during final exams !
•the reaction to the stressor depends on appraisal !
Psychosomatic disorder
•disorders with a primarily physical symptom but caused or maintained by psychological
factors !
•ex hypertension!
•gastric ulcers!
•painful lesions of stomach longing !
•over 500K new cases a year!
•linked to living in a stressful environment !
•if you perceive you have control you will be less stress!
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