PSY 1102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Coronary Artery Disease, Pituitary Gland, Immune System

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1102
• Professor: Najwa Haddad

Document Summary

A subfield in psychology that gives psychology"s contribution to behavioral medicine. Attempts to study how stress, healthy, and unhealthy behaviors influence health and illness. Both psychologists and physicians helped create behavior medicine. Health psychology uses knowledge from both behavioral and medical knowledge. Stress is how we perceive and respond to events, known as stressors; threat or challenge. Stress is highest in young adults and drops as you become senior. How we response to challenges or distractions influences our mood. Short stress = good, especially as a challenge- stimulates brain, mobilizes immune system; heals wounds and illnesses. Short stress arouses us and motivates us to conquer problems. Bad, leads to heart problems and death for many, especially when losing a job. Posttraumatic stress is an example of this, sometimes cause from prolonged abuse; increases risk of chronic disease. These cause stress, such as losing money, gives off a stress reaction.