Psychology 2036A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Chronic Condition, Health Belief Model, Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2036A/B
• Professor: Doug Hazlewood

Document Summary

Recognize and interpret symptoms: although people have some awareness of what is going on in their bodies, that awareness may be limited. Limitation leaves room for social & psychological factors to influence symptom recognition & illness interpretation: recognizing & interpreting symptoms as reflecting illness are necessary first steps before decisions to seek care. Depression linked to better retrieval of past symptoms. This suggests that medical students" disease may be a normal process rather than hypochondriasis (azuri, ackshota, & vinker, 2010). Interpretation of symptoms is also a heavily psychological process. If a symptom causes pain, it will lead a person to seek treatment more promptly than if it does not. Identity, or label for an illness is its name. Consequences: symptoms and treatments and the extent to which the person believes the illness has ramifications for his or her life. Causes factors that the person believes gave rise to the illness, such as environmental or behavioural factors.