Psychological Factors That Affect Wellness and Illness

Psychological Factors That Affect Wellness and Illness

Stress is any form of change that can cause psychological, emotional, and physical strain. Typically, human bodies are designed to experience stress and then readjust to it accordingly. The two physiological response systems involved in stress reaction include the HPA axis and the autonomic nervous system. The latter is categorized into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (Evans et al., 2013). The parasympathetic serves a critical role in maintaining homeostasis during rest. It is uniquely built to regulate vision, breathing, and heart rate changes. The “flight or fight” response, which comprises the sympathetic nervous system, is also an in-built mechanism that the body can use to escape or respond to stressful stimuli. Some common psychical stress symptoms include trouble sleeping, exhaustion, chest pains, aches, racing heart, muscle tension, and a weakened immune system. Mental and emotional signs include sadness, panic attacks, depression, irritability, and anxiety. Naturally, individuals with chronic stress tend to control it by engaging in unhealthy behaviors, such as using drugs, smoking, taking part compulsively in sex, overeating, or drinking too much. Factors like work, environmental factors, daily hassles, catastrophes, and significant life events can contribute to stress.

Over the years, researchers have proposed a range of psychological perspectives and theories to try to understand the causes of diseases, such as stress, and factors affecting human health, as well as to propose appropriate strategies for addressing these causative factors. For example, the biopsychosocial perspective focuses on the sociocultural, psychological, and biological forces to diagnose a person’s vulnerability to illnesses and overall health (Ostraub, 2014). Based on these factors, this paper seeks to identify the stressors in the case study involving a 50-year-old woman, Nancy, explain how stress is measured, determine problems associated with tobacco use as a coping technique, how stress-related chronic diseases can be prevented, and how I will apply the concepts learned in this case to my professional and personal life.

The Stressors that Exist in the Case

The three types of stressors affecting Nancy’s health include her family, occupation, and health. In terms of family, Nancy is overwhelmed by the additional burden of caring for her mother, who recently learned that she was suffering from a terminal illness. Nancy is a single mother residing alone without a husband. Her college-age daughter is often too busy with school and work and rarely at home. Even though Nancy is trying her level best to juggle between work and taking care of her mother, the problem seems to stem from the dissatisfaction and stubbornness of her sick mother. The mother is demanding and usually complains of not being taken care of properly by Nancy. She is also uncomfortable living in Nancy’s house. Nancy has lost nearly 10 pounds within the last few months because she sometimes forgets to eat due to her busy schedule. She even does not have any more time to visit the gym as regularly as she did before (at least once per week).

Nancy’s occupation is also one of the major stressors impacting her mental, emotional, and psychological functioning. She currently serves as a case manager in a nearby residential home for kids with mental health issues. One cause of her stress stems from the fact that she is being overworked. She has a caseload of nearly twenty clients every moment, including those admitted (taken in) or discharged after their treatment is complete. Nancy also receives calls from worried parents and health insurance companies. She also steps in to assist absent co-workers in discharging direct services. Besides being overworked, which explains her recent burnout, Nancy also worries about losing her job. She recently received news that the facility she works in might be closed in the new future as the organization moves to cut its budget. She worries about where she will go if the organization does away with her position.

The third stressor Nancy is grappling with is her health. Nancy has lost her appetite and cannot keep up with her weekly gym training. She has not only lost about 10 pounds recently, but she is also a smoking addict. She wants and is willing to quit but has been unable to do it. Over the years, Nancy has developed a habit of smoking nearly two packs daily. In a recent visit to her primary physician to discuss a systematic, clinically-supervised strategy to assist her in quitting, she discovered that her smoking has worsened. She now takes up to two-and-half packs per day. What even stresses her more is that she has never touched the written cessation plan her doctor gave her.

How to Measure and Reduce Stress  

The various approaches that psychotherapists have proposed in recent years to measure stress fall into two broad categories: physiological measures and self-report inventories (Ostraub, 2014). Some of the common self-reports include daily hassle scales and life event inventories, although they have validity and reliability problems. One setback of self-reports is that it relies on the memory of the patient being interviewed. The information could be inaccurate if the significant event occurred some distant time back. Psychologists have developed a momentary ecological assessment (EMA) approach to address this problem. EMA entails repeated sampling of the experiences and behavior of people in real-time and in their natural habitat or environment. EMA can take different forms. For instance, it can require participants to reflect and write daily reports about social interactions, stressors, and moods.

Researchers often include biochemical and physiological parameters as the second measure of stress – which also addresses validity and reliability issues. Examples of physiological measures include electrical skin conductance (sweating), respiration rate, blood pressure, and heart rate. In most cases, these measures occur when people respond to stress – which takes place when the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system is activated. Besides these physiological responses, psychologists can also diagnose stress through its connection with hormonal changes, such as norepinephrine, epinephrine, and cortisol. The advantage of these chemical elements is that they are easily quantifiable and reliable (Ostraub, 2014).

Besides stress measurements, understanding coping strategies is also important. Coping is the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive strategies (either positive or negative) that people implement to overcome stressful situations (Baqutayan, 2015). An example of emotional coping includes controlling one’s emotional reaction to a distressing event, such as keeping one’s self busy to distract the mind from drug use. On the other hand, an example of a behavioral approach includes using self-statements that focus on competence (like “I am resilient enough to relapse”). This can help a drug addict tolerate the urge to relapse for longer. Finally, cognitive coping refers to any strategy that an individual uses mental actions to control stressful situations. Acceptance is an example of a cognitive coping style. Drug addicts can use this strategy to recognize they have an underlying dependence issue that needs to be addressed. Finally, it is important to note that when people avoid the positive coping mechanism (known as approach coping), they tend to follow minimizing (avoidant coping), which is characterized by passive behaviors (such as avoidance) and antisocial behavior (such as drug use).

Problems That Could Result from Tobacco Use

From the case study, it is clear that Nancy is using negative coping (avoidant coping) to escape from her stress. Rather than directly confronting the problem, she has resorted to smoking tobacco regularly. However, she risks suffering from a broad range of co-morbidities associated with tobacco smoking, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, hypertension, lung diseases, obesity, stroke, heart disease, and cancer. Tobacco smoking also increases her chances of suffering from tuberculosis, particular eye illnesses, and immune problems, including rheumatoid arthritis (CDC, 2020). Nancy also risks reducing her lifespan by nearly 14 minutes for each packet smoked (Ostraub, 2014). Tobacco contains nearly 4,000 chemicals (including nicotine) that activate the different neural receptors, leading to elevated blood pressure, heart rate, and other physiological changes.

Preventing Stress-Related Chronic Illnesses

Preventing stress-related chronic diseases is a multi-faceted approach that involves understanding the biological, psychological, and social factors causing the stress – what Ostraub (2014) calls the biopsychosocial perspective or model. One can try to avoid stressors or stressful situations that might cause the illness or temporarily help the individual to suppress or avoid the stressors. This includes avoiding smoking, drinking, or using drugs. Also, it is important to visit a counselor and seek advice on avoiding or addressing a stressor such as the loss of a job. However, the most effective way of preventing stress is adopting a healthy lifestyle, including eating healthy foods (fruits and vegetables) and exercising regularly. Studies have shown that healthy living and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle can help alleviate the risk of developing anxiety, depression, fear, rage, grief, and other stress-related symptoms. Therefore, I recommend that Nancy begins exercising again (at least twice a week) to distract herself from smoking and thinking about her stress. I would also recommend that she eat a healthy diet to regain weight. She can also visit a counselor to share her story and seek alternative ways of addressing her smoking and the situation with the mother.

Applying the Concepts Learned in This Case in My Personal and Professional Life

In the future, the concepts learned, in this case, will unquestionably help me in diagnosing and solving stress-related scenarios in the field. As a psychotherapist, the biopsychosocial approach will help me understand the interaction of social, psychological, and biological factors and how they influence the occurrence of diseases and patients’ health. Knowing how to use physiological measures and self-report inventories will also be vital in accurately diagnosing stress-related, cognitive, and emotional diseases.

References

Baqutayan, S. M. S. (2015). Stress and coping mechanisms: A historical overview. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(2), 479-488.

CDC. (2020). Smoking & tobacco use: Health effects. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/index.htm#:~:text=Smoking

Evans, B. E., et al. (2013). Determinants of physiological and perceived physiological stress reactivity in children and adolescents. PloS One, 8(4), e61724. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061724

Ostraub, R. O. (2014). Healthy psychology: A biopsychosocial approach (4^th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.

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Psychological Factors That Affect Wellness and Illness

In a 5-page evaluative essay, you will explore how different psychological perspectives and theories affect wellness and illness due to life stressors. Review the case study, and then address the questions using the different psychological theories and perspectives covered in Units 1–6 on wellness and illness.

Case Study for Unit 6 Assignment
Begin your essay with a discussion of the psychological factors that affect wellness and illness due to stress. Be sure to include physiological aspects of stress and at least two of the major models of stress as discussed in your text. Include these factors as you address the following questions:

Psychological Factors That Affect Wellness and Illness