...Psychology and Health Problems Tammy Salter PSY/210 August 9, 2011 We ask ourselves these questions everyday like: What are Germs and why does one become ill? Do viruses play a part or do Poor lifestyle choices play a large role? The Multi-factorial Model explains this; there are many reasons that an individual’s health may suffer. One’s environment, biology, socioeconomic status, sources of stress, and even personality all help to determine if someone will fall ill. Physicians and mental health professionals, as well as their patients, can benefit from this information. When an individual knows what is causing his or her health problems, he or she is better prepared to take steps to cure or prevent these problems. Maybe, like the old wives tale, it is believed that being outside with a wet head caused that persistent cold? Most of the listed reasons do play a role in whether or not an individual will become ill, but there are others issues that are contributed as well. One of the causes of health problems in individuals is environmental factors. How does one’s environment makes him or her sick? Consideration must be given to an individual’s environment. Is there clean drinking water available? Can an individual venture outside without fear of what toxic chemicals may be taken the human body when breathing the air? Some people worry about illness with every drink of water and breathe of air they take in. The World Health Organization (2008) stated that “Thirteen million...
Words: 1268 - Pages: 6
...Psychology and Health Problems James Hasty Axia College of University of Phoenix PSY 210 Introduction to Psychology Alshondrea Denton March 22, 2009 There are many health problems that can be associated to an individual’s reaction to life changes and stressors that can be experienced every day or a little at a time. This paper will summarize the multifactorial model and describe how it relates to the diagnosis of illnesses and it will explain what role psychology has played in understanding and managing two health problems discussed in the text. My hope is that this paper will help reinforce the ways that we can overcome the stresses we experience every day and live a healthier lifestyle, so that we can give our children an example to follow in order to improve their quality of life. According to our text, the multifactorial model is the belief that health and illnesses are a function of multiple factors involving biology, psychological, and cultural domains, and their interactions (Nevid & Rathus, 2005). The way that the multifactorial model works is by identifying factors that can affect our health and susceptibility to illness so that we can, in turn, control them and prevent them from affecting us further. The multifactorial model breaks the factors into six different categories; these categories are biological, sociocultural, environmental, personality, behavior, and stressors. Biological factors are the most obvious causes of illness. Things such as a family...
Words: 1422 - Pages: 6
...Psychology and Health Problems Psy210 12/12/2010 Psychology and Health Problems Summarizing the multifactorial model between health and illness, physicians and psychologist have determined a correlation between life experiences, history of family’s disease, and a person’s abilities to handle situations that directly affect their health in a negative or positive outcome. Cultural diversity plays a role in whether a person is able to receive better health care in relation to social economic factors than the country in which they live. Even though the United States and Canada have the advance health care than other European countries there is still the factor of lack of insurance and lower status of social economics that many lack the source of good health care (Nevid & Rathus, 2005). Psychological, environmental, biological and sociocultural factors affect a person’s health whether female or male. Two health problems that are first discussed in the text are premenstrual syndrome and headaches. Headaches are accountable in 20% of people who suffer from the two most common severe types of migraine and muscle tension headaches. GAS or general adaptation syndrome in the first two stages forces the muscles to contract in the forehead, shoulders, neck and persistent stress can lead to the constant constriction of those muscles. Tension headaches are described as a feeling of a viselike pressure throughout the head. Another major headache known as migraines is seen in about...
Words: 1104 - Pages: 5
...Psychology and Health Problems Course: PSY/210 September 02, 2010 Instructor: Deb Maison Psychology and Health Problems Psychology has played an excellent role in understanding and managing of health problems by conducting research and recognizing that the interaction between different group factors may cause health problems. The multifactorial model is used to make connection between life experiences, family medical history, genetics, and a person’s ability to handle situations that directly affect an individual’s health in a negative or positive way. It also allows doctors to consider other diagnoses that may be involved when someone is coughing rather than just assuming he or she has a common cold. Medical professional also benefit by treating patients’ efficiently if he or she is aware of their medical condition. In addition, to ease the diagnosis break down of illness the multifactorial model has divided these factors into six categories: biological factors, environmental factors, behavioral, stressors, personality, and sociocultural factors. Biological factors include genetic components, family medical history, gender, and age. Generally, people think that just because their families’ medical history consists of high-risk medical conditions that he or she will be diagnosed with them too. In most instances, individuals do not consider that age and gender also play high role in health. For example, diabetes is a hard disease to detect according to the American...
Words: 1106 - Pages: 5
...| Psychology and health problems. | | | Sarah | | | There are many health problems associated with stress. Some we ignore, and others that require immediate attention. We all have had headaches. We all have experienced knots in our stomachs. So we can take a pain pill or an indigestion medicine to feel better. But what if the symptoms keep coming back? Healthy women from the beginning of her first period to her menopause, usually experiences some unpleasant start to her menstruation. This can be in the form of PMS (pre menstrual syndrome). However, there is an issue that affects both men and women. "Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States of America" (Nevid, 2005). Of course there are family histories and physiological conditions, as well as patterns of consumption, but there are some other risks of CHD. A type A behavior, a person working hard, easily upset, and easily angered has a risk for CHD. People who are hostile and mad all the time also have a risk of CHD. I plan on discussing both menstrual problems and CHD as two health problems. Some women have an easy monthly period. They can get through their routine just fine. They might experience the normal physical issues associated with menstruation, and they might be able to handle those issues without problem. Other women, and perhaps a large number of women, do experience PMS and do experience some discomfort. Such discomforts can be, "bloating, weight gain, food...
Words: 1173 - Pages: 5
...Psychology and Health Problems Cheryl Colwell PSY/210 5/15/2011 Mekel, Harris The multifactorial model helps us to see that a person’s health and even illnesses can be caused by many different elements including, but not limited to, environment, biology, behavior, and stress. The first step is to figure out what is causing the person to be sick before any physical or mental problems can be treated. When a person knows what is causing his or her health problems, they are better prepared to take the steps that are needed to cure or prevent the problem. The physician is more able to treat the patients conditions if they are more aware of all the illnesses causes. This also helps the doctors to treat their patients based on the specifics of their illnesses. The multifactorial module uses sociocultural factors that are connected with health and illness, as reflected in human diversity. These factors include ethnicity, gender, level of education, and socioeconomic status. Psychology also plays a big part in keeping a person healthy by teaching the mind how to deal with stressors that can affect a person’s health. CHD, or Coronary Heart Disease, is one of the major causes of death in the United States. This disease can cause heart attacks and strokes due to stress and unhealthy habits that can be caused by stress such as smoking cigarettes, overeating, or not eating healthy (U.S. Department of Human Services, www.hhs.org). Other elements that can lead to Coronary Heart...
Words: 1287 - Pages: 6
...Abstract Psychology and health problems go hand in hand. There are several diseases that can be caused when a person does not control the level of stress they have in their life. An unhealthy lifestyle consists of stress, depression, eating high fat foods, and not exercising enough. The more a person knows about how to control their stress levels will help them to deal with some of the diseases that they might get and will also help them to live healthy to control the risk of getting any unhealthy diseases. In this paper I will strive to describe what the multifactorial model is and how it relates to the diagnosis of illnesses. I have also selected two health problems which I will explain what role psychology has played in understanding and managing these problems. The health problems that I have selected are coronary heart disease and menstrual problems. The multifactorial model is described as the belief that health and illnesses are a function of several factors that involve biological, psychological, and cultural domains, and how they interact with each other (Nevid & Rathus, 2005). People might wonder how some people become ill easily and some don’t, or maybe why some people are affected by health problems while others are not. According to the multifactorial model there isn’t one answer to why this happens. There are many factors that include genetics and lifestyle choices. Genes play a role in a person having a chance of getting certain diseases, but they do not...
Words: 1083 - Pages: 5
...Trudy A. Linden-Craft PSY/210 Psychology and Health Problems Every individual, at one time or another will experience some level of stress in his or her daily lives. “The likelihood of contracting an illness—be it the flu or cancer— can reflect the interaction of many factors, including genetic factors and lifestyle factors” (Nevid & Rathus, 2005, pg 128). Studies in health psychology have revealed that there is not a distinct straightforward answer to the multitude of questions that arise. When determining how one’s health and susceptibility to stress-related illness is affected, the multifactoral model illustrates a wide range of factors that consist of biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors as well as the interactions of each. This paper will discuss potential health problems associated with each factor and how psychology’s role helps to recognize and control these health concerns. Biological factors are one of the apparent roles that help to determine the risk of an individual illness. Because biological factors are linked to an individual’s genetics, these factors are not able to be controlled by individuals. Some of these biological factors include inoculations, age, gender, injuries, birth defects disabilities, and family history disease. Most of these issues are a lifelong factor that begins in an individual’s childhood. Considering an individual’s genetics, one can determine if a person can acquire a behavior trait or become diagnosed...
Words: 1178 - Pages: 5
...aim in this paper is to analyse community psychology and public health and distinguish between the two approaches. Community Psychology focuses on economic, environmental, political and social factors that influence the way in which people all over the world live their lives. It also touches on social factors that contribute or causes problems in various societies. Public Health on the other hand, according to Tutorial Letter 102/0/2014, is defined as being concerned with “preventing disease and distress” in the community as a whole, not just the individual, before they occur. It promotes healthy living and with the prevention of illness linked with lifestyle. To compare these two concepts, one should first have a basic understanding of the origins and historical development of community psychology and public health. Community Psychology are very much linked with the mental health reform movements in the USA. The three most important reform movements were; ‘Moral Treatment’, ‘The Mental Hygiene’ and ‘Deinstitutionalisation’. Each of these movements have led to the establishment of particular types of institution: In the Moral Treatment era, we got therapeutic mental hospitals, the Mental Hygiene era gave us Child Guidance Clinics and the establishment of Community Health Centers came in the Deinstitutionalisation era (Tutorial Letter 102/0/2014). Student Number: 55316883 Unique Number: 536709 2 Public health, like community psychology, focuses on prevention of disease. It is...
Words: 908 - Pages: 4
...Discussion on how theory and research in health psychology has been helpful or unhelpful in addressing human problems. Areas important in health psychology involve studies of behaviour which courses illness and also a way to try motivate individuals to leave healthy with the influence from hospitals and care professionals in the society. ‘Health psychology is the aggregate of the specific educational, scientific and professional contribution of the discipline of psychology to the promotion and maintenance of health, the prevention and treatment of illnesses’ Matarazzo (1980). As health psychology is widely related to health the definition of healthy is by the World Health Organization (WHO) 1948 saying that health is ‘the state of complete physical, social and spiritual well-being, not simply the absences of illnesses’. As psychology is the science of behaviour and change; psychologists have helped to influence change in people’s life. As health psychology is interested mainly in health and health maintenance rather than on diseases and disease prevention. It was found in the 1970s when many countries (western) began to suffer from diseases and death in result to declining expenditures, to resolve the situation health promotion strategies were introduced. As there are many factors that courses diseases for example smoking which leads to diseases like cardiovascular disease, to investigate the relationship between health behaviours, health and disease outcomes studies would be...
Words: 1854 - Pages: 8
...To what extent does biological psychology contribute to our understanding of human emotion? This essay will briefly consider some definitions and early theories of emotion. It will evaluate evidence from studies which suggests that biological psychology makes a major contribution to our understanding of human emotion. It will, however, acknowledge that there are limitations to the biological aspect of emotion, and that interaction with other areas of psychology including evolutionary, developmental, cognitive and social must also be considered. Finally, it will include ways in which this knowledge can be applied. Watson (1924, cited in Plutchik 1994, p 3) suggests ‘An emotion is a hereditary pattern-reaction involving profound changes of the bodily mechanisms….’ McLean (1963, cited in Plutchik 1994, p3) suggests ‘Emotional feelings guide our behaviour with respect to the two basic life principles of self-preservation and the preservation of the species.’ Arguably, these definitions allude to evolutionary nature and innateness of emotion, but the former refers also to physiological changes. Plutchik (1994) highlights some confusion over what qualifies as an emotion, and suggests that emotions are goal orientated: - emotion fear – goal escape. Lewis, Sullivan, Stanger and Weiss (1989, cited in Slater & Muir, 1999) distinguish between the primary emotions of joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust and surprise, found in babies, and the secondary emotions of embarrassment...
Words: 1323 - Pages: 6
...Psychology of Health in the Workplace Psychology of Health in the Workplace Kristin Haimowitz HCA/250 January 22, 2012 Wakita R. Bradford Psychology of Health in the Workplace A good attitude can go a long way in making the place where you work a more tolerable place to be. Having a healthy lifestyle can make it easier to deal with the smaller problems that seem to happen on a day to day basis. Health psychology is concerned with understanding how biological, psychological, environmental, and cultural factors are involved in physical health and the prevention of illness. Due to recent advances in psychological, medical, and physiological research, it had lead to new ways of thinking about health and illness. This conceptualization, which has been labeled the biopsychosocial model, views health and illness as the product of a combination of factors including biological characteristics (e.g., genetic predisposition), behavioral factors (e.g., lifestyle, stress, health beliefs, and social conditions (e.g., cultural influences, family relationships, social support) (Marks, 2011). People have developed a field of health psychology that helps people deal with stressors that they are involved with at their workplace. Many experts perform research to help them solidify their findings. Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) has developed from these studies, and does research so that they can better understand the needs of people in their work settings. Also, OHP...
Words: 462 - Pages: 2
...TASK: Using examples clearly distinguish between the following. a) Clinical psychology, Health psychology, psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine b) Show how the other three are interrelated with health psychology Clinical psychology is both a health care profession , and a health-related scientific discipline (Carr, 2012). As a profession clinical psychology involves using clinical judgement to apply knowledge from the scientific discipline in clinical practice with clients and patients. Clinical practice involves the assessment, treatment and prevention of psychological problems in a range of populations. For example helping a boy who is failing in school and defiant with his parents and teachers; helping a woman with depression regulate her mood more effectively; helping a family of a person whose psychotic whose psychotic symptoms have been reduced through using medication to develop a supportive style to prevent relapse. Scientific knowledge about clinical psychology is developed through initial academic training, ongoing continuing professional development and research. As a scientific discipline, clinical psychology entails research conducted to find out how best to understand, assess, treat and prevent psychological problems and also to find out how widespread psychological problems are (Carr, 2012). The result of clinical psychology research provides information for planning services for whole populations, and evaluating and treating individual cases in evidence-based...
Words: 953 - Pages: 4
................................................................................................... 2 2.5. Methods of evaluating interventions for long-term success ............................................................. 3 3. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 3 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 4 Monica Fourie Student Number: 45918287 1. PYC4811 Assignment 1: Unique number - 657794 INTRODUCTION “Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.” Anthony J. D'Angelo Since the beginning of time conflict and social problems have been part of all communities throughout the world and through millennia people have been trying to find ways to minimise the damage that these conflicts...
Words: 1918 - Pages: 8
...COMMUNITY AND HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY PYC 4811 MEHROONISA ANSARI STUDENT NUMBER: 568-578-8 TOPIC: Critically compare and contrast the Community psychology and Public Health Approaches to social problems. TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENT PAGE Introduction 1 Community Psychology Approach 1 Public Health Approach 1 Similarities between both approaches 2 Differences between both approaches 2-3 Conclusion 3 1/… Introduction In my critical evaluation of the Community Psychology Approach and the Public Health Approaches to social problems, I will begin by explaining what each approach is about, then draw similarities and differences between the two approaches and then end my evaluation with a discussion on the controversies surrounding the two approaches and the way forward. Community Psychology Approach Community Psychology became popular in South Africa in the 1980’s when psychologists were...
Words: 975 - Pages: 4
