Development & Health
Lecture 1 (1-9-2020):
Definition of health:
- Medical model: the absence of disease or disability
- World Health Organization (WHO) model: state of complete physical, mental,
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
- Wellness model: Health promotion and progress toward higher functioning,
energy, comfort, and integration of mind, body and spirit
- Environment model: adaptation to physical and social surroundings – a
balance free from undue pain, discomfort, or disability
Lecture 2 (3-9-2020): Coping & Adaptation
Medical psychology: role of psychologist:
- Evaluating the role of behaviour in etiology of disease
- Promotion of healthy behaviour
- Prevention of illness
- Understanding the psychological consequences of disease and its relationship
with outcomes/wellbeing
- Psychological treatment in chronic illness
Illness cognitions (illness beliefs or representations): “a patient’s own implicit
common sense beliefs about their illness”
- They give meaning to problem and will enable to develop and consider
suitable coping strategies: identity (label given to the illness), the perceived
cause of the illness (e.g. virus, stress), timeline (how long will it last?),
consequences (perception of possible effects in life), curability and
controllability (treatment, control/helpless)
- Assessment: validated questionnaires (Illness Perception Questionnaire, IPQ-
Mental Health), qualitatively (many patients develop their own ideas about
their illness)
, Self-regulatory model:
Symptoms perception:
Stage 1: experiences symptoms ≠ physical
problem/pathology (differences between individuals/within
a person, physical symptoms without medical-biological
diagnosis, no symptoms despite serious medical illness)
Stage 2: Coping: the way of dealing with your
disease/symptoms
Changes in identity, in role, in social
support, in the future, illness is often
unpredictable, decisions are needed quickly,
limited prior experience
Stress:
- Stressor: stressful event (stimulus)
- Reaction to a stressor (response)
- Relationship between the person and the environment (interaction)
- Something that involves biochemical, physiological and psychological changes
- Acute (fight/flight reaction, suitable mechanism) VS chronic stress
(physiological disruption, consequences, changes in brain)
- Distress (negative stress) VS eustress (positive stress, excitement)
Psychological stress is a particular relationship between the person and the
environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her
resources and endangering his or her well-being
Coping: thoughts and behaviour, process (dynamic), efforts overcome, reduce or
tolerate stress
Lecture 1 (1-9-2020):
Definition of health:
- Medical model: the absence of disease or disability
- World Health Organization (WHO) model: state of complete physical, mental,
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
- Wellness model: Health promotion and progress toward higher functioning,
energy, comfort, and integration of mind, body and spirit
- Environment model: adaptation to physical and social surroundings – a
balance free from undue pain, discomfort, or disability
Lecture 2 (3-9-2020): Coping & Adaptation
Medical psychology: role of psychologist:
- Evaluating the role of behaviour in etiology of disease
- Promotion of healthy behaviour
- Prevention of illness
- Understanding the psychological consequences of disease and its relationship
with outcomes/wellbeing
- Psychological treatment in chronic illness
Illness cognitions (illness beliefs or representations): “a patient’s own implicit
common sense beliefs about their illness”
- They give meaning to problem and will enable to develop and consider
suitable coping strategies: identity (label given to the illness), the perceived
cause of the illness (e.g. virus, stress), timeline (how long will it last?),
consequences (perception of possible effects in life), curability and
controllability (treatment, control/helpless)
- Assessment: validated questionnaires (Illness Perception Questionnaire, IPQ-
Mental Health), qualitatively (many patients develop their own ideas about
their illness)
, Self-regulatory model:
Symptoms perception:
Stage 1: experiences symptoms ≠ physical
problem/pathology (differences between individuals/within
a person, physical symptoms without medical-biological
diagnosis, no symptoms despite serious medical illness)
Stage 2: Coping: the way of dealing with your
disease/symptoms
Changes in identity, in role, in social
support, in the future, illness is often
unpredictable, decisions are needed quickly,
limited prior experience
Stress:
- Stressor: stressful event (stimulus)
- Reaction to a stressor (response)
- Relationship between the person and the environment (interaction)
- Something that involves biochemical, physiological and psychological changes
- Acute (fight/flight reaction, suitable mechanism) VS chronic stress
(physiological disruption, consequences, changes in brain)
- Distress (negative stress) VS eustress (positive stress, excitement)
Psychological stress is a particular relationship between the person and the
environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her
resources and endangering his or her well-being
Coping: thoughts and behaviour, process (dynamic), efforts overcome, reduce or
tolerate stress
