Wellness, Health Psychology and Positive Coping

Cicilia Evi GradDiplSc., M. Psi

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-

being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity

WHO (1948)

Wellness • Refer to states of optimal physical, mental,

and emotional health• Halbert L. Dunn (1961) wellness is a

state in which a person had:– A zest for life– A way of living that maximized potential– A sense of meaning and purpose– A sense of social responsibility– Skills for adapting to the challenges of a changing

environment

• Wellness perspectives encompasses the benefits of exercise, nutrition, stress management, emotional self-regulation, social support and personal growth – and also health promotion

Health Psychology

• Focus on all the behavioral factors that might affect a person’s health use psychological knowledge to help prevent risk factors for disease, increasing compliance with health directives, and creating public policy for a better health care system

Psychoneuroimmunology

• PNI the relationships between psychological processes (especially emotion), the functioning of the nervous system, and the body immune system

• Stress – Cold connection hypothesis:– Greater social support less cold– Lower social support 4x more to become ill

Psychological Factors Important to Health

• Human being is a holistic organism all the elements are able to communicate with each other and must have some influence on each other

• So, what are the important psychological factors that influence health?

Social Support • Include emotional support (caring, empathy), getting

positive feedback about our behavior, receiving helpful information, willingness of others to give us their time or other forms of assistance

• Our perception that we are loved!• Greater resistance to disease, lower rates of coronary

heart disease, faster recovery from heart disease and heart surgery and lower mortality; increase compliance with medical treatments, reduce level of medication, speed up recovery

• Support of family and friends less arterial blockages in patient with Type A personalities

• Perceived racial or ethnic discrimination can have a negative impact health

• For women correlated with lower complications during pregnancy and delivery

• Cancer 18 months longer than women with only conventional treatment

• Marriage men have fewer infectious diseases and even live longer, lower chest pain due to poor blood supply to the heart men who believed their wives showed them love

• As a child less risk for heart disease, ulcers, hypertension and alcoholism

• Social support health social support

• Loneliness negative effects on immune functioning, health and psychological well-being

• Pets enhance health lowering blood pressure, reducing rates of angina and increasing longevity – Fish tank stress free environment lower

blood pressure

Compassion and Health

• Simply by watching someone be kind and sympathetic to others changes in immune system responses

• By watching certain movies effect affiliation and power motives– High affiliation engage more in social

interactions and to have more positive social relationships

– High power motives competition, achievements and individualism

Humor and Health

• Hippocrates prescribed laughter to his patients on 4th

century BC!• Defense mechanism of humor and able to laugh at

oneself of the situation greater adjustments and well-being

• High sense of humor high on optimism, extroversion, and capacity for intimacy, and scored low on neuroticism, less negative self-esteem, better coping strategies, recover from illness, cope with life stress and anxiety about death/mortality, enhance immune system, reduce psychological experience of pain

Music and Health

• Coping with trauma through non-verbal expressions in music or art

• Relaxing sounds lower stress hormones and blood pressure, increase immune system and endorphin level (positive moods)

• Tibetan singing bowls, Gregorian chants, singing of Jewish prayers and drumming

• Healthy heartbeats sounded musically pleasing, while unhealthy hearts sounded a bit off key or out of rhythm

Emotional Expression and Health

• Writing a way to deal with trauma and difficulties

• Sharing experiences can be therapeutic decline visit to professional mental health, better immune system, lower blood pressure, less distress helpful to resolution focus

• After writing difficult memories and experiences feeling worse! the positive effects come a few days later

Good Cry?

• Crying is not always a good stress reliever due to crying styles and reasons of crying– Coping mechanism, to manipulate others, or

response to a very happy events– Only extroverted and emotionally stable person can

find relief and increase positive emotions after crying– Neurotic cry often and weeping no positive

emotions – Transformative weeping response to profound

spiritual experiences weeping for joy

Positive Coping

• “A response aimed at diminishing the physical, emotional and psychological burden that is linked to stressful events and daily hassles” (Snyder & Dinoff, 1995)

• Effective coping should reduce the burden of immediate stress and also contribute to longer-term stress relief by build resources that will inhibit or buffer future stress challenges

• Resources can be physiological (better health status), psychological (greater subjective WB), or social (helping to foster more intimate soc support network) multidimensional approach

• Positive coping thriving both enhanced psychological and physical functioning after successful adaptations

Importance of Daily Hassles

• Smaller daily hassles can be more problematic for us effect a person’s current mood and persistent negative mood will effect well-being in long term

• Big events birth, death of loved ones, funeral, wedding stressful impact lasts for 3 months infrequently happen and have social rituals which help to move on

Dimensions

• Coping Styles • Coping Resources• Personality Styles• Coping Strategies

Coping Styles

• Emotion-focused coping attempts to change negative emotions

• Problem-focused coping attempts to change the situation that caused the stress

• Avoidance seek to avoid the problems

Coping Resources

• Positive emotionality impact health status and longevity

• Cognitive Interpretation of events the meaning we give to the events

• Optimism learned optimism (Seligman, 1990) focus on the positive and the possible to respond to stressors with an attitude of hope and optimism

• Perceived control– People with internal locus of control engage in more

adaptive coping styles and more health-related behaviors tentative

– Placebo effects remembered wellness

• Self-efficacy the belief that we have the ability to perform, or capacity to learn, the behaviors necessary for us to reach the desired goals change our way of working

Personality Styles

• Hardiness not a victim, but active determinants of their life 3 cognitive factors:– A sense of control over their lives confident that

they will be able to cope, not knowing how– A sense that stress they’re facing as a challenge

rather than a crisis opportunities to grow – A sense of commitment to the various areas of their

lives

• Sense of coherence a unique set of personality traits that combine to create an orientation to life that allows people to interpret life stressors in a positive and adaptive way 3 major factors:– Meaningfulness how life makes sense on emotional

level suffering as life lessons– Comprehensible find ways to derive meaning from

future stimuli– Manageability not feel victimized by life events or

unfair life treatment

Coping Strategies

• Maintaining positive social contacts and keeping a sense of humor and optimism

• Healthy lifestyle, frequent exercise, regular meditation, having a good massage

• Regular and consistent use of various techniques for maintaining positive relationships with one’s emotional and social well-being