Chapter 12 Stress, Adjustment, and Health Differences

Psyche (mind)+soma (body)=Psychosomatic medicine

Disease Prone Personalities

A. Health behaviors
1. People with certain personalities put themselves in certain situations,
which could affect their health

2. Personality>Behaviors>Health
ex. People with low self esteem, impulsivity are more likely to
smoke and drink this leads to health problems.

3. Social Factor-ex. A rebellious teen gets involved in a peer group(gang)

that does drugs and illegal street racing>endangers life>can lead to death

4. Type T Theory (Frank H. Farley)- Thrill seeking can be channeled into

appropriate experiences in appropriate environments.

B. The Sick Role- Response to stressful situations in a way that society expects,
because it is more acceptable to seek help for a sickness than to seek
psychological help.

C. Disease Caused Personality Changes

1. somatopsychic effect- disease affects personality: Body affects the mind

D. Personality Disorder
2. Deep rooted ongoing patterns of behavior that impair the person’s
functioning and well being.

Classic to current box: paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, antisocial, borderline,

histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent, obsessive compulsive

3. Borderline Personality Disorder- people with serious problems of

impulsive, self destructive behavior, fragile self identity, and moody
stormy relationships.
4. Cultural issue- traits not valued in a culture can causes one to be isolated
from society leading to stress and eventual illness.
ex. Being loud and different in Japan>isolation>stress>illness
E. Diathesis-Stress model
a. Diathesis is a predisposition (often hereditary) of the body to a
disease/disorder.
F. Stress
a. Bernard Lown- stress & heart disease
A. 3 part model
 1. medical predisposition- electrical instability must already be
present in the heart muscle.
2. psychological diathesis- person must be feeling a pervasive
emotional state like depression.
3. Triggering event- loss of job/death of a loved one with which a
person can’t cope
G. Depression and Anxiety
a. Lung cancer- 224 men and women
i. Reserved personalities and overenthusiastic personalities= quicker
death
ii. Optimistic & realistic personalities= longer life
Note: Personality does not necessarily cause cancer

Personality & Coronary-Proneness

A. Type A behavior (Meyer Friedman & Ray Rosenman)
Refers to a workaholic. Hard work is good, but breaks are needed. Too much hard
work with no breaks can lead to heart disease.

B. David Glass- desire for control is good, but not excessively.

C. Choleric Struggle-
Strong evidence that people who lead competitive and driven lives are more
likely than laidback people to suffer a heart attack (the struggle causes this, not
the hard work).
D. Other Diseases
1. metanalysis- a statistical technique of combining the results of various
studies to see what they say when taken together.

Human Termites
1. Lewis Terman- Human Termites & Stanford-Binet IQ Test (Friedman +
Colleagues continues this study)
a. Conscientousness –Those with this trait live longer
b. Sociability- doesn’t determine longevity
c. Cheerful (sense of humour &optimism)- die sooner cuz
tendency to drink + smoke when older
d. Stress- divorce lead to stress which can lead to premature
mortality.
Blaming the Victim
1. Attribute disease to a person’s habits so it doesn’t apply to self
2. People like a predictable world
Self Healing
1. Salvatore Maddi & Suzanne Ouelette Kobasa
a. Control- over situations in spite of stress
b. Commitment- devotion to what one is doing
c. Challenges- welcome innovation with energy and excitement
2. Julian Rotter (locus of control)
 a. Some people feel pushed by external forces. Others feel the locus
of control within themselves- internal force.
b. Trust-directly relevant to a healing personality.
3. 2 major Self Healing Personalities
1. Active, Zealous type- seeks stimulation, highly extroverted,
spontaneous, and fun loving-
Fine with ignoring unsolved dilemmas & more challenge is
healthier for them.
2. Calmer, more relaxed- active, alert, involved, but calm and
philosophical: enjoy presence of everyone, but mostly a few friends.
Unsolved dilemmas cause distress. Threatened by too much
challenge.

4. Placebo- Hoxsey’s cure for cancer was a placebo. Placebo didn’t work on
him as he died later of cancer.

The Influence of Humanistic and Existential Aspects on Self-Healing

A. Growth Orientation
1. Broaden & Build Model- (+) emotions like joy, interest, pride,
contentment…etc. can broaden people’s modes of thinking; bring
more possible actions to mind.
B. Existensialism & Stress
1. Abraham Maslow- biological needs need to be met first to self
actualize.
2. Carl Rogers- people have a tendency to grow and enhance if they
cultivate it.
C. Identity and Purpose
Once the sense of dignity disappears, so does the will to live.
D. Sense of Coherence (Aaron Antonovosky)
1. salutogenesis- general theory of how people stay healthy
2. sense of coherence- a person’s confidence that the world is
understandable, manageable, and meaningful.