Topic 5.1 Notes – Introduction to Health Psychology

Health Psychology and Stress

Health psychology studies how behavior and mental processes connect to health, illness, and wellness. The big idea is that health usually does not come from one cause.

That is the biopsychosocial model. It says health is shaped by several influences working together:

• Biological influences include genetics, the nervous system, hormones from the endocrine system, and immune function.
• Psychological influences include thoughts, emotions, appraisals, and coping style.
• Behavioral influences include sleep, exercise, nutrition, substance use, and whether someone follows treatment directions.
• Sociocultural influences include relationships, culture, discrimination, socioeconomic status, and access to health care.

A good AP-style point here is that these factors interact. Stress can raise blood pressure, and having a chronic illness can create more stress.

A stressor is the event or demand. Stress is your psychological and physiological response to it. That difference gets tested a lot.

How stressful something feels depends on cognitive appraisal, which means how you interpret the situation. The same exam can look like:

• a challenge if you feel prepared
• a threat if you feel overwhelmed
• unimportant if it does not matter much to you

Appraisal depends on perceived control, past experience, support, and expectations. This is why stress is personal.

Stress is not always bad. Acute stress can sharpen attention and mobilize energy. Chronic stress, or stress repeated over time, is much more likely to damage health.

Types of Stress and Why They Matter

Eustress and distress

• Eustress is manageable, motivating stress.
• Distress is harmful, overwhelming stress.

The key difference is appraisal, not the event itself. A competition might energize one person and crush another.

Traumatic stress

This comes from actual or threatened serious harm, such as violence, severe accidents, or disasters. It can overwhelm normal coping resources.

Daily hassles

These are smaller recurring stressors like traffic, arguments, heavy workload, or money worries. Each one seems minor, but they build up over time.

Adverse childhood experiences

ACEs include abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, and exposure to violence. They are linked to higher long-term risk for physical and psychological problems across the lifespan.

Important AP point: ACEs are a risk factor, not destiny. Protective relationships and interventions can reduce harm.

How the Body Responds to Stress

When you face a stressor, the sympathetic nervous system activates. This produces the fight-flight-freeze response.

• Fight prepares you to confront the threat.
• Flight prepares you to escape.
• Freeze involves temporary immobility or hyperfocus.

The adrenal glands release epinephrine and norepinephrine, which increase heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and available energy. At the same time, the diagram below also shows the HPA axis, which leads to cortisol release for a longer-lasting stress response.

Short-term and long-term stress response pathways

These responses help in the short term. Over time, chronic stress can raise illness risk, including:

• hypertension
• headaches
• immune suppression
• greater susceptibility to disease

Stress also hurts health indirectly by causing poor sleep, worse concentration, and worse health habits.

The General Adaptation Syndrome

Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) describes a general pattern of prolonged stress response. The graph traces how stress resistance changes over time across the three stages.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Alarm reaction

This is the immediate encounter with the stressor. Fight, flight, or freeze begins, and the body quickly mobilizes resources.

Resistance

The body stays activated while coping with the ongoing stressor. You may seem functional, but your resources are still being used. This is not recovery.

Exhaustion

The stressor continues long enough that your coping resources get depleted. Fatigue and lowered resistance show up here, and this is when vulnerability to illness is highest.

GAS is a general pattern, not an exact timeline for every person.

The tend-and-befriend theory adds another response. Some people cope with stress by caring for others and seeking social connection. It is associated mostly with women, but it is not universal and can happen alongside fight-flight-freeze.

Coping with Stress

Problem-focused coping

This targets the stressor itself. You try to solve the problem.

Examples include:

• planning
• gathering information
• changing the situation
• seeking practical help

This works best when the stressor is at least partly controllable.

Emotion-focused coping

This targets your emotional or physical response to stress.

Examples include:

• deep breathing
• meditation
• relaxation
• emotional support
• reframing
• medication that reduces anxiety or stress response

This helps when the stressor cannot be changed, or when you need emotional control before solving the problem.

People often use both kinds together. Their effectiveness depends on controllability, resources, and social context. Limited money, unsafe housing, discrimination, or poor access to care can raise stress and shrink coping options.