5.1 Introduction to Health Psychology
- Syllabus
- 2025
- Topic
- 5.1
- Level
- —
Learning objectives
5.1A—Explain how health psychology addresses issues of physical health and wellness as they apply to behavior and…Explain how health psychology addresses issues of physical health and wellness as they apply to behavior and mental processes.5.1B—Explain how stress applies to behavior and mental processesExplain how stress applies to behavior and mental processes.• Stress is a factor in heightened susceptibility to disorders and disease. Stress has been linked to physiological issues such as hypertension, headaches, and immune suppression.• Stressors can be viewed as motivating (eustress) or debilitating (distress). Stressors can be experienced as traumatic or as daily hassles that can build up over time. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are sources of stress that can affect a person throughout the lifespan.5.1C—Explain how reactions to stress apply to behavior and mental processesExplain how reactions to stress apply to behavior and mental processes.• The general adaptation syndrome (GAS) describes the process of experiencing stress. Initially, alarm reaction occurs when the stress is encountered (via a fight-flightfreeze response). Then, a resistance phase occurs as the stress is confronted. Finally, an exhaustion phase occurs when the stress subsides, or resources are spent. The greatest susceptibility to illness occurs during the exhaustion phase.• The tend-and-befriend theory proposes that some people react to stress by tending to their own needs and/or the needs of others and seeking connection with others. This phenomenon seems to occur mostly in women.5.1D—Explain how the ways that people cope with stress applies to behavior and mental processesExplain how the ways that people cope with stress applies to behavior and mental processes.• Problem-focused coping involves seeing stress as a problem to be solved and working solutions until a solution is found.• Emotion-focused coping involves managing emotional reactions to stress as a means of coping. Strategies that are emotion-focused may include deep breathing, meditation, or taking medication aimed at reducing stressful emotional responses.
What Health Psychology Connects
Health psychology addresses physical health and wellness as they relate to behavior and mental processes. It asks how what people do, think, and feel is associated with health—and how health experiences are associated with behavior and mental life.
| Domain | Health-psychology focus |
|---|---|
| Physical health | Bodily health conditions and functioning |
| Wellness | Overall state of functioning and well-being |
| Behavior | Actions relevant to health and responses to health conditions |
| Mental processes | Thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and other internal processes related to health |
A health psychologist might examine a relationship among a health-related action, a person's thoughts or emotions, and a physical or wellness outcome. The psychological task is to identify the measured relationship and evidence, not to assume that any association proves one-way causation.
Health psychology is not limited to diagnosing physical disease, and it does not treat health as purely mental. Its scope is the connection among physical health, wellness, behavior, and mental processes.
Stressors Differ in Meaning, Duration, and Health Impact
Stress can heighten susceptibility to disorders and disease. It is linked with physiological issues including hypertension, headaches, and immune suppression. A link means stress contributes to risk; it does not mean every stressed person develops the same condition or that stress is the only cause.
| Stressor category | Distinguishing feature |
|---|---|
| Eustress | Experienced as motivating |
| Distress | Experienced as debilitating |
| Trauma | An intensely stressful experience |
| Daily hassle | A smaller recurring stressor whose effects can accumulate |
| Adverse childhood experience (ACE) | Childhood source of stress that can affect a person across the lifespan |
The same demand may be interpreted as motivating by one person and debilitating by another. Duration also matters: a single daily hassle may be limited, but repeated hassles can build up over time and contribute to sustained stress.
Eustress is still stress; the term identifies a motivating appraisal rather than the absence of physiological activation. An ACE is a source of later risk, not a guarantee of a particular lifelong outcome.
How the Stress Response Changes Over Time
| GAS phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| Alarm reaction | The stressor is encountered and a fight-flight-freeze response begins |
| Resistance | The person confronts or adapts to the continuing stress while resources remain engaged |
| Exhaustion | The stress subsides or resources are spent; susceptibility to illness is greatest |
General adaptation syndrome describes a process, so phase order matters. Alarm is the initial response, resistance is sustained confrontation, and exhaustion reflects the endpoint of prolonged resource use or the period after the stress subsides.
Tend-and-befriend theory proposes another stress reaction: tending to one's own needs or the needs of others and seeking connection. The CED reports that this pattern seems to occur mostly in women; this is a research tendency, not a rule that excludes men or requires every woman to respond this way.
Fight-flight-freeze and tend-and-befriend describe reaction patterns; problem-focused and emotion-focused coping describe strategies for managing stress. Do not treat reaction and coping as the same stage.
Change the Problem or Manage the Emotion
| Coping form | Primary target | CED-supported example |
|---|---|---|
| Problem-focused | The stress-producing problem | Work through possible solutions until one is found |
| Emotion-focused | The emotional reaction to stress | Deep breathing, meditation, or medication aimed at reducing the stressful emotional response |
To classify a coping response, ask what the person is trying to change. Creating and carrying out a solution targets the problem. Regulating distress targets the emotional response even if the stressor itself remains.
The two forms are not mutually exclusive. A person can use deep breathing to manage emotion and then work through a practical solution. Each action is classified by its immediate target.
Emotion-focused coping is not automatically avoidance, and problem-focused coping is not simply thinking about a problem. The defining difference is regulation of emotion versus action toward solving the stressor.