Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
the role of stress in illness evaluation (stress can benefit immunity…
the role of stress in illness evaluation
stress can benefit immunity
Dharbhar (2008) found that acute stress can actually be benificual to the immune system
Immune cells such was lymphocytes flood into the bloodstream and onwards into body tissues in prep for physical damage
This may undermine studies into acute stress
It is true that chronic stress damages your immnune system
also means that the relationship between stress and the immune system is more complex than we thought
Immunosuppression and cancer
There is support of the Immunosuppressive effects of stress from studies of illnesses other than CVDs
the dev. of certain cancers is known to be affected by immune functioning
E.g. José Pereira et. al (2003)
studied women who were HIV-positive
found that women who experienced many stressful events in their lives were more likely, 1 yr. later, to dev. pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix than those who didn't experience as many
these studies demonstrates that the effects of stress on the immune system may have wider and more direct consequences on health and illness than research into CVDs suggest
Direct vs. indirect effects
Stress have both direct and indirect effects on CVDs
However, the evidence for stress as an indirect precipitating factor on CVDs is much stronger than the evidence that it directly caused CVDs
e.g. stress can increase the risk of heart attack in people who already have CVDs
Kristina et al. (2000) have shown in women with CVDs that marital conflict creates stress that tripled the risk of a heart attack
a different proposition to demostrating that stress caused CVDs to dev in the first place.
espec when you consider that most people who eperience stressors do not dev illnesses at all
So stress increases a person's risk or vul to dev CVDs mosly through indirect effects
e.g. lifestyle and behavioural changes or activation of the immune system
but the evidence that stress directly causes CVDs is mixed at best
real-life application
many potential benefits
e.g. Dharbhar's research may eventually lead to patients being given low doses of stress hormones before surgery to improve their chances of making a full and fast recovery
Kiecolt-Glaser found that students who took a relaxation training programme had a better immune function during an exam period than those who didn't bother
Limitations of research studies
Research have conducted many laboratory-based studies of stress to assess the rel between stress and immune system and illness
These studies use certain types of stressors that can be easily be manipulated in lab conditoons
ab studies therefore can tell us a great deal about one type but not the other.
highly artificial (e.g. noise, electric shocks) and therefore unlike many of the short-term stressors found in the real world.
other research conclusions about stress come from studies of the effects of stressors on non-human animals
unlikely to be identical- the human response is influenced by cognitive appraisal
Therefore it is unwise to extrapolate the findings of animal studies directly to humans.
ethical issues
researchers cannot expose participants to powerful and potentially dangerous real-world stressors that might trigger a life-threatening response.
lack external validity
Acute and relatively mild stressors that are easy to manipulate in lab-based studies are limited examples of the types of stressors that are usually found in the real world.
issues and debates
Holism vs. reductionism