Emotional States and Health

Mind and Body

• Can the body affect the mind?
• Example?
• How about the mind affecting the body?
• Example?
• Two-way communication between mind and body

Psychosomatic Medicine

• Psyche (mind)
• Soma (body)
• Butterflies in the stomach
• Anxious before giving speech
• Indigestion, nausea
• Stress may contribute to getting an ulcer.

Reducing the effects of stress

• Stress is less harmful if
• Have some control (even if just belief).
• Predictable (“going to feel a little pinch”).
• Know the duration.
• Coping mechanism.
• Some way to relieve stress.
• Positive attitude.
• Active participant in process.

Relieve stress

• Meditation
• Listening to soothing music
• Taking a quiet walk
• Reduce stress
• Eliminate butterflies

Affects on long-term health

• Attitude towards illness can affect healing.
• Thought, beliefs and emotions have major impact on physical health.
• Link between mind and body is the immune system.

The Immune System

• Cells that protect the body against intruders such as viruses and bacteria.
• Like a police force
• Too weak and criminals (viruses etc.) run wild
• Ex: Opportunistic diseases seen with HIV-AIDS
• Too strong and it attacks law-abiding citizens:
• The body’s own cells (Autoimmune disease)
• Ex. Rheumatoid arthritis

What is Emotion?

Internal conscious states that we infer in ourselves and others.

• Emotions are private experiences.
• We use operational definitions because we cannot actually see feelings.
• We infer observable behavior associated with emotion.

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Emotions are Multidimensional

Four components of Emotion

Significant life event

Feeling component

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• Emotions are subjective feelings
• Make us feel in a particular way.
• Anger or joy.
• Meaning and personal significance.
• Vary in intensity and quality.
• Rooted in mental processes (labeling).

Bodily Arousal

• Biological activation.
• Autonomic and hormonal systems.
• Prepare and activate adaptive coping behavior during emotion.
• Body prepared for action.
• Alert posture, clenched fists.

Purposive component

• Give emotion its goal-directed force.
• Motivation to take action.
• Cope with emotion-causing circumstances.
• Why people benefit from emotions.
• Social and evolutionary advantage.

Social-Expressive component

• Emotion’s communicative aspect.
• Postures, gestures, vocalizations, facial expressions make our emotions public.
• Verbal and nonverbal communication.
• Helps us interpret the situation.
• How person reacts to event.

Emotions read in the face

The Japanese Female Facial Expression (JAFFE) Database

Aspect of Emotional Intelligence

• Peter Salovey (Yale)
• John Mayer (U of NH)
• Four branch ability model of emotional intelligence
• Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test
• MSCEIT

Identifying Emotions (Branch 1)

• Skills needed to perceive and express feelings.
• Recognizing facial expressions.
• Non-verbal communication.
• Tell when someone is being authentic.
• Express accurate emotions for situation.
• Foundation for other branches.

Identifying Emotions (MSCEIT)

Facilitating Emotions (Branch 2)

• Using emotions to facilitate thinking.
• Improve problem solving and boost creativity.
• Emotional component to motivation.
• “Care enough to send the very best.”
• Using emotion to help make decisions.

Facilitation (MSCEIT)

  What mood(s) might be helpful to feel when meeting in-laws for the very first time?

•                 Not Useful              Useful �a) Tension                       1      2      3      4      5
• b) Surprise                     1      2      3      4      5
• c) Joy                               1      2      3      4      5 �

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Understanding emotions (Branch 3)

• Understanding complex and conflicting emotions.
• Emotions and behavioral consequences.
• Read a situation and respond correctly.
• Some emotional responses are maladaptive.
• Jealousy and envy are destructive.

Understanding Emotions (MSCEIT)

Tom felt anxious, and became a bit stressed when he thought about all the work he needed to do. When his supervisor brought him an additional project, he felt ____.  (Select the best choice.)

�a) Overwhelmed

• b) Depressed
• c) Ashamed
• d) Self Conscious
• e) Jittery

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Managing emotions (Branch 4)

• Developing mood regulation skills.
• Productive ways to change mood.
• Avoid over and under regulation.
• Seek natural means rather than alcohol, tobacco or other drugs.
• Stress coping strategies.
• Use optimistic explanatory style.

Managing Emotions (Branch 4)

1. Debbie just came back from vacation. She was feeling peaceful and content.  How well would each action preserve her mood?

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• Action 1: She started to make a list of things at home that she needed to do.
• Very Ineffective..1.....2.....3.....4.....5..Very Effective

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• Action 2: She began thinking about where and when she would go on her next vacation.
• Very Ineffective..1.....2.....3.....4.....5..Very Effective

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• Action 3: She decided it was best to ignore the feeling since it wouldn't last anyway.
• Very Ineffective..1.....2.....3.....4.....5..Very Effective

Emotional States and Physical Health

Salovey et at

American Psychologist (1/2000)

Healing through laughter

• Norman Cousins
• Anatomy of an Illness (1979)
• Life-threatening inflammatory disease
• Cartoons and Marx Brothers
• 10 mins of laughing gave him 2 hrs of pain-free sleep
• Laughter reduced inflammation
• Healing power of positive mood

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Emotional states and immunity

• Negative emotional states associated with unhealthy physical states.
• Positive emotional states associated with healthier states.
• Cardiovascular and immune systems.
• S-IgA = secretory immunoglobulin A
• First line of defense in the immune system

S-IgA levels and emotion

• Increased occurrence of desirable events predicts higher S-IgA.
• Positive moods boost the immune system.
• Negative moods lower S-IgA levels.
• Undesirable events suppress immune system.
• Negative moods increase susceptibility to illness.

Manipulating Emotion

• Healthy college students watching videos.
• Humorous video enhanced immune function ( S-IgA)
• Sad video suppressed immune function ( S-IgA)
• Not clear how long these changes persist.
• Contribute to illness.

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Coping styles and illness

• People dealing with severe stressors more susceptible to illness.
• Negative emotional states reduce immune function.
• Coping styles could aid healing.
• Pennebaker: helping people process and confront traumatic life events improves health.
• Talk about illness, release pent-up negative emotions.

Emotion and environment

• Positive emotional states signal a safe environment.
• Negative states signal an alert.
• Something is wrong and must be corrected.
• Function of pain.
• It hurts; get help.

Role in seeking help

• Some believe that:
• Happy people less likely to recognize signs of distress and less likely to get help.
• Unhappy people more vigilant and seek help.
• Better to be pessimistic?

Processing health information

• Other evidence that:
• Positive outlook may make it easier to process threatening information (diagnosis).
• Seek help.
• Negative outlook may cause a person not recognize new symptoms as threatening.
• Not seek help.

Optimistic outlook

• Positive emotional states provide resilience.
• Strength to confront illness.
• Personal resources to seek solutions.
• Creativity in thought and action.
• Focus on and plan for future outcomes.
• Belief that you will get well.
• Do what you can to support recovery.

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Healthy heart surgery

• Men undergoing cardiac bypass surgery.
• Optimistic men better able to focus on postoperative goals.
• 5 years post surgery, optimists had healthier habits.
• Diet and exercise programs
• Scheier et al. (1989)

Role of health care worker

• One who inspires hope in others.
• Freud: patient’s expectations “colored by hope and faith and an effective force in all our attempts at treatment and cure.”
• Positive mood comes from a renewal of hope.

Social Support

• With social support, observe:
• Lower mortality
• More resistant to disease.
• Lower incidence of heart disease.
• Faster recovery from surgery.
• Decreased levels of stress.
• Improved coping with illness.

Affect on Health

• 1. Buffering hypothesis:
• Social support buffers individual from stressful life event. Only when needed.
• 2. Direct effect:
• Social support promotes well-being at all times. Not just under stress.
• Both are possible, depending on the nature of the stressor.

Role of Social Support

• Mediated by emotional experience.
• Know that help will be provided if needed.
• Less likely to feel lonely and depressed.
• Positive outlook on life more likely to get social support.
• Develop and maintain social network.

Spirituality

• Also plays a role in wellness and recovery from illness.
• A topic for later discussion.