and Psychology Health Problems
Michaela Schwartz
PSY/210
5/8/2011
Instructor: Mandy Smith
Psychology and Health Problems
Psychological factors play a tremendous role in many different physical disorders; this
paper discusses two of those disorders headaches, and premenstrual syndrome. Many people
believe that the illnesses of the mind and those of the body are completely separate; it is only in
the recent years that studies have been done by scientists on the workings of the mind and those
relationships with the body. What these scientists are finding is that these illnesses of the mind
and body are much more closely related and intertwined than anyone had originally thought. A
persons health and wellness depends on many factors, all part of the multifactorial model. This
model includes six different factors scientists believe affect a persons physical as well as mental
health; stressors, behavior, personality, environmental factors, sociocultural factors, and biological
factors (Nevid, J. and Rathus, S., 2005)
The multifactorial model is the belief that there is no single reason why a person contracts
an illness, either mental or physical, that the contraction of said illness depends on many factors
including a persons social background, family history, environmental factors, stressors, behavior,
and personality. Some of the factors within this model can be controlled such as diet, exercise,
alcohol consumption, and whether or not a person decides to smoke cigarettes or do illegal drugs.
On the other hand there are some factors which cannot be controlled such as genetic background,
age, gender, and ethnicity. Then, things get a little complicated. There are many factors listed
within this model which either could or could not be controlled, depending on the person. For
example a person having adequate water quality, not being exposed to pollution or radiation, and
not having a large family may seem like things that a person can control at first; but, what if that
person is a child, or a person living in a third-world country, then those are things the person
cannot avoid. The shoe goes on the other foot as well though; there are things such as anxiety,
depression, optimism versus pessimism, and being in tremendous pain. These are things many
people think they cannot do anything about when in fact they are the ones controlling the situation
and either aiding to it, or choosing to take control and changing it (Nevid, J. and Rathus, S., 2005).
Many people get caught in the life they are living, either it is how they grew up, or it is
how their parents did it, or they feel why bother because people discriminate against me so I will
never get ahead anyway? This model shows that although there are many factors which can
contribute to either a physical or a mental illness does not mean that a person will contract said
illness because they fit the bill. Just because a person has a family history of cancer and they lived
in a city where a nuclear reactor exploded 20 years ago does not guarantee that person will indeed
contract cancer. Sure, it gives the person added knowledge, things to discuss with their doctor,
things to keep an eye out for so they the person is better prepared; but this model shows that
nothing is certain there are just too many factors in place (Nevid, J. and Rathus, S., 2005).
Similarly, a person can choose to visit a doctor regularly, to take the advice given, to seek
the necessary information, take the medication prescribed, work their best at being optimistic,
control their hostility, and they may still have outbursts due to an outside factor. For example, this
person is having a great day until they get a call saying their house is on fire, or maybe a tornado
hits the town their parents live in, maybe they get cut off in traffic three times in a row just to hit a
red light. These are examples of environmental factors, which are mostly out of a persons
control, that can become instant stressors and completely change a persons behavior, leading to
more stress which again adds onto the physical as well as the mental illnesses (Nevid, J. and
Rathus, S., 2005).
Stress is a leading for cause many physical disorders; one of the main physical associations
with stress is the headache. A headache can come in many forms ranging from muscle tension
headaches to roaring migraine headaches. A muscle tension headache is the most frequent kind of
headache, this occurs during the first few stages of stress when a person tends to scrunch up their
neck, shoulder, and face muscles with tension. Symptoms of a muscle tension headache include a
dull yet steady pain on both sides of the head, and a feeling of vicelike pressure throughout the
scalp area. Studies have shown that people who are prone to overexaggerate events, or
catastrophsize the situation, tend to experience muscle tension headaches more often because
while catastrophising situations the muscles in the back and neck tense up (Nevid, J. and Rathus,
S., 2005).
In the United States, 28 million people suffer from migraine headaches that is one in ten!
A migraine is characterized by a throbbing pain on only one side of the head, they usually come on
quick and can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple days. During a migraine people
experience vision problems, susceptibility to light and sound, loss of appetite, nausea, loss of
balance, and mood changes. Scientists are unsure exactly how a migraine occurs but they have
learned that during a migraine neurons in the back of the brain fire and ripple across the top of the
head and down the brainstem to the site of many pain centers. After learning this, scientists
suggest that migraines are related to a change in blood flow to the brain which would in turn affect
the level of a neurotransmitter called serotonin. Although, studies do show that women who
experience regular migraines tend to be the women that are too self-critical of themselves, they
tend to overexaggerate, and they do not take the time to chill out with friends and give
themselves a break (Nevid, J. and Rathus, S., 2005).
Another stressor that women experience is menstruation, as well as pre-menstrual
syndrome or PMS. There are many physical side effects that appear during or right before a
womans menstrual cycle like bloating, breast tenderness, lack of energy, food cravings, cramping,
and migraines. During menstruation a womans hormone levels are constantly fluctuating, as are
her chemical messenger levels such as in serotonin like was mentioned earlier. This constant
fluctuation causes psychological symptoms such as irritability, mood swings, anxiety, and
depression; for these reasons it used to be said that women who were acting moody were just
hysterical, nowadays people know that PMS is a real thing. Psychology also plays a role in
managing the symptoms of PMS; the very first tip in the text is for a woman to remember not to
blame herself because the symptoms are real and they are not due to hysteria (Nevid, J. and
Rathus, S., 2005).
Psychology plays a major role in the physical and mental affects on a person. The way a
person thinks about a situation (say going to the doctor) will determine how that person acts
(whether or not that person actually goes to the doctor) in that situation. The multifactorial model
showed that although there are some factors which a person cannot change about themselves, there
are plenty a person can. The model was made to show reasons that a person may contract a
physical or mental illness; but the text, and common sense, tells us that nothing is a 100%
certainty. Since there is no way to guarantee that a person will or will not contract an illness,
models like the multifactorial help to predict the future so that people can take precautionary
measures; such as when a high-risk patient for breast cancer decides to have a preventative
mastectomy. For women experiencing PMS symptoms or constant headaches, stress may be the
ultimate cause. Try taking a look at the model and seeing which factors can be eliminated to
alleviate some stress, stop overexaaggerating the situation, and take a moment to stop and smell
the roses.
References
Nevid, J. S. & Rathus, S. A. (2005). Psychology and The Challenges of Life: Adjustment in The
New Millennium (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.