EMOTIONS AND HEALTH

Karen KneisleyArgosy University/Sarasota

Spring 2009

Emotion or Feeling?

Emotions are body-based processes

Feelings are higher cortical functions

Primary Emotions

Happiness Surprise Disgust Fear Sadness Anger

What are Emotions?

Communicate information about relationships of the self and the world

Motivate withdrawal or approach Influence learning and memory May be universal Body-based and phylogenetically old

Conceptions of Emotions

Emotions

BehaviorThought

Subjectivity of Emotional Triggers

How much is external or universal?

How much is internal or personal?

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Causes and Functions of the Primary Emotions

Anger- perceived violation, injustice or frustration of wish/desire

Happiness- perception of expectation or gain

Anxiety/fear- perception of threat or danger and with difficulty coping

Sadness- perception that something of value has been or will be lost

Limbic System(Seat of Emotions)

Psychobiology of Fight or Flight

Physiological system adapted to threat or danger

Mobilizes bodily processes Down-regulates restorative

processes

Model for Fight or Flight Response

MentalStress

Fight or Flight

HPAaxis cortisol

SNS

Fear and Anxiety

Real or perceived threat Active Avoidance

Peripheral Activation

Locuscoeruleus

norepinephrine

ANS

Fear and Anxiety

PTSD- Physical & psychological threats Activate the HPA axis Enhanced memory (McNally, 1999)Immunological changes- Individuals with trait worry Fewer NK cells Naturalistic stress Acute laboratory stress (Segerstrom et al, 1998 &

1999)

Anger and Hostility

Relational theme of unfair

interference or harm

Emotional Response

Inflicting Harm

Anger-related Responses

Widely studied psychosocial risk factor

Strongly and independently associated

Effect sizes as large as smoking and diet (Kemeny & Shestyuk, 2008)

Hostility Affective trait and mood state Cognitive propensity towards

cynicism Devaluation of the worth or motives

of others Opposition towards others Desire to inflict harm or see others

harmed

Hostility Questionnaire

1. No one cares much what happens to you.

2. I have often met people who were supposed to be experts who were no better than I.

3. Some of my family have habits that annoy me very much.

4. People often disappoint me.5. It is often safer to trust nobody.

Long-term Constructs of Hostility

Predict cardiovascular outcomesI. High blood pressureII. AtherosclerosisIII. Coronary artery calcification IV. Mortality (Suinn, 2001) Inflammatory processes1. Decrements in cellular immunity2. Decreased ability of NK cells ( Kiecolt-Glaser et al,

2001)

Psychobiology of Disengagement

Uncontrollable physical or

psychosocial threat

Behavioral

disengagement

and withdra

wal

Negative

affect and

depression

Negative Affect/Depression

Insufficient availability of serotonin and dopamine (Phan et al, 2004)

Abnormal activation of cortical areas (Phan et al, 2004)

Functional and phenotype changes in the immune system (Kemeny &

Shestyuk, 2008)

Depression

PICs Released by immunological cells to facilitate

immune response Proteins act on brain to produce “sickness”

behavior Sleep disturbances Decreases in social, sexual, aggressive,

exploratory, or other behaviors Lack of appetite Motor retardation Weight loss (Kemeny & Shestyuk, 2008)

The “Three Downward Spirals” for Depression

Depressed mood alters thinking Depressed mood alters activity

levels Depressed mood alters social

contacts

Depression

NHANES Depression doubles the risk for HTN in

whites Triples the risk for HTN in African

Americans Increases the risk for CHD by 75% after

controlling for other risk factors

Shame and Submissiveness

Social self preservation theory

Threats to social connection- Rejection Stigmatization Discrimination

Shame and Submissiveness

CNS coordinated activation of the HPA (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004)

SET and cortisol increase ( Lewis & Ramsey, 2002)

Increased production of PICs (Kemeny & Shestyuk, 2008)

Psychobiology of Positive Approach

Positive emotions are linked to approach behaviors

Psychological and physiological foundation for motivation and proactive behaviors

Affective baseline for healthy individuals

Positive Affect

Greater frontal left-hemisphere asymmetry ( Davidson, 1992)

Greater activation of the medial prefrontal regions (Parkinson, Cardinal, & Everett, 2000)

Greater levels of serotonin Greater levels of dopamine and

norepinephrine (Charney, 2004)

Positive Affect

Associated with changes in the immune system (Segerstrom & Miller, 2004)

Linked to heightened levels of the hormone oxytocin (Zak et al, 1994)

Reduce the duration of cardiovascular response induced by a stressor (Fredrickson et al, 2000)

Experience less pain and disability related to chronic health conditions (Gil et al, 2004)

Fight off illness and disease more successfully (Cohen & Pressman, 2006)

Coping and Stress Management

Stressor Primary andSecondaryAppraisal

Stress

ProblemFocusedCoping

EmotionFocusedCoping

Stress Management

Lowering of primary appraisals- upping the level of secondary appraisals

A healthy diet of activities Appropriate elicitation of social support Regular exercise Relaxation/mindfulness Developing chronic vs. acute responses (both cognitive and behavioral)

References

Charney, D. S. (2004). Psychobiological mechanisms of resilience and vulnerability: Implications for successful adaptation to extreme stress. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 195-216.

Cox, B. J. & Taylor, S. (1999). Anxiety disorders: Panics and phobias. In T. Millon, P. H. Blaney, & R. D. Davis (Eds.) Oxford textbook of psychopathology (pp. 81-113). New York: Oxford University Press.

Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica, 1, 49-98

Fredrickson, B. L. & Joiner, T. (2000). Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science, 13, 172-175

Huckleridge, F., Lambert, S., Clow, A., Warburton, D. M., Evans, P. D. & Sherwood, N. (2000). Modulation of seceretory immunoglobulin a in saliva: response to manipulation of mood. Biological Psychology, 53, 25-35.

Irwin, M., Daniels, M., Bloom, E. T., & Weiner, H. (1986). Life events, depression, and natural killer cell activity. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 22, 1093-1096.

Kemeny, M. E., & Shestyuk, A. (2008) Emotions, the neuroendocrine and immune systems, and health. In M. Lewis, J. M. Havilland-Jones, & L. Feldman Barrett (Eds.) Handbook of Emotions (pp. 661-675). New York: Guilford Press.

Kubzansky, L. D., Kawachi, I., Weiss, S. T. & Sparrow, D. (1998). Anxiety and coronary heart disease: A synthesis of epidemiological, psychological, and experiential evidence. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 20, 47-58.

ReferencesLazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. London: Oxford University Press.McNally, R. J. (1999). Posttraumatic stress disorder. In T. Millon, P. H. Blaney, & R. D> Davis

(Eds.), Oxford textbook of psychopathology. (pp. 144-165). New York: Oxford University Press

Sapolsky, R. M. (1993). Endocrinology alfresco: Psychoendocrine studies of wild baboons. Recent Progress in Hormone Research, 48, 648-652.

Satterfield, J. Brain, Mind and Behavior: Emotions and Health. Retrieved on Jan. 21, 2009 from Utube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GogLWebO

Segerstrom, S. C. , Glover, D. A., Craske, M. G. & Fahey J. L. (1999). Worry affects the immune response to phobic fear. Brain, Behavior and Immunity, 13, 80-92.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Positive psychology, positive prevention, and positive therapy. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 3-9). New York: Oxford University Press.

Smith, T. W. (1994). Concepts and methods in the study of anger, hostility, and health . In A. W. Siegman & T. W. Smith (Eds.), Anger, hostility and the heart. (pp. 23-42). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Stone, A ., Neale, J. M., Cox, D. S., Napoli, A, Valdimarsdottir, H., & Kennedy-Moore, E. (1994). Daily events are associated with secretory immune response to oral antigen in men. Health Psychology , 13, 440-446.

Taylor, S. E., & Armor, D. A. (1996). Positive illusions and coping with adversity. Journal of Personality, 64, 873-898.

Zak,P. J., Kurzban, R. & Matzner, W. T. (2005). Oxtocin is associated with human trustworthiness. Hormones and Behavior, 48, 522-527.