Stress, Cognition and Health: Real World Examples and Practical Applications PDF
Preview Stress, Cognition and Health: Real World Examples and Practical Applications
Stress, Cognition and Health The new edition of this bestselling textbook provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research on stress and health, moving beyond the former deficit model to a resource growth model. It examines all aspects of the topic, from how the external world and the impact of technology makes demands upon individuals, through biological and psychological processes, to outcomes in terms of health and well-being. The process is set within a dynamic, multilevel systems and developmental lifespan perspective. The book includes a history of the evolution of stress research and the biological systems and immune responses that translate external pressures into health outcomes. It considers the role of personality and cognition in terms of appraisal and coping strategies set within a social ecology of power and support. The role of positive psychology in terms of resilience, psychological capital and self-compassion brings the area up to date in considering the benefits as well as the threats of stress on health and well-being. An integration of issues of importance in stress research is provided with some suggested guidelines for both research and practice. Issues around prevention and intervention are discussed to reduce stress and increase resilience in families, schools, workplaces and communities, and suggestions for the future development of the field are presented. With an engaging style, the book is equally accessible to the layperson and the scientist, the practitioner and the academic. Providing a basis for further exploration of the vast area of stress and health, it is valuable reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students and those working in organisations with an interest in understanding and preventing or alleviating stress. Tony Cassidy is Emeritus Professor of Child and Family Health Psychology at Ulster University in Northern Ireland. He has been an active academic for more than thirty-five years. Stress, Cognition and Health Real World Examples and Practical Applications Second Edition Tony Cassidy Cover image: © Getty Images Second edition published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Tony Cassidy The right of Tony Cassidy to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 1999 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-56634-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-56418-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-09873-7 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003098737 Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC This book is dedicated to my daughter and my two granddaughters. May their demands always be challenges rather than threats. Contents Preface viii 1 Stress: what it is and why you should know about it 1 2 Biology, emotion and stress 9 3 The external environment 22 4 Environmental resources 1: support and human relations 29 5 Environmental resources 2: power and control 39 6 Personality and stress 48 7 Cognition and stress 57 8 Positive psychology of stress 72 9 Integrating the concepts 82 10 Prevention and intervention 89 11 Future directions 97 References 106 Index 138 Preface This second edition is written with a wide range of readers in mind and provides an up-to-date review of research evidence on the stress process from external demands to health consequences. There has been a paradigm shift in stress research since the first edi- tion in the development of a positive psychology, resources-building approach. This new edition adds evidence on why some people do not exhibit negative symptoms of stress and the factors that enable them to be resilient. The world we live in makes demands upon us, which we can see as either threats or challenges. How we appraise events and give meaning to them will determine the impact on our health and well-being. Our appraisals are determined by many factors in the external world at many levels and can ultimately be condensed to how much provision there is for empowerment and support. Core to this will be our level of resilience. Our experience of the world is constantly changing both daily and longer term over our lifespan. We can never step in the same river twice. Knowledge, it is said, is power, and the research base on stress which comprises this book may empower the reader. 1 Stress What it is and why you should know about it • The psychology of health and illness • A new era for health and illness • Psychological factors in health and illness • The growth of stress research • The roots of stress as a concept • Defining stress • A critical view of stress • In defence of stress • Summary • Overview of chapters to follow • Further reading The psychology of health and illness The biopsychosocial model of health and illness, which is seen as a relatively new devel- opment in the health sciences, has been part of our heritage for as long as evidence exists. The biopsychosocial model simply reflects the belief that biological, social and psychological factors interact in an interdependent or systemic way in maintaining health or causing illness. It is present in literature throughout the ages, as for example in this quote: And thus, the mind preyed upon the body, and disordered the system of the nerves, and they in turn increased the troubles of the mind, till by action and reaction his health was seriously impaired. (Anne Brontë, 1988; Agnes Grey, p. 5) The link between psychology and physical health was acknowledged before Anne Brontë, and when she wrote her novel in the remote Haworth parsonage, it is very likely that her ideas on health and illness were as much inspired by her reading as by her experience of life. When Hippocrates first promoted a scientific approach to medicine and healing in the 4th century bc, his approach combined psychological and physical processes. He recommended a combination of prescribed medicines or surgery and changes in behaviour and lifestyle in order to improve health. This inter- dependence between the physical and the psychological is even more obvious in the DOI: 10.4324/9781003098737-1
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