Impact of Stress on Disease

Impact of Stress on Disease

  • Submitted By: bigmac20
  • Date Submitted: 12/01/2010 8:24 AM
  • Category: Psychology
  • Words: 3792
  • Page: 16
  • Views: 646

To what extent does psychological stress influence the progression of physical disease? Evaluate evidence for and against this position to support your judgment, focusing on one possible physiological pathway.

Psychological stress refers to the emotional and physiological reactions experienced when an individual confronts a situation in which the demands go beyond their coping resources. The relationship between stress and health is complex and has been widely studied, with conflicting results and opinions on the exact role of psychological stress in the aetiology and progression of disease. For many years, anecdotal evidence and clinical observations have suggested that exposure to psychosocial stress can affect disease outcomes in immune-related disorders such as viral infections, chronic autoimmune diseases and tumors (Kemeny & Schedlowski, 2007). Interest in this area led to the founding of psychoneuroimmunlogy, a relatively new multidisciplinary field which focuses on the interactions between the nervous system, the endocrine system, behaviour and the immune system. It recognises that these systems can be affected by psychological factors such as psychological stress. This essay will argue that psychological stress influences the progression of certain physical diseases to a significant extent. The effect of stress on general immune system functioning will be examined, with a brief outline of the physiological pathways believed to mediate this effect. The two main pathways believed to regulate the association between stress; the immune system and subsequent illness are the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic pituitary-adrenal axis. Evidence of psychological stress influencing disease progression in HIV, cancer, liver disease and cardiovascular disease will be explored, focusing on the possible role of the SNS in mediating this effect.
The physiological consequences of stress and their effects on health have been studied extensively....

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