Preview

Psychosocial Risk Factors For Stroke: A Case Study

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
8672 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Psychosocial Risk Factors For Stroke: A Case Study
The impact of psychological interventions on psychosocial risk factors for stroke and their relationship with the immune system

The impact of psychological interventions on psychosocial risk factors for stroke and their relationship with the immune system

Introduction
More than 2,400 years ago the father of medicine, Hippocrates, recognized and described stroke as apoplexy, which means “struck down by violence”. Stroke is a condition with high mortality rate (Townsend et al., 2012) and leading cause of long-term adult disability worldwide (Perk et al., 2012). The evidence of increasing rate of stroke in the population, including among young adults, has significant implications in health care. Some risk factors such as atherosclerosis,
…show more content…
For example, cigarette smoking is an independent risk factor for stroke (Peters et al., 2013). The meta-analysis of 81 prospective cohort studies showed that smoking was associated with 83% (95% CI, 1.58–2.12) increased risk in women and 67% (95% CI, 1.49–1.88) increased risk in men. Several studies have indicated that tobacco use affects the systemic inflammation (Goncalves et al., 2011). Smoking has been associated with increased activation of proinflammatory cytokines including tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 and IL-8 (Smith & Fischer, 2001), decreased the levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10 (Arnson, Shoenfeld, & Amital, 2010; Goncalves et al., 2011; Yanbaeva, Dentener, Creutzberg, Wesseling, & Wouters, 2007), and causes an increase in the peripheral blood leukocyte count up to 25%. Studies have shown that these variables play a significant role in the development of cerebrovascular disease (Barbieri et al., …show more content…
(2013). The role of inflammation and interleukin-1 in acute cerebrovascular disease. J Inflamm Res, 6, 121-128. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S35629
Glaser, R., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. (2005). How stress damages immune system and health. Discov Med, 5(26), 165-169.
Glaser, R., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (2005). Stress-induced immune dysfunction: implications for health. Nat Rev Immunol, 5(3), 243-251. doi: 10.1038/nri1571
Goncalves, R. B., Coletta, R. D., Silverio, K. G., Benevides, L., Casati, M. Z., da Silva, J. S., & Nociti, F. H., Jr. (2011). Impact of smoking on inflammation: overview of molecular mechanisms. Inflamm Res, 60(5), 409-424. doi: 10.1007/s00011-011-0308-7
Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. A meta-analysis. J Psychosom Res, 57(1), 35-43. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3999(03)00573-7
Guerra-Crespo, M., Gleason, D., Sistos, A., Toosky, T., Solaroglu, I., Zhang, J. H., . . . Fallon, J. H. (2009). Transforming growth factor-alpha induces neurogenesis and behavioral improvement in a chronic stroke model. Neuroscience, 160(2), 470-483. doi:

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Outline and evaluate research into the relationship between the immune system and Stress-related illness. (12marks)…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The biopsychosocial model describes the concept that biological, psychological, and social factors interact as complex networks that influence one’s health and illness (Suls & Rothman, 2004; Gatchel, 2007). One of the main goals of health psychology is to understand the relationship and interaction between these factors. Health psychologists examine treatment effects on a person’s health by applying interventions that modifies the three factors that comprise the biopsychosocial model (Suls & Rothman, 2004; MacKinnon & Luecken, 2008). Numerous studies and interventions have been designed to improve physical and psychological health based on the biopsychosocial model (cite some of these). Among these interventions, the use of mindfulness-based…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psy 305 Exam 2 Essay

    • 2321 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Stress & the Immune system – Acute vs. prolonged stress & illness; Physiology of stress & immune system functioning…

    • 2321 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outline and evaluate the psychological research into the link between stress and the immune system.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outline and evaluate research into the relationship between the immune system and stress related illness…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kiecolt-Glaser et al (1995) supported the link between stress and illness. The study showed the slowing of wound healing in relation to psychological stress (especially how stress damages the immune system). He took 26 participants, recruited by volunteer sampling, in a field experiment; all were given a small cut into their arms. Participants were given a stress scale up to 10, and were asked to state how stressed they felt. Levels of cytokines were also taken from all participants. The participants in the experimental group, consisted of 13 women aged between 47 & 81 years old looking after a relative with Alzheimer's disease. The control group was matched with the carers on age & income. The tests indicated that the experimental group showed higher levels of stress than the control groups. Healing wound time was assessed by photographing the wound regularly and by observing the response to hydrogen peroxide. The time take for the wound to heal was a lot longer for carers (48.7 days) compared to the control group (39.3 days) and also were significantly a larger average size.…

    • 652 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This is where stress directly causes an illness of the malfunction of the immune system. For example, coronary heart disease has been shown to the have a link with the S.A.M response. It is caused by increased heart rate and narrowed arteries (which are results of the Fight or Flight response, brought about by the S.AM response) which cause increased fats and sugars blocking arteries, as well as putting more pressure on the heart. High blood pressure and strokes are also linked…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psych 105

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Stressors: can cause hormones known as glucocorticoids to flood the brain, wearing down the immune system and making it less able to fight invaders.…

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The immune system helps fight off attacks from ‘foreign invaders’, the immune system is a network of cells, tissues and organs that help fight off attacks from viruses, parasites and micro organisms that enter our bodies that can cause infections and other problems. The idea that all the cells in our bodies have codes ‘tattooed’ onto them that are unique to each of us help us understand what the immune system does clearer. Whenever micro organisms ect, enter our bodies and don’t have our individual codes on them the immune system seeks these out and destroys them our bodies remember these and will make the us immune to them if they ever enter our bodies again.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is evidence to suggest acute stressors can cause suppression of the immune system and decrease immune cell functioning.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Smoking is risk factor for autoimmune diseases. The immune system protects the human body from diseases, infections, and other organisms that can harm the human body. Autoimmune diseases are diseases that affects the immune system. This cause the immune system to attack healthy cells, mistaking them as foreign, in your body. Some autoimmune disorders caused by cigarettes are diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Type 2 diabetes is known to be linked with smoking cigarettes. The chemicals in tobacco can diseases that harm you heart and blood cells. For example, Atherosclerosis and Peripheral arterial disease are diseases that can build up plague in arteries. Also, smoking can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which is a major disease that causes shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing, and other symptoms that gets worst over time. Asthma is a disease in which a person’s airways become inflamed, narrow and swell causing it harder to breathe. Smoking cigarettes can cause someone to have a serious asthma…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have been various studies into the effects of stress on the immune system. Kiecolt-Glaser researches this by looking at how quickly wounds heal. She used 13 women aged 47-81 who cared for Alzheimer’s and Dementia sufferers. They had naturally occurring high stress levels, and this is why she chose them.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Situations deemed to be a stressful and continuing threat to provoke flight or fight reactions to impose chronic stress upon the body if a person does not get sufficient opportunities for recovery in a non-stressful environment. The research evidence shows that contributed stress weakens the resistance to disease and further disrupts the functioning of metabolic and hormonal systems (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). Physiological tensions derived from stress make people susceptible to diseases such as immune system and cardiovascular and adult onset…

    • 1700 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavich, who wrote an article about stress and health, tells us that in a discovery it has been found that “stress can upregulate components of the immune system involved in inflammation.” Through this discovery, the occurrences of people getting sick from stress is now more credible. There once was a time in high school that my teacher achieved the highest level of annoyance from other classmates and decided that it was enough. Fed up with the students, she decided to make life a living hell by giving homework that towered over the Himalayas! Being the student that I was, I tried to keep up with the work that she had given. However, stress and anxiety kicked in and I could not think about anything, feeling brain dead and later becoming terribly sick I had to take a break. However, “not everyone who experiences stress gets sick” (Slavich). Researchers went to work once again trying to find other reasons on to why people got sick coming upon the discovery that “stressors involving social evaluation and rejection, which can induce experiences of “social pain,” activate some of the same brain regions that are engaged by physical pain“ (Slavich). As a high schooler, I always wondered why my brother Abraham was an oddball because he managed to never get sick through all his stresses of high school and college. Slavich’s research went on to make the conclusion that “one emerging idea is that individuals who are more neurally sensitive to social stressors may mount greater inflammatory responses to social stress.” This conclusion cleared many ideas onto why my brother did not get sick. He was the golden child of the family, meanwhile, my siblings and I tried to live up to his deeds to please our…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In everyone’s life a little stress must fall. We all have to deal with daily hassles and various personal stressors that effect our emotional and physical health. The manner in which we deal with these stressors can alleviate or reduce stress or it can make things worse. Mind and body issues have bemused philosophers and psychologists since the ancient Greeks; however recently a new subfield in psychology has immerged to investigate the subject. Health psychology focuses on psychological factors and how they relate to wellness and illness. This would include prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various medical ailments. More specifically, psychoneuroimmunology is a growing field dedicated to examining how psychological factors, the immune system, and the brain work together.…

    • 2604 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays