The Psychological Factors Affecting Medical

Conditions
Psychological factors can influence physical health either indirectly, by changing behaviors that
affect your health, such as eating, sleeping and socializing, or directly, by producing changes in
your hormones and/or heart rate. Additionally, the mind can interact with the benefits of a
medicine, reducing the effectiveness of a certain drug or worsening the negative symptoms
associated with certain medical conditions. Therefore, one should monitor your thoughts towards
your health and psychological well-being when coping with any medical condition.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/262323-adhd-defiance/
Health is the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being not merely absence of
disease and infirmity. This definition of health by world health organization clearly indicates the
different factors of health. Individuals health determined by his/her physical (biological factors),
mental (psychological) and social (surrounding ambient).
http://msdhamiblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2011/01/biological-psychological-and-social.html

Personality Factors that Lead to Healthy Behaviors

Extraversion Outgoing and social individuals have high levels of energy, often assume
leadership roles, and seek challenges. Spiro et al. (1990) found that self-reported extraverts had
fewer physiological and physical symptoms.

Personality Factors that Lead to Unhealthy Behaviors

Type A Personality This personality type is characterized by:

Time urgency impatience, anxiety, little time for relaxation, and poor sleep patterns.

Competition strenuous workers, and compulsive/neurotic tendencies.

Anger aggressiveness and hostility.

Earlier studies suggest individuals with Type A personalities have much greater risk for
cardiovascular disease, however, more recent lines of research indicate minute or no correlation
(Ragland & Brand, 1988). Nonetheless, Type As report greater symptoms of minor illness (Suls
& Marco, 1990).
Internal Locus of Control The perception of ones control plays a significant role in mood
and healthy behavior. Individuals with an internal locus of control perceive an internalized and
self-borne and causes control mechanism. Greater perceptions of internal control lead to
decreases incidence of depression (Helgeson, 1992). Internals are more likely to investigate
methods to improve their health, however, some may decide to self-treat themselves without
consulting medical professionals.
External Locus of Control Individuals who feel external sources control their actions, rather
than being internal-borne, vision success as a matter of chance. They are more receptive to
supervision. Given the lack of manipulating their control internally, externals often fail to
exercise, diet, and seek medical treatment.
http://brainblogger.com/2006/03/20/bps-personality-influences-health/

First there is the well-known Type A personality. The so-called workaholic. Type A
personalities are thought to be: organized, impatient, sensitive, highly status conscious, take on
more than they can handle and obsessed with time management. Type A behavior is expressed in
three major symptoms: hostility, time urgency and a competitive drive.
One of the aspects of the impatient, hard-charging Type A personality that is known to increase
heart disease risk is hostility. Hostile people eat and smoke more and exercise less than other
personality types, says Redford Williams, head of behavioral medicine at Duke University
Medical Center and author of Anger Kills. Theyre likelier to be overweight in middle age and

have higher cholesterol and blood pressure. Williamss past research suggests hostile people are
also more likely to develop irregular heart rhythms, and to die before reaching their 50s.
The Type B personality is often described as the exact opposite of the Type A. Type B
personalities are described as: apathetic, patient, relaxed, easy-going, having poor organizational
skills and lacking a sense of urgency.
If youre a Type B, you roll with the punches. Youre relaxed, take life a day a time, and handle
stress without cracking. That translates to a higher quality of life and lower likelihood of heart
diseaseless anxiety strengthens the immune system.
The Type C person has a calm, outwardly rational, and unemotional demeanor, but also a
tendency to conform to the wishes of others, a lack of assertiveness, and an inclination toward
feelings of helplessness or hopelessness. These people are at heightened risk for colds, asthma,
rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis. These are all anti-immune disorders. When an
individual engages in a long-term practice of ignoring or suppressing feelings, the immune
system can become compromised and confused, learning to attack the self rather than defend it.
People-pleasersType Csare conforming, passive, and want to accommodate. That can be a
good thing when it comes to patient compliance: Theyre more likely to take the right medicines
in the right doses at the right times, for instanceonce they see a doctor, that is. Making and
following through on appointments can be challenging for Type Cs, who tend to accept their fate
as inevitable and fall readily into hopelessness and helplessness.
Finally there is Type D personality. This person is defined as having the tendency towards
negative feelings such as pessimism, worrying, irritability and social inhibition. Type D is the
distressed personality.
New research suggests having a distressed personality may jeopardize your health. A study
published today in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes finds that
those with this personality type, known as Type D, are at three times the risk for future heart
problems, including peripheral artery disease, heart failure, and death, compared to more
optimistic sorts.

http://inspiyr.com/personality-traits-affect-health/

SOCIAL SUPPORT
Social relationships have as much impact on physical health as blood pressure,
smoking, physical activity, and obesity, as demonstrated in 1988 by House, Landis, and
Umberson. Their meta-analysis of 148 longitudinal studies found a 50 percent increase in
survival of people with robust social relationships, regardless of age, gender, country of origin,
or how such relationships were defined. Just as obesity has taken center stage in our cultural selfawareness, social relationships belong on the list of potent risk and protective factors for
morbidity and mortality.
http://www.asaging.org/blog/what-social-relationships-can-do-health

What is Social Support?

Social support is the physical and emotional comfort given to us by our family, friends, coworkers and others. It's knowing that we are part of a community of people who love and care
for us, and value and think well of us. We all need people we can depend on during both the good
times and the bad. Maintaining a healthy social support network is hard work and something that
requires ongoing effort over time.
Forms of Social Support
Support can come in many different forms:

Emotional Support: This is what people most often think of when they talk about social
support. People are emotionally supportive when they tell us that they care about us and
think well of us. For example, if you separated from your partner or lost your job, a close
friend might call every day for the first few weeks afterwards just to see how you are
doing and to let you know that he or she cares.

Practical Help: People who care about us give us practical help such as gifts of money
or food, assistance with cooking, child care, or help moving house. This kind of support
helps us complete the basic tasks of day-to-day life.

Sharing Points of View: Another way for people to help is to offer their opinion about
how they view a particular situation, or how they would choose to handle it. In sharing
points of view, we can develop a better understanding of our situation and the best way to
handle it. For example, if you tell a friend about difficulties you are having with your

teenage son, she may offer a point of view you hadn't considered, and this may help you
to better address the situation with your child.

Sharing Information: It can be very helpful when family, friends or even experts give us
factual information about a particular stressful event. For example, a friend who recently
married might provide information about the cost of various components of their
wedding, or a cancer survivor might provide information about what to expect from
different types of cancer treatment.

http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/social-support-vol6/social-support
Many studies indicate that anyone who has high social support tends to have less chance of
getting depression and anxiety disorders. In contrast, only a handful of studies show that there is
no relationship between social support and lowering the blood pressure. The level of social
support also has been found to be related to a lower rate of disease and early death. The familial
support is a psychological enhancement to help the individual reduce their stress. These findings
are somewhat weak and further studies need to be done to gather more specific information
about the influence of social support on physical health (Uchino et al., 1996).
There is a significant relation between emotions and health. Anyone who has positive emotion
and beliefs is likely to enhance their physical health. As expected, being in a good mood will
cause refreshed mind to relieve some of the stresses. Laughing is said to have a good deal of
influence on reducing or forgetting about the hassles of daily life. Strong social support is
necessary to help succeed in achieving these traits of overall physical well-being (Salovey,
Detweiler, Steward, & Rothman, 2000).

On the other hand, unhappy or poor quality relationships with other people have been shown to
have a negative impact on mental health and well-being. Conflictual, distressing relationships
may do us more psychological harm than positive social relationships can do us good. For
example, compared with people who are single, separated or divorced, people who are married
and can talk with their partners are less likely to have problems with depression. However,
people who are married but cannot talk with their spouse are at much greater risk of clinical

depression compared with others. It may be that poor quality relationships impair our ability to
cope with stress much more than good quality relationships protect us. The greatest benefit of
social support may come from the protection from unhealthy relationships that it provides.
http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/social-support-vol6/social-support

they were more likely to have cardiovascular risk (CVR) factors, including hypertension,
diabetes, and depression, and to smoke or abuse alcohol.
http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/3/5/e001252
health belief
According to a landmark review published earlier this year, positive expectations
are associated with better health.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russ-gerber/mind-body_b_1156359.html
People with belief systems such as these are unlikely to be effective in selfmanagement of risk-factors and chronic conditions. They may have low frustration
tolerance and motivation, become easily discouraged, bury their heads in the
sand and deny the problem, become hopelessly depressed and give up, angrily
lash out at others trying to help them, and some may actually want to die.

http://curinghealthcare.blogspot.com/2007/02/beliefs-and-physical-health.html

How Can Society Influences Health?

If you want to be healthier; you cannot avoid other people -like it or not; the human body is
built to be part of a society; and putting time and effort into positively interacting with
others, will inevitably bring you many health benefits, if nothing else.

People who fit into society are likely to be more content and as a result healthier; both physically
and mentally.
Poor social and economic circumstances affect health throughout life. People further down the
social ladder usually run at least twice the risk of serious illness and premature death as those
near the top. Nor are the effects confined to the poor: the social gradient in health runs right
across society, so that even among middle-class office workers, lower ranking staff suffer much
more disease and earlier death than higher ranking staff.
Stressful circumstances, making people feel worried, anxious and unable to cope, are damaging
to health and may lead to premature death. Social and psychological circumstances can cause
long-term stress. Continuing anxiety, insecurity, low self-esteem, social isolation and lack of
control over work and home life, have powerful effects on health. Such psychosocial risks
accumulate during life and increase the chances of poor mental health and premature death. Long
periods of anxiety and insecurity and the lack of supportive friendships are damaging in
whatever area of life they arise. The lower people are in the social hierarchy of industrialized
countries, the more common these problems become.
http://www.acs.edu.au/info/natural-health/mental/social-influences.aspx

Social networks provide emotional, informational, and material support;

regulate behavior; and offer opportunities for social engagement. They also provide
modes of contact to spread disease and the opportunity for conflict, exploitation, stress
transmission, misguided attempts to help, and feelings of loss and loneliness. These
potentially negative aspects of networks can act as psychological stressors resulting in
cognitive, affective, and biological responses thought to increase risk for poor health.
An alternative argument is that it is social isolation that causes disease. In this view,
isolation could be a stressor in its own right, increasing negative affect and a sense of
alienation, loneliness, and stress while decreasing feelings of control and self-esteem.
In turn, these negative psychological states could increase neuroendocrine and
cardiovascular responses, suppress immune function, and interfere with performance
of health behaviors (Cacioppo et al., 2002; Cohen, 1988; Uchino et al., 1996).
In sum, social environments and ones responses to them can have powerful
detrimental effects. It is likely that these effects are primarily mediated through ones
appraisals of social conditions as stressful and the consequential changes in health
behaviors, endocrine, immune, and cardiovascular response

Cohen, S. (2004). Social relationships and health. American psychologist, 59(8), 676.
http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~scohen/AmerPsycholpaper.pdf
conclusion
Social support networks greater support from families, friends and communities is
linked to better health. Culture - customs and traditions, and the beliefs of the
family and community all affect health.

http://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/

Social relationshipsboth quantity and qualityaffect mental health, health

behavior, physical health, and mortality risk. Sociologists have played a central role
in establishing the link between social relationships and health outcomes,
identifying explanations for this link, and discovering social variation (e.g., by
gender and race) at the population level. Studies show that social relationships have
short- and long-term effects on health, for better and for worse, and that these
effects emerge in childhood and cascade throughout life to foster cumulative
advantage or disadvantage in health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3150158/

self efficacy
Nutrition and Weight Control
Dieting and weight control are health-related behaviours that can also be governed by selfefficacy beliefs (Bernier & Avard, 1986; Chambliss & Murray, 1979; Hofstetter, Sallis & Hovell,
1990; Glynn & Ruderman, 1986; Shannon, Bagby, Wang & Trenkner, 1990; Slater, 1989;
Weinberg, Hughes, Critelli, England & Jackson, 1984). Chambliss and Murray (1979) found that
overweight individuals were most responsive to behavioural treatment where they had a high
sense of efficacy and an internal locus of control. Other studies on weight control have been
published by Bagozzi and Warshaw (1990) and Sallis, Pinski, Grossman, Patterson and Nader
(1988). It has been found that self-efficacy operates best in concert with general life style
changes, including physical exercise and provision of social support. Self-confident clients of
intervention programs were less likely to relapse to their previous unhealthy diet

In sum, perceived self-efficacy has been found to predict intentions and actions in
different domains of health functioning. The intention to engage in a certain health
behaviour and the actual behaviour itself are positively associated with beliefs in
one's personal efficacy. Efficacy beliefs determine appraisal of one's personal
resources in stressful encounters and contribute to the forming of behavioural
intentions. The stronger people's efficacy beliefs, the higher the goals they set for
themselves, and the firmer their commitment to engage in the intended behaviour,
even in the face of failures (Locke & Latham, 1990).

http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/gesund/publicat/conner9.htm

Choices affecting health, such as smoking, physical exercise, dieting, condom use,
dental hygiene, seat belt use, and breast self-examination, are dependent on selfefficacy.[16] Self-efficacy beliefs are cognitions that determine whether health
behavior change will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it
will be sustained in the face of obstacles and failures. Self-efficacy influences how
high people set their health goals (e.g., "I intend to reduce my smoking," or "I
intend to quit smoking altogether"). A number of studies on the adoption of health
practices have measured self-efficacy to assess its potential to initiate behavior
change

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-efficacy

Relationship of self-efficacy and health status

Self-efficacy has been positively associated with better health status outcomes in a range of
conditions relevant to rehabilitation. Among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), Motl and
Snook (2008) showed that greater self-efficacy beliefs in function and control were associated
with being more physically active, and were positively associated with greater physiological and
psychological components of quality of life. In a related report, lower levels of depression were
found to be associated with higher levels of self-efficacy for controlling MS and higher levels of
social support (Motl et al. 2009). Among people with MS referred for steroid treatment for
relapse or admission to an in-patient rehabilitation unit, both pre-treatment self-efficacy scores
and increase in self-efficacy scores from baseline to follow-up were significantly associated with

improvement in perceived walking ability, physical impact of MS and psychological impact of

MS. The authors conclude that self-efficacy is an important domain to assess and include in
rehabilitation and patient education.

Physiological Feedback(emotional arousal): People experience sensations from

their body and how they perceive this emotional arousal influences their beliefs of
efficacy (Bandura, 1977). Some examples of physiological feedback are: giving a
speech in front of a large group of people, making a presentation to an important
client, taking an exam, etc. All of these tasks can cause agitation, anxiety, sweaty
palms, and/or a racing heart (Redmond, 2010). Although this source is the least
influential of the four, it is important to note that if one is more at ease with the task
at hand they will feel more capable and have higher beliefs of self-efficacy.
https://wikispaces.psu.edu/display/PSYCH484/7.+SelfEfficacy+and+Social+Cognitive+Theories

Healthy Behaviors
Think about a time when you tried to improve your health, whether through dieting, exercising,
sleeping more, or any other way. Would you be more likely to follow through on these plans if
you believed that you could effectively use your skills to accomplish your health goals? Many
researchers agree that people with stronger self-efficacies for doing healthy things (e.g., exercise
self-efficacy, dieting self-efficacy) engage in more behaviors that prevent health problems and
improve overall health (Strecher, DeVellis, Becker, & Rosenstock, 1986). People who have
strong self-efficacy beliefs about quitting smoking are able to quit smoking more easily
(DiClemente, Prochaska, & Gibertini, 1985). People who have strong self-efficacy beliefs about
being able to reduce their alcohol consumption are more successful when treated for drinking
problems (Maisto, Connors, & Zywiak, 2000). People who have stronger self-efficacy beliefs
about their ability to recover from heart attacks do so more quickly than those who do not have
such beliefs (Ewart, Taylor, Reese, & DeBusk, 1983).
One group of researchers (Roach Yadrick, Johnson, Boudreaux, Forsythe, & Billon, 2003)
conducted an experiment with people trying to lose weight. All people in the study participated
in a weight loss program that was designed for the U.S. Air Force. This program had already
been found to be very effective, but the researchers wanted to know if increasing peoples selfefficacies could make the program even more effective. So, they divided the participants into two
groups: one group received an intervention that was designed to increase weight loss selfefficacy along with the diet program, and the other group received only the diet program. The

researchers tried several different ways to increase self-efficacy, such as having participants read
a copy of Oh, The Places Youll Go! by Dr. Seuss (1990), and having them talk to someone who
had successfully lost weight. The people who received the diet program and an intervention to
increase self-efficacy lost an average of 8.2 pounds over the 12 weeks of the study; those
participants who had only the diet program lost only 5.8 pounds. Thus, just by increasing weight
loss self-efficacy, participants were able to lose over 50% more weight.
Studies have found that increasing a persons nutritional self-efficacy can lead them to eat more
fruits and vegetables (Luszczynska, Tryburcy, & Schwarzer, 2006). Self-efficacy plays a large
role in successful physical exercise (Maddux & Dawson, 2014). People with stronger selfefficacies for exercising are more likely to plan on beginning an exercise program, actually
beginning that program (DuCharme & Brawley, 1995), and continuing it (Marcus, Selby, Niaura,
& Rossi, 1992). Self-efficacy is especially important when it comes to safe sex. People with
greater self-efficacies about condom usage are more likely to engage in safe sex (Kaneko, 2007),
making them more likely to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV (Forsyth & Carey,
1998).

Athletic Performance

Self-efficacy can work in an upward, feedback loop. That is, when you do well in a
sport, you have greater self-efficacy, and by having greater self-efficacy, you
subsequently do better in the sport! [Image: Phil Roeder]

If you are an athlete, self-efficacy is especially important in your life. Professional and amateur
athletes with stronger self-efficacy beliefs about their athletic abilities perform better than
athletes with weaker levels of self-efficacy (Wurtele, 1986). This holds true for athletes in all
types of sports, including track and field (Gernigon & Delloye, 2003), tennis (Sheldon & Eccles,
2005), and golf (Bruton, Mellalieu, Shearer, Roderique-Davies, & Hall, 2013). One group of
researchers found that basketball players with strong athletic self-efficacy beliefs hit more foul
shots than did basketball players with weak self-efficacy beliefs (Haney & Long, 1995). These
researchers also found that the players who hit more foul shots had greater increases in selfefficacy after they hit the foul shots compared to those who hit fewer foul shots and did not
experience increases in self-efficacy. This is an example of how we gain self-efficacy through
performance experiences.
The term self-efficacy refers to your beliefs about your ability to effectively perform the tasks
needed to attain a valued goal. Self-efficacy does not refer to your abilities but to how strongly
you believe you can use your abilities to work toward goals. Self-efficacy is not a unitary
construct or trait; rather, people have self-efficacy beliefs in different domains, such as academic
self-efficacy, problem-solving self-efficacy, and self-regulatory self-efficacy. Stronger selfefficacy beliefs are associated with positive outcomes, such as better grades, greater athletic
performance, happier romantic relationships, and a healthier lifestyle.
http://nobaproject.com/modules/self-efficacy

Self-efficacy as a partial mediator of pain on depression.

Self-efficacy is positively correlated with a range of health status outcomes
including physical functioning and psychological well-being.
http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/en/article/35/

General self-Efficacy may be better able to explain a broader range of

human behaviors and coping outcomes as context becomes less
specific (Luszczynska, Scholz, & Schwarzer, 2005).It was proposed by
Bandura and Adams (1997) that those who suffer from negative mood
experience lower levels of general self-efficacy, which lead to negative
self-evaluations and negative ruminations and in effect perpetuate
negative mood. The promotion of higher general self-efficacy may
lead to improved mood or affect over time.
It was hypothesized that higher levels of physical activity would be
associated with higher levels of exercise self-efficacy; higher levels of
exercise self-efficacy would be associated with higher levels of
general self-efficacy; and higher levels of general self-Efficacy would
be associated with fewer symptoms of depression, lower levels of
negative affect and higher levels of positive affect. Specifically, it was
predicted that physical activity participation, exercise self-efficacy and
general self-efficacy would all be significantly positively correlated.
Additionally, it was predicted that general self-efficacy would be
associated with mood, and positive and negative affect

http://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1202&context=honr_theses