Definitions of health, addiction and stress

• According to the World Health Organisation (WHO 1948) health is ‘A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’
• The biomedical definition views health and illness in terms of physical and biological factors. It defines illness as ‘physical disease’ which is diagnosed by a medical professional from symptoms. The illness is treated with physical methods (drugs or surgery) which aim to address the physical/ biological causes.
• The biopsychosocial definition of health that suggests that health is the result of several interacting factors - genes, Neurochemistry, stress, attitudes, family and culture. Treatment then takes into account all three factors. The biopsychosocial approach aims to enhance a persons health rather than make them ‘not ill’. And also focuses on prevention.
• The biomedical approach has dominated our view of health and so health has been viewed as typically two categories - you are either healthy or ill.
• The biopsychosocial approach has a more complex view on health - it views health as a continuuum and varies between two extremes, over time a person can be really healthy, very ill or anywhere in between.
• Stress is an emotional response to situations of threats. Threats are called stressors and may be physical (a lion attacking you) or psychological (worried about exams). In both cases your body produces a response and this is affected by your perceived ability to cope.
• The response to stress depends on how you think of the stressor and your ability to cope with it. You experience psychological stress when the perceived demands of the stressor are greater than your ability to cope with them.
• The key feature of coping is our perception of the resources we have available to deal with the stressor. Resources can be internal or external.
• Internal coping resources are psychological and include resilience and self- efficacy.
• External coping resources are mostly social and include the network of friends, family and other people we call upon when we experience stressors.
• With both types of coping resources, your perception is important - if you believe your coping resources are enough you are more likely to overcome the stressor (perceived ability to cope)
• Addiction is a mental health issue in which a person takes a substance or engages in a behaviour that is pleasurable but eventually becomes compulsive with harmful consequences.
• Physiological addiction is the dependence on a substance, indicated by withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking the substance.
• When someone is physiologically addicted to a substance, they will experience withdrawal symptoms and are likely to relapse. Over time, the physiological response to a substance declines, so they need a larger dose to get the same effect. This is tolerance.
• Behavioural addiction occurs when someone compulsively continues a behaviour and experiences withdrawal when they stop it.
• Griffith’s six components of addiction: Salience (physical and psychological dependence), Tolerance, Withdrawal, Relapse, Conflict, Mood alteration.
• Salience occurs when it becomes impossible to lead a normal life without the substance/behaviour. The addictive substance/behaviour dominates the individuals life. When they are not doing it, all their thoughts are just about doing it.
• Tolerance occurs when an individual requires increased doses of the substance in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses
• Withdrawal refers to the effects that occur when an individual reduces or stops the activity. These can be physiological (headaches, nausea) or psychological (irritability and low mood)
• Relapse happens when a person repeatedly returns to their addiction after a period of abstinence
• Conflict occurs when the addicted person chooses the short term pleasure and ignores the consequences of their behaviour causing conflict with others. Interpersonal conflict is conflict between the addicted person and others. Intrapersonal conflict occurs within the individual. They experience a loss of control because they want to stop but they cannot do so
• Mood alteration occurs when an addictive activity produces various positive and negative experiences