Interaction of Psychological Elements in the Onset of Illnesses - Paper Example

Introduction

Several factors determine our health. First, there is the physiological part. This involves the structure of our cells, organs' altered functioning. On the other side, psychological factors may affect the development of an illness or condition. Where one falls sick and they feel that a doctor's presence will be enough for their getting well or even when they naturally get well on placebos, which are just imitations of drugs. This essay looks at the interaction of psychological elements in the onset of illnesses, taking colds as our objects of discussion.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Personal Thoughts

After critically going through the article, there are some premises which I find adequacy on as discussed subsequently.

First, I found that the article's articulation of ideas is founded on firm ground. As such, the article aptly drives the discussion pertaining to stress, psychological role in illnesses and how lifestyle affects our health. More importantly, the article sheds more light on stress role in occurrence or management of illnesses. This is for instance noted in the outcomes whereby ill people believe in physicians' physicality that they can easily improve even when placed under placebos. Lastly, the Empirical representation of psychological elements in the development of illness follows the principles of quantifiable scientific studies. As such, the research's findings are valid thus the findings and conclusions represented therein are quantifiable and can be used as valid study results.

What I Learned

The article presents the research process concerning how stress affects illness and any other factors which contribute to conditions. The following are some of the things that I learned from going through the article. First, there is a familiar premise which has not been empirically tested or reviewed on organic illnesses. The article furthers the claim by illustrating how most people tie organic illnesses to organic causes unknowing that research indicates otherwise. As such, research indicates that organic illnesses are also linked to psychological and environmental factors. The onset of illness results from a disruption of the immune system's infrastructure. The immune system is affected by the activation of the autonomic or central nervous system. Another cause of disruptions in the immune system lies in maladaptive lifestyle habits changes. Such include rapid changes in dieting and rapid intake of unhealthy substances such as increased consumption of alcohol.

Another thing learned from the article is that illnesses may be influenced by psychological inducement. In instances whereby placebos are introduced to a control study group and when the latter are given full disclosure of the "Illness -inducing-microorganisms" introduced to their bodies, participants may show signs which are associated with that condition in real occurrence. This falls under classical conditioning in psychology. Classical conditioning refers to a situation whereby people associate potent and neural stimuli. As such, in the case of introduction of a placebo to subjects, they associate it with the actual illness through which they may depict corresponding conditions' symptoms. The same applies to when actual ill people improve in their conditions at the interaction with a doctor. Personality also has an effect on the development of stress and the subsequent manifestation of its role in advancing illnesses or health conditions. I, therefore, learned that in the instance of illnesses there lie differences between infections against development as the clinical development of illness is more tied to the symptoms rather than the scientific tests on samples. High stress is a catalyst for the onset and development of illness thus significant to note that both environment and psychological conditions have a role to play in the disease process.

Relation to Ideas Presented in the Text

The research under discussion relates to the text in several grounds. The role of personality as studied relates to the research. Personality, for instance, entails how one relates to other people, self-esteem and the role of external forces on an individual's character. Personality, in turn, determines the reception of stress thereby differentiating a person as either high-stress or low -stress while high stress contributes to more illness susceptibility; low-stress individuals' illnesses are less likely to be catalyzed by stress levels. Another element which relates to the text is the susceptibility drawn from practices. Such practices include harmful habits such as excessive alcohol intake or smoking affects one's cognitive abilities and to an extent their immune systems. People with increased exposure to such habits are subsequently more prone to acuteness in illnesses in comparison to the non-exposed. Another element lies to the validity of the classical conditioning claim whereby individuals relate the potent stimulus to the neutral stimulus.

Questions Evoked by the Research

The first question lies in the extent through which classical conditioning can be tested to look at the disease process. As such, is the same effect on the illustration of basic illnesses such as colds' symptoms the same for more complex illnesses? Complex illnesses include types of cancer or viral infections. Would patients show symptoms associated in real cases when exposed to complex conditions' placebos'?

The second question is, "do alterations in behavior in the process of placebos' experimentation affect the expected outcomes?"