The Psychology of Health and Illness

This book examines the effects of various stresses, strains, and traumas in our lives, from the womb till adulthood. The consequences of such stresses are delineated, and this book describes ways of coping with it. Research has demonstrated, repeatedly, that chronic stress may increase unhealthy behavior which may further enhance the development of poor lifestyle habits, substance abuse, or physical inactivity. This may significantly and negatively influence not only our physical wellbeing but emotional one as well. Certain personality traits, like neuroticism for example, is positively correlated with poor physical functioning, greater alcohol consumption as well as increased cigarette smoking. Similarly, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability were shown to significantly affect lifestyle, physical activity, and self-care, and consequently one's health. The chapters in this volume cover various issues that are related to and influence our health - from how adverse childhood experiences can affect our mental health, resulting in anxiety and heightened stress, how partner violence can cause trauma on the physical and emotional health of its victims to examining the effect of assisted reproductive technology on the mother-child relationship. This book also explores the various ways to cope with the significant stress that we experience daily in our lives, as well as how self-care is important in maintaining good health and in avoiding burnout. This book will be of great value to students, researchers and practitioners of psychology, including health psychology and psychoanalysis. The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Psychology.

Ami Rokach is a clinical psychologist who teaches in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada. He has been researching and teaching about loneliness, human sexuality, intimate relationships, and death and dying for the past 40 years.

Introduction: Health, Illness, and the Psychological Factors Affecting Them 1. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Help-Seeking for Health-Related Interventions in Young Adults 2. Intergenerational Transmission of Depression during Adolescence: The Mediating Roles of Hostile Attribution Bias, Empathic Concern, and Social Self-Concept 3. Contributors to Women's Perceived Stress at the Start of Assisted Reproductive Technology 4. Perinatal Maternal Stress and Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases in Later Childhood: An Early Life Programming Perspective 5. Moderating Effects of Prevention-Focus on the Paths from Two Insecure Attachment Dimensions to Depression 6. The Role of Mindful Self-Care in the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Burnout in University Students 7. The Psychology of Health and Illness: The Mental Health and Physiological Effects of Intimate Partner Violence on Women 8. Emotion Regulation Difficulties Mediate the Relationship between Neuroticism and Health-Risk Behaviours in Adolescents 9. How Compassionate Abilities Influence the Experience of Loneliness and Quality of Life of People with and without Chronic Physical Disease? 10. How Future Orientation is Associated with Depressive Symptoms in Multiethnoracial Adults: Basic Psychological Needs as a Mediator