Psychology in Health: Case Studies and Psychological Models

PSYCHOLOGY IN HEALTH 1
Psychology in Health
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PSYCHOLOGY IN HEALTH 2
Psychology in health
Case Study One.
Agoraphobia is where an individual suffers from an anxiety disorder which makes them
have an extreme fear of being in public and crowded places. These people experience situations
where they have an intense fear of going to open spaces which they think that they may have a
hard time escaping from. They get this fear because they had panic attacks more than once when
they were exposed to public and crowded places. Scientists are not sure about the cause of
agoraphobia, but some studies suggest that it runs in the family. Evidence shows that to
individuals who have previously experienced conditions such as traumatic situations, stressful
events, anxiety disorders and substance abuse have more of a chance of being agoraphobic. This
condition is quite rare with statistics showing that it affects almost 1% of the American
population. Women are three times more likely to have it than men, and it is more common in
young adults. The median age which agoraphobia most likely onsets is at 20 years (Wittchen et
al. 2010, pp. 122).
Psychological factors are mental factors like anxiety which affect the physical health of
an individual, the illness they are suffering from and their behaviour. In this case, Jessica who is
an agoraphobic has a variety of psychological factors which have influenced her health,
behaviour, and illness. First, is stress where she gets stressed thinking about the activities that
Kelly her psychiatric nurse wants her to do as part of treatment for her agoraphobia. When an
individual is stressed and in this case Jessica, it will affect her illness because when she
overthinks about going outside her house and to the crowded public places or even using public
transportation, it will increase her fear. She will be more fearful and feel overwhelmed because
she will think of all the bad things that will happen to her if she goes thus this will negatively

PSYCHOLOGY IN HEALTH 3
affect any progress she has made in trying to treat her agoraphobia. Also, the stress will affect
her physical health by causing her to have tension headaches caused by stress, she will
experience chest pains and muscle pain, she will also have an upset stomach caused by
overthinking, and she will always be fatigued. The pressure will also negatively affect her
behaviour in that it will cause her to be angry and irritable for no good reason because she is
stressed. Her withdrawal from social interactions will be increased to a point where she may not
have any contact; she might resort to bad habits such as using tobacco, drinking alcohol and also
undereating or overeating to deal with the stress (Kircher et al. 2013, pp. 94).
Another psychological factor that will affect Jessica is depression. She will be depressed
because she feels sorry for the situations she is in and the fears she has. She may feel ashamed of
her mental condition because she is afraid of even going outside her house. Depression will
affect her illness in that she will not be motivated to go on with her treatment because she is sad
and sees no point in the therapy therefore negatively affecting any progress she might have
made. It will also influence her behaviours where she will experience extended periods of
insomnia which is associated with depression and which will negatively affect her physical
health in turn. It will lead to her having suicidal thoughts because she feels sorry for herself, she
will also socially isolate herself. Further, she will also begin abusing drugs and alcohol, and she
might also experience eating disorders which will negatively affect her physical health. She will
also have more problems in any relationship she is in or more conflicts with her family. The
depression will jeopardise her health in that it will increase her risks of getting heart attacks, her
eating disorders might lead to conditions like diabetes, and it will also lead to the weakening of
her immune system (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2014, pp. 287).

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Jessica also will be affected by her perception in a variety of ways. How an individual
perceives herself and the situation can affect her. It will affect her illness in that she will perceive
going outside her house and facing her fear of being dangerous and there is little that can be done
to change her mind about it. If she sees this situation as dangerous and that will cause her to have
panic attacks, she will not be able to go on with her treatment. She will not also see how severe
her symptoms are therefore she will not see the importance of going on with her treatment. It will
also affect her behaviour because she will start becoming negative about any situation she is in
and start viewing them with a pessimistic mind which is not good. It will lead to her being more
isolated and suffer from anxiety which is not good for her mental and physical health.
Perception will also affect her health in that will lead to hormone imbalances, affect her thyroid
function and lead to fluctuation of her glucose levels which will affect her physical health
(Sarafino and Smith 2014).
Kelly who is a psychiatric nurse has started to treat Jessica's agoraphobia using a medical
model which is meant to change her behaviours and therefore improve her health. This treatment
I believe is intended to help Jessica to slowly transition and start facing her fears and with time
treat or manage her agoraphobia without using medication. I think in this conditioning approach
as changing her behaviours will lead to her seeing no need to be fearful or get panic attacks when
she is exposed to situations that once brought her anxiety and caused her panic attacks. In the
end, it will change her behaviour with time she will be able to get back to normal life. This
medical model changes her behaviour in a variety of ways and starts conditioning her slowly by
slowly till she is comfortable in situations that would previously cause her to panic. First, by
opening the door and just stepping outside the house, Jessica will be able to see with time that
nothing bad happens when she steps out of the house. Therefore this will enable her to go outside