Stress, Personality, & Heart Disease (Intro Psych Tutorial #212)
Stress, Personality, & Heart Disease (Intro Psych Tutorial #212)
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In this video I discuss the relationship between stress, personality, and heart disease. Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman proposed that Type A personality, characterized by competitiveness and hostility, was associated with 7x more heart disease than Type B personality, characterized by a more laid-back and calm demeanor. The frequent spikes of blood pressure associated with episodes of anger may increase arterial damage as well as the possibility of accumulated plaque breaking off and entering blood circulation. As we’ll see in future videos, stress management techniques can help with coping and reduce this risk.
For more on this relationship, see Robert Sapolsky - Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: https://amzn.to/2IzRwdN (Amazon affiliate link)
Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel to see future videos! Have questions or topics you’d like to see covered in a future video? Let me know by commenting or sending me an email!
Check out my full psychology guide: Master Introductory Psychology: http://amzn.to/2eTqm5s(Amazon affiliate link)
Content
6.33 -> Hi, I'm Michael Corayer and this is
Psych Exam Review. In the previous
11.31 -> video we looked at the relationship
between stress and peptic ulcers and
14.52 -> in this video we're going to look at the
relationship between stress, personality,
18.33 -> and heart disease. This brings us to the
work of Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman,
22.35 -> two cardiologists who proposed that there was
a link between a certain personality type and
27.27 -> an increased risk of heart disease. This certain
personality type is called type A personality;
33.45 -> so people with this type A personality tend to
be very competitive and ambitious and as a result
40.95 -> they feel a constant sense of time urgency. They
feel there's not enough time to do everything that
45.27 -> they want to do and so they have this constant
pressure on themselves. And this means they're
49.44 -> easily irritated and they're more prone to
anger and hostility. This is in contrast to
55.26 -> people with a type B personality. This refers
to people who are more laid-back and easygoing;
59.49 -> they're more cooperative, they're more
patient, and they're less prone to these
63.81 -> episodes of anger and hostility. Now one of
the clues for this difference between type
68.91 -> A and type B personality and heart disease was
that in Friedman and Rosenman's waiting room,
76.02 -> the upholstery on the chairs needed to be replaced
more frequently than the upholstery on chairs in
81.81 -> other departments. The reason for this was that
it seemed that cardiology patients were less
87.84 -> patient. They were more likely to fidget; to pull
and stretch and squeeze the fabric on the chairs,
94.44 -> and this is why it needed to be replaced more
often. Now Friedman and Rosenman initially
99.3 -> found that amongst patients identified as having
a Type A personality, they had 7 times the rate
106.53 -> of heart disease compared to those with a type
B personality. So why is this? Well, in order to
113.22 -> understand why, we have to go into a little more
detail on heart disease or cardiovascular disease.
119.07 -> One of the main symptoms in cardiovascular disease
is atherosclerosis, this is also called arterial
125.1 -> sclerosis, and atherosclerosis comes from the
Greek for "gruel" and "heart" and it refers to a
131.85 -> thickening and hardening of the arterial walls and
they build up of plaque on these walls. This is
138.87 -> a result of inflammation of the arteries and then
the accumulation of white blood cells, foam cells,
145.71 -> which are macrophages that are bloated with
lipids, and what you're probably familiar with,
150.54 -> cholesterol. And so the buildup of these cells
on the walls of the arteries means that the
155.46 -> space inside the artery gets smaller and smaller
and this means that there's an increase in blood
159.96 -> pressure. So blood is now whipping through these
arteries more quickly. This is especially the case
166.29 -> if we have sudden spikes in blood pressure, such
as those that might occur if you have an episode
171.24 -> of anger and hostility. And so what can happen
is a piece of this plaque that's built up on
177.33 -> the arteries might break off and now it travels
in the blood circulation. That means there's a
182.76 -> chance that can get stuck somewhere and this is
especially likely to occur if the arterial walls
188.16 -> are very thick and so the space for it to travel
in is narrow. And if this unstable bit of plaque
194.85 -> gets stuck in the artery of a heart or a coronary
artery, then you have a myocardial infarction or
201.48 -> a heart attack. If it gets stuck in a blood
vessel in the brain then you have a stroke.
207.36 -> So this atherosclerosis increases the risk of both
of these very serious potentially fatal illnesses.
214.38 -> And the frequent spikes in blood pressure that we
see amongst people with this type A personality,
219.27 -> not only does this increase the wear and tear on
the arteries and the potential for inflammation,
225.06 -> but we also have the increased risk of breaking
off a piece of this unstable plaque. So how
231.75 -> much additional risk do we have from type A
personality? Well, it's tough to say because
237.57 -> there's a number of factors involved. One
of these might be that people with type A
241.95 -> are more angry and hostile and this means
that they have more negative affectivity;
246.33 -> they have more negative emotion. This might be
playing a role, but we also have what's called
250.95 -> transactional hostility and that is they tend to
be angry and hostile with others and others tend
256.29 -> to respond in kind; that's the transaction. And so
this means that other people might not like them
261.87 -> very much and they might reduce the social support
that they're willing to offer this person when the
267.78 -> person is under stress. And we'll see in a future
video that there's a clear relationship between
273.64 -> stress management and social support. So this
could also be playing a role in this risk. Now
279.46 -> if this type A personality sounds like you, well
don't despair because it is possible to change and
287.83 -> there are stress management techniques that can
help to reduce anger and hostility and the risk
293.98 -> of this damage to your arteries. Now if you're not
type A, if you're more of a Type B person, well,
302.14 -> perhaps you'll understand a little better. And
next time somebody behind you is leaning on their
306.34 -> car horn or they're berating a shop employee
for some trivial error, then first, you can
312.58 -> avoid responding in kind; you can recognize the
danger of these episodes of anger and hostility.
317.29 -> But you also might find yourself even feeling
bad for this person who's so easily angered,
322.81 -> so easily upset. You might even find yourself
feeling really bad for their poor arteries that
329.02 -> have to deal with this increased wear and
tear. Ok, I hope you found this helpful,
333.34 -> if so, please like the video and subscribe
to the channel for more. Thanks for watching!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5rM2Y2ZmQA