Cancer Progression And Survival: A Biobehavioral Approach.

For the majority of time, the biomedical model has been the main focus on many health factors and diseases, including cancer. Recently, psychologists have been able to prove the psychological and social components of disease. This has forced Doctors, who once relied solely on the biological factors of disease to take a more holistic approach. To help demonstrate the biopsychosocial model of cancer, I will be focusing on breast cancer and it’s risk factors. I will be discussing the effects of race/ethnicity, stress, and genetic factors on the occurrence and recovery of people who suffer from breast cancer.

Stress has a huge impact on the immune system. The immune system is interconnected. For example the immune, nervous, and endocrine system is linked through specialized communication pathways involving hormones, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and immune cell productions. Stress reactions can directly affect the various response systems and how they handle the neuroendocrine-products. This stress reaction directly affects the hypothalamus and pituitary peptides through the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Some of these stressors might be life events, anxiety, and excitements.

The human body is an intricately interlinked organism. Every system of the body has a role to play in the well being of the other. The most prevalent disease of the modern age is cancer, and there has been considerable effort to determine the causes of cancer. Substantial research in this regard point to stress being one of the leading causes of cancer.

Outline and evaluate research into the relationship between the immune system and stress related illness

Another interesting part of this book, talks about the decreased immune response during times of stress. Hans Selye, one of the godfathers of stress physiology, discovered the first evidence of stress-induced immunosuppression back in the 1930s. Selye learned that the same glucocorticoids that are responsible for sympathetic response, was also a large contributor in immune system suppression. Glucocorticoids stop the formation of lymphocytes as well as inhibit the release of interleukins and interferons which make already circulating lymphocytes less responsive to infections. Sapolsky hypothesized why evolution would create this process from happening. He wanted to know why

Carr, B. (2013). Psychological aspects of cancer: A guide to emotional and psychological consequences of cancer, their causes and their management. New York: Springer.

The nervous, endocrine, and immune systems share a close relationship critical to maintaining homeostasis during psychological and immune stress (Carlsson, Anneli, Ludvigsson, & Faresjö, 2014). Chronic stress, primarily mediated by the glucocorticoid cortisol, is associated with deleterious health outcomes and immune deficiency. However, acute stress is associated with protective health effects and immune enhancement. Stress has generally been regarded as adaptive when acute and short-term but maladaptive when chronic (Dhabhar, 2006; Carlsson, Anneli, Ludvigsson, & Faresjö, 2014; Johnson, Riley, Douglas, & Riis, 2013; Flinn and England, 2003; Wiegers, Reul, Holsboer, & de Kloet, 1994).

Approximately 25% of all cancer patients have depression due to social isolation and new, overwhelming emotions. Social isolation is a problem that many face. Their friends and family start acting differently around them. They start to feel alone, which makes them depressed. They are just normal human beings who deserve to be treated normally.

Discusses the premise that the psychological state affects the immune system with reference to the psychological state of persons with enhanced functioning immune states and those with suppressed immunity, HIV and AIDS. How stress affects the immune system; How psychological health assists the immune system; Advantages of intervention on the psyche and immune system of HIV and AIDS patients.

Psychological stress is when people are under mental, physical or emotional pressure. People who have cancer or have just found out they have cancer can have more physical, emotional and social effects of the disease that contributes to stress in there life. When that happens they try to manage stress with bad behaviors with smoking, drinking and not seeing there life in a good way. Stress can affect a tumor's ability to grow and spread. In reasearchers the Human cancer cell that they grown in a laboratory have been found that the stress hormone norepinephrine, part of are bodies fight-or-flight response system, may have promote angiogenesis and metastasis.

The main aim of the immune system is to limit and dispose any harmful waste products as well as evacuating the damaged tissues so that the body can begin healing. The body’s self-protective reaction comprises of variations in the blood stream to take in an increased discharge of fluids from the veins together with an increase of plasma, T-lymphocyte cells, proteins and phagocytes to enter the tissue so as to heal the damaged area as well as fighting off bacteria and viruses. The T and B cells are the most important cellular elements of the adaptive immune response. When a person is stressed, the ability of the immune system to attack antigens is usually reduced and one becomes more vulnerable to infections. T and B cells may play a significant neuroprotective role in both stress and inflammation. Through their

Chronic illness: Chronic stress attacks and weaken our immune system, which defend our body against diseases, paving the way to chronic illnesses.

      Stress can cause many things that affect a healthy body.  Stress causes quick yet shallow breathing in which case, the body's cells are being deprived of oxygen.  Stress will increase cholesterol levels and can also cause indigestion, heartburn, a decreased sex drive, and also arteriosclerosis (the hardening of the arteries).  While these symptoms may seem minimal, stress can decrease the activity of white blood cells.  Since the white blood cells fight off sicknesses and diseases, the immune system is affected by stress and can make the body more susceptible to colds, viruses, flues, and diseases (Morrison 2).

Chronic stress can also interfere with the body’s immune system directly through hormonal changes. Glucocorticoids-a hormone

While the completion of treatment is excitedly anticipated, many cancer survivors would still be disturbed by the emotional and physical tribulation of their breast cancer trajectory (Surbone & Peccatori, 2006). This is because, the impact of cancer remains long even after treatment ended. Besides the common issues that accompany any cancer diagnosis, breast cancer survivors also have to deal with exclusive concerns such as decreased sexual function, relationship issues, fears about genetic inheritability of cancer and complications from this disease such as lymphedema (Hodgkinson, Butow, Fuchs, et al., 2007). Therefore, the completion of treatment does not equate to lesser need for health care. Long term health issues related to breast cancer survivors have thus emerged as a public health concern.