| health psychology | The branch of psychology that investigates the psychological factors related to wellness and illness, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical problems.
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| psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) | The study of the relationship among psychological factors, the immune system, and the brain.
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| stress | A person's response to events that are threatening or challenging.
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| cataclysmic events | Strong stressors that occur suddenly and typically affect many people at once (e.g., natural disasters).
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| personal stressors | Major life events, such as the death of a family member, that have immediate negative consequences that generally fade with time.
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| posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | A phenomenon in which victims of major catastrophes or strong personal stressors feel long-lasting effects that may include re-experiencing the event in vivid flashbacks or dreams.
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| background stressors ("daily hassles") | Everyday annoyances, such as being stuck in traffic, that cause minor irritations and may have long-term ill effects if they continue or are compounded by other stressful events.
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| psychophysiological disorders | Medical problems influenced by an interaction of psychological, emotional, and physical difficulties.
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| general adaptation syndrome (GAS) | A theory developed by Selye that suggests that a person's response to a stressor consists of three stages: alarm and mobilization, resistance, and exhaustion.
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| coping | The efforts to control, reduce, or learn to tolerate the threats that lead to stress.
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| learned helplessness | A state in which people conclude that unpleasant or aversive stimuli cannot be controlled - a view of the world that becomes so ingrained that they cease trying to remedy the aversive circumstances even if they actually can exert some influence on the situation.
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| hardiness | A personality characteristic that is associated with a lower rate of stress-related illness and consists of three components: commitment, challenge, and control.
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| social support | A mutual network of caring, interested others.
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| Type A behavior pattern | A cluster of behaviors involving hostility, competitiveness, time urgency, and feeling driven.
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| Type B behavior pattern | A cluster of behaviors characterized by a patient, cooperative, noncompetitive, and nonaggressive manner.
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| reactance | A negative emotional and cognitive reaction that results from the restriction of one's freedom.
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| subjective well-being | People's own evaluation of their lives in terms of both their thoughts and their emotions.
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