Health Psychology Essay

In this assignment I will be explain two different health psychology issues and explaining them. The two different issues I have decided to talk about are eating disorders and childbirth. I will then compare the two health psychology issues in relation to their common themes and also their different. P3 Explain specific health psychology issues. Using two health psychology issues of interest to you, you should explain the specific issue in detail Eating Disorders (anorexia and bulimia) Anorexia and bulimia are caused through psychological issues. Eating disorders are known by an unusual attitude towards food that causes someone to change their eating habits and behaviour and also their image. An individual with an eating disorder will focus on their getting their weight, shape, size down to the least they can, and also change the way they look. This causes them to make unhealthy choices about eating which then causes damage to their health and other things. Around one in 250 women will experience anorexia at some point in their lives, and the condition usually starts around the age 16/17. This is because at this age girls want people to like them and boys to start being attracted to them, so they feel the need to become skinny and different. Also a lot of celebrities battle with the weight and some have become anorexia so teenage girls don’t see anything wrong with it. Sometimes there are biological and other things influencing someone to have an eating disorder. They are often responsible because of the pressure from friends and the media to be thin, as a lot of young girls feel they should look a certain way to be popular and for boys to notice them. The consequences from an eating disorder can be more serious than the way someone looks. Spotting that a person has an eating disorder can be very difficult to see, especially if it is someone close to yourself. If an eating disorder is not spotted and treat it can have a major impact on someone’s life. It can effect someone’s job or schoolwork, and can also break up relationship with family and friends. The effects of an eating disorder can sometimes be fatal. To treat an eating disorder and recovering from one can take a long time. To treat a disorder usually involves monitoring a individuals physical health and helping them deal with psychological problem. It is important for friends and family to be there for the individual and help them believe they can get better with time and support from the loved ones. Examples of treatment could be cognitive behaviour therapy also known as CBT, another method is interpersonal psychotherapy, dietary counselling and also medication. Psychological Causes of Obesity Many people today eat when their emotionally such as because the person is bored, sad, anger or even happy. Obesity can be caused by things like stress or depression and can cause a number of different health implications. For example a person that is obese is more likely to have diabetes later in life and also suffer heart problems. Over 30% of today’s population seek treatment for weight problems and this is all caused through binge eating. Binge eating is when someone eats large amount of food while feeling they can’t control how much they are eating, people who seriously binge and a very obese develop a disorder call binge eating disorder. The people with this kind of eating disorder find it difficult to lose weight and also find it difficult to control how much they are eating. Many people may need serious help for example counselling or medication or even operation to make the stomach smaller to help there binge eating addiction. Childbirth Childbirth today is most likely in the hospital and a team of midwifes help delivery the baby, in today’s society childbirth is very all to do with the medication given. Epidurals are the most common drug used in childbirth, and are used for over half of all child birthday in hospitals. An epidural interferes with normal bio-feedback between the pelvic muscles and the mother’s brain during labour. The drug slows down the labour, which can cause some serious things happen during giving birth. Things such as making the mother three times more likely to be given a drip, and it can also double the chances of the mother having to have a caesarean. There are different side effects when using an epidural such as a drop in the mother’s blood pressure leading to lack of oxygen for the baby. When an epidural is given, the baby can have some difficulties with taking the milk from the mother and maybe some behaviour problems. Home births are now a very rare thing and can only go forward if the midwife says it can, and can only occur if the baby’s head is upside down. There can be risks and benefits to having a home birth, these are: previous difficultly giving birth or heavy bleeding after the birth, previous c section, raised blood pressure and finally anaemia. There are many different cultural and religious views of childbirth. Caesarean section rates have been increasing due to higher number of caesarean section for the baby’s sake, and keeping the baby from getting upset and distressed through labour. Water births are a nice way for women to give birth, this is because water is an effective pain relief in labour. When women are having a water birth warm water is usually used to help the woman unwind and relax, it eases aches and pain. More woman are choosing to have a water birth, and women who have impaired mobility may find giving birth in water helpful rather than in the hospital. The culture which the mother of the baby has been brought up in always plays a big part of how women deal with their pregnancy and labour. Some Christians believe that the labour pain can be seen as ‘the way God intended it to be’. This is something strong Christians believe and will go through labour with no pain relief, this may inspire some women who are not Christian to go through without pain relief and give a natural birth. In cultures such as Japan, the woman must not express much distress through labour, she has to be seen very calm and composed. In the Middle East and Mediterranean area women are expected to scream and cry uncontrollably in the childbirth. The woman of the east doesn’t always use pain relief, the screaming and crying throughout labour is to express her labour pain and message to her support people that she needs loving and sympathy. The Western are often see labour pain as something to be fixed or stopped, in some cases the western turn to medical resources to relief the pain of labour with gas and air, and maybe an epidural. Now woman a trying to use natural therapies to minimise using pain relief.