The author of the selection suggests all of the following except

Question

Stress is a major factor in all of our lives. While some stress is normal, too much stress may harm our bodies. A whole new field of health psychology is beginning to study the interaction of our biological systems with our psychological well-being.

“So Much To Do, So Little Time to Do It”

1) Susan Reiche, a public policy manager at AT&T in Basking Ridge, N.J., can handle what work throws at her from 9 to 5. It’s what life throws at her between 5 and 9 that pushes her to the limit. After she flips off her office computer, she hurries to a day care center to pick up her 4-year-old son and then rushes across town to fetch her 7-year- old daughter from an after-school program. She makes a quick trip to the store to buy food for dinner, then zips home, where she lets the dog out, makes dinner, referees a fight or two between the children, feeds the dog, says hello to her husband, gives her son a bath, helps her daughter with her spelling words, tosses a load of laundry into the washing machine, plays with her children, reads with them, and puts them to bed. Finally, about 9 P.M. she has a minute to sit down. Whew.
2) It’s not hard to guess what Susan Reiche was experiencing in the four hours from 5:00 P.M. to 9:00 PM: stress. For people like her – and that probably includes most of us – the intensity of juggling multiple roles leads to feelings of never having sufficient time, and, in some cases, takes a toll on both physical and psychological well-being.
3) Stress, and ways of coping with it, have long been central topics of interest to psychologists. However, in recent years the focus has broadened as psychology has come to view stress in the broader context of a new subfield known as health psychology. Health psychology investigates the psychological factors related to wellness and illness, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical problems. Health psychologists investigate how illness is influenced by psychological factors such as stress. They examine the psychological principles underlying treatments for disease and illness. They are also concerned with issues of prevention: how health problems such as heart disease and stress can be avoided by means of more healthful behavior.
4) Health psychologists take a decisive stand on the enduring mind/body issue that philosophers, and later psychologists, have debated since the time of the ancient Greeks. In their view, the mind and the body are clearly linked, rather than representing two distinct systems.
5) Health psychologists recognize that good health and the ability to cope with illness are affected by psychological factors such as thoughts, emotions, and the ability to manage stress. They have paid particular attention to the immune system, the complex of organs, glands, and cells that constitute our body’s natural line of defense in fighting disease.
6) In fact, health psychologists are among the primary investigators in a growing field called (somewhat awkwardly) psychoneruroimmunology, or PNI, the study of the relationship among psychological factors, the immune system, and the brain. PNI has led to discoveries such as the existence of an association between one’s emotional state and the success of the immune system in fighting disease.
7) In sum, health psychologists view the mind and the body as two parts of a whole human being that cannot be considered independently. This more recent view marks a sharp departure from earlier thinking. Previously, disease was seen as a purely biological phenomenon, and psychological factors were of little interest to most health- care workers. In the early twentieth century, the primary causes of death were short-term infections, from which one either rapidly recovered---or died. Now, however, the major causes of death, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, are chronic illnesses that often cannot be cured and that can linger for years, posing significant psychological issues.

a. Psychological factors are of very little interest to today’s health care workers.
b. Susan Reiche’s busy schedule is conducive to stress.
c. Illness can be influenced by stress.
d. Psychological factors may affect the ability to cope with illness.

Answer 1

a. Psychological factors are of very little interest to today’s health care workers.