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Psychosocial Impact

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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

Synonyms

Psychological and social effects

Definition

Psychosocial impact is defined as the effect caused by environmental and/or biological factors on individual’s social and/or psychological aspects.

Several psychiatric disorders may affect psychological and social aspects of individual’s lives. Examples are (a) obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), whereas these patients might present social marital disabilities, problems related to occupations and low income (Vikas, Avasthi, & Sharan, 2011), (b) people with cancer, who experienced negative psychological effect such as bad feelings and fears, as well as moderate to high levels of anxiety and psychological distress (Primo et al., 2000), (c) traumatic events such disasters, urban violence, and expose of terrorism may also impact on present psychosocial status (Eisenman et al., 2009). Natural disasters, like flooding, have been reported to cause a wide range of psychosocial impacts, leading the victims to present psychiatric symptoms...

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References and Readings

  • de Zulueta, C. F. (2007). Mass violence and mental health: Attachment and trauma. International Review of Psychiatry, 19, 221–233.

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  • Eisenman, D. P., Glik, D., Ong, M., Zhou, Q., Tseng, C. H., Long, A., et al. (2009). Terrorism-related fear and avoidance behavior in a multiethnic urban population. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 168–174.

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  • Paranjothy, S., Gallacher, J., Amlôt, R., Rubin, G. J., Page, L., Baxter, T., et al. (2011). Psychosocial impact of the summer 2007 floods in England. BMC Public Health, 11, 145.

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  • Primo, K., Compas, B. E., Oppedisano, G., Howell, D. C., Epping-Jordan, J. E., & Krag, D. N. (2000). Intrusive thoughts and avoidance in breast cancer: Individual differences and associations with psychological distress. Psychology and Health, 14, 1141–1153.

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  • Vikas, A., Avasthi, A., & Sharan, P. (2011). Psychosocial impact of obsessive-compulsive disorder on patients and their caregivers: A comparative study with depressive disorder. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 57, 45–56.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry – Hospital das Clínicas University of São Paulo Medical School, Ovídio Pires de Campos street, 785, São Paulo, SP, 05403-010, Brazil

    Alexandra Martini de Oliveira (Director of the Occupational Therapy Service)

  2. Occupational Therapist of the Occupational Therapy Service, Institute of Psychiatry, Hospital das Clínicas University of São Paulo Medical School, Ovídio Pires de Campos street, 785, São Paulo, SP, 05403-010, Brazil

    Patrícia Cardoso Buchain & Adriana Dias Barbosa Vizzotto

  3. Department and Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, SP, 05403-010, Brazil

    Prof. Helio Elkis (Associate Professor)

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Santa Casa Medical School, Ovídio Pires de Campos street, 785, São Paulo, SP, 05403-010, Brazil

    Dr. Quirino Cordeiro (Assistant Professor, Head)

Authors
  1. Alexandra Martini de Oliveira
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  2. Patrícia Cardoso Buchain
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  3. Adriana Dias Barbosa Vizzotto
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  4. Prof. Helio Elkis
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  5. Dr. Quirino Cordeiro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Martini de Oliveira .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Medicine Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc D. Gellman

  2. Cardiovascular Safety, Quintiles, Durham, NC, USA

    J. Rick Turner

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de Oliveira, A.M., Buchain, P.C., Vizzotto, A.D.B., Elkis, H., Cordeiro, Q. (2013). Psychosocial Impact. In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_919

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_919

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1004-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1005-9

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