Elissa Epel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at UCSF. Dr. Epel received her training in psychology from Stanford and Yale University, with a focus on health psychology and behavioral medicine. She studies the impact of stress physiology on ‘metabolic health,’ including food intake, insulin resistance, obesity, and premature aging at the cellular level, and how health enhancing interventions might enhance regulation in these systems. Along with Elizabeth Blackburn (Nobel Laureate, 2009), and other UCSF colleagues, she demonstrated novel links between stress and stress arousal with markers of cellular aging (telomere length and telomerase activity). Her basic research aims to understand, from a psychological and biological perspective, why some people are more vulnerable and others are more resilient to chronic stress. Her recent studies focus on mothers of children with autism, and caregivers of family members with dementia. She is leading clinical trials examining how stress reduction interventions might reverse or slow cellularaging. She has a special interest in parenting stress, and with a group of interdisciplinary colleagues is working to promote parenting stress resiliency training using a combination of workshops and technology (smartphone applications).
Elissa Epel, PhD
Dr. Epel will describe how chronic stress of caregiving has a toll on both emotional wellbeing and physical health. However, while being a caregiver is often a situation beyond one’s control, is not a deterministic fate for worsened health, in fact, it can provide opportunities for building stress mastery, and greater meaning, and ways of coping with stress that minimize the usual wear and tear of a chronic stress exposure. She will describe her studies on links between types of adversity and psychological coping processes with bodily cell aging, and what we are learning from interventions about how to reverse or at least slow cellular aging.
Participants will be able to:
Identify three ways that chronic stress can impair health.
Define how caregiving is different than other types of chronically stressful situations (like job stress). What makes it unique.
Describe how the skill of mindfulness can reduce stress. What are other ways of minimizing caregiver stress.
Dr. Epel will describe how chronic stress of caregiving has a toll on both emotional wellbeing and physical health. However, while being a caregiver is often a situation beyond one’s control, is not a deterministic fate for worsened health, in fact, it can provide opportunities for building stress mastery, and greater meaning, and ways of coping with stress that minimize the usual wear and tear of a chronic stress exposure. She will describe her studies on links between types of adversity and psychological coping processes with bodily cell aging, and what we are learning from interventions about how to reverse or at least slow cellular aging.
Participants will be able to:
Identify three ways that chronic stress can impair health.
Define how caregiving is different than other types of chronically stressful situations (like job stress). What makes it unique.
Describe how the skill of mindfulness can reduce stress. What are other ways of minimizing caregiver stress.
Although all providers in this directory have completed one or more of Profectum’s certificate training courses on the DIR-FCD model, the providers listed in this directory are independent contractors. Providers are not agents nor are they employees and nor are they under the control of Profectum Foundation. Providers are solely responsible for the quality of the services you receive.
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