Psychology
Health Psychology
Health psychology is a field that focuses on the psychological factors that influence health, illness, and healthcare. It explores how behaviors, emotions, and thoughts impact physical well-being, and how individuals can be empowered to make positive health-related choices. This interdisciplinary area integrates knowledge from psychology, medicine, public health, and other fields to promote holistic approaches to health and wellness.
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11 Key excerpts on "Health Psychology"
eBook - PDFIntroduction to Clinical Psychology
Bridging Science and Practice
- Douglas A. Bernstein, Bethany A. Teachman, Bunmi O. Olatunji, Scott O. Lilienfeld(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Health psychol- ogists pay special attention to the role of stress on physical and mental health. They also consider how external stressors combine with internal variables such as coping strategies, cognitive habits, and perceived social support to affect vulnerability and resilience to illness. Clinical health psychologists also specialize in helping patients dealing with acute and chronic diseases to cope, including people facing terminal illnesses. 394 | Health Psychology emerged in the 1970s as a specialty devoted to studying “psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when they do get ill” (Taylor, 1995, p. 3). This subfield has enjoyed such rapid growth over the last 40 years that it now has its own division in the APA (Division 38) and its own journal, Health Psychology. Health Psychology research is also often published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Psychosomatic Medicine, and the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. Related profes- sional organizations include the Society of Behav- ioral Medicine, the American Psychosomatic Society, and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. Many graduate training programs in clinical psychology now include a track focused on Health Psychology, and some programs have developed Health Psychology as their major focus. Health Psychology A psychological subfield devoted to studying psycho- logical factors influencing health, illness, and coping with illness. Health Psychology is closely related to the larger field of behavioral medicine, which involves the integration of knowledge from the social/behavioral sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, and anthropol- ogy), the biological sciences, and medicine into an interdisciplinary science focused on understanding and treating all types of medical disorders in the broadest possible ways. Health Psychology and behavioral medicine follow the biopsychosocial model mentioned in Chapter 2.
eBook - PDFHealth Psychology
A Critical Introduction
- Antonia C. Lyons, Kerry Chamberlain(Authors)
- 2006(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
(Martin, 1997 , p. 314) The psychology of health, illness and health care needs to be considered in economic, political, ecological, social and cultural context. (Marks et al. , 2000 , p. 1) Learning objectives This chapter will provide an introduction to Health Psychology and locate studies of health and illness within their sociohistorical context. By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: provide a brief historical overview of dominant Western views on health and disease; outline the historical development of psychological approaches to health and illness, and Health Psychology in particular; define and explain the biomedical and biopsychosocial models of health and illness; describe what Health Psychology covers as a field of study; outline how Health Psychology relates to subfields of psychology, and other health-related fields; describe variations in health across social categories such as social class, age, gender and ethnicity; critically evaluate the assumptions and values that underlie Health Psychology research and practices. 5 6 Health Psychology Health Psychology is a diverse and wide-ranging field. It covers questions about what health is through to how people cope with chronic illness (both their own and others’). For example, think about some of the following questions: Do you think psychology has anything to do with health? What do you think health actually is? Is it simply the opposite of illness? Has psychology got anything to do with staying healthy? Think about whether or not you do anything to stay healthy. Do you get regular exer-cise to keep healthy? Or do you get regular exercise for fun, not for health? Or can’t you be bothered with regular exercise? Is behaving in ways to stay healthy the same as behaving in ways to prevent getting ill? Did you give up smoking cigarettes for health reasons? If you do smoke cigarettes, you probably know you ‘should’ give them up for health reasons.
eBook - ePub- Anthony Curtis(Author)
- 2002(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
1 Introduction to Health Psychology Defining Health Psychology Historical perspective on health and illness The biomedical model The biopsychosocial model Psychology and health Models of behaviour change SummaryWelcome to the fascinating area of Health Psychology! This text aims to provide an insight into the many fields that make up Health Psychology. You may be a student, nurse or other practitioner in the health field, or just seeking to find out more about your health and the role that psychology can play in understanding health states and health status. I hope that this book is of interest to you and relevant to your needs.Defining Health PsychologyIn trying to define Health Psychology, one must first try and define what is meant by ‘health’ as a concept. The most commonly quoted definition of health is provided in the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO, 1946):Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.This definition is considered to have positive and negative attributes by Downie et al. (1996). In the first part of the definition, they argue that health is seen in positive terms (i.e. the presence of a positive quality: well-being). In the second part of the definition, health is viewed (in a negative sense) as involving the absence of disease or infirmity (themselves negative in connotation). Taken together, the definition implies that true health involves both a prevention of ill-health (e.g. disease, injury, illness) and the promotion of positive health, the latter of which has been largely neglected.Banyard (1996) has criticised the above definition on the grounds that a state of complete
eBook - PDFHealth Psychology
Biopsychosocial Interactions
- Edward P. Sarafino, Timothy W. Smith(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
We’ll look at several fields that are important Chapter 1 / An Overview of Psychology and Health 17 because they provide information and a context for Health Psychology. RELATED FIELDS Medicine provides an essential foundation and connec- tion for Health Psychology. To understand how psycho- logical factors can influence health and illness and how illness influences psychological outcomes like physical symptoms and emotional adjustment, we must have a basic understanding of the body’s healthy and unhealthy functioning. This understanding enables health psychol- ogists to make use of findings from biomedical research, see new points of connection between behavior and health, and help improve medical care. To offer useful ideas toward improving medical care, health psycholo- gists must know what the usual medical tests and treat- ments are for the various diseases and medical conditions, and how that care is usually delivered. To understand how medical conditions can affect patients’ psychological and social functioning, it is essential to understand their experience of the condition, its likely course, and the procedures they will undergo during typ- ical medical care. In many cases, the interventions health psychologists create are actually delivered by physicians and nurses during medical care, so it is not only the patient’s behavior that is the focus of change but the health care provider’s behavior as well (Spring, 2011). To accomplish this, health psychologists need to develop a working knowledge of medical fields and effective pro- fessional relationships with health care providers. Health psychologists also need to know the context in which health and illness exist. The field of epidemiology— the scientific study of the distribution and frequency of disease and injury—provides part of this context.
eBook - ePub- (Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
integration of biological, cognitive, affective, social, and psychological bases of behavior with biological, cognitive, affective, social, and psychological bases of health and disease. Health Psychology also includes knowledge of health policy and the organization of health-care delivery systems. It is a very broad field, characterized by studies in health behavior, behavioral risk factors for illness, response to illness, the impact of social support on health, culture and health, physician–patient relationships, psychoneuroimmunology, and psychophysiology, among others.Clinical Health Psychology is the term used for application of Health Psychology in professional practice. This specialty is dedicated to both the development of knowledge and the delivery of services to individuals, families, and health-care systems of high quality services based on that knowledge (American Psychological Association [APA], 1997).Roots of the Field
The roots of Health Psychology are in the history of mind–body relationships along with those of other fields such as philosophy, theology, mathematics, astrology, and medicine. In writings dating back 5,000 years, mind–body relationships were very much the concern of priests, alchemists, shamans, or healers, and throughout that history a multiplicity of views converged in two alternating approaches: a unitary view that postulates that mind and body are indivisible and a dualistic view that sees them as separate entities. The roots of Health Psychology can be traced back to the unitary view of mind–body relationships (Taylor, 1999). Our knowledge of prehistoric societies indicates that humans considered mind and body as a unit, attributing physical and mental illnesses to demonic possession or evil spirits. The early writings of Hebrews, Egyptians, and Chinese confirmed this supernatural view of causality. Stone Age archaeological findings in Europe and South America show evidence of a surgical procedure called trephination that some claim shamans used to allow evil forces to leave the body (Selling, 1940).In ancient Greece, the unitary view evolved to include naturalistic causes of disease, opening the way to modern medicine. Plato (427–347 B.C.) wrote that “it is not proper to cure the eyes without the head, nor the head without the body, so neither it is proper to cure the body without the soul.” Aristotle, in 350 B.C., observed how emotions like joy, fear, anger, and courage affect the body, thus linking bodily processes to emotional states (Gentry & Matarazzo, 1981; Lipsitt, 1999). However, it was the Greek physician Hippocrates (460–377 B.C.), often called the father of modern medicine, who proposed a humoral theory of illness later expanded by Galen (A.D. 129–199). This was a hydraulic model that postulated that disease would result from the imbalance of four bodily fluids or humors—blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm (Lipowski, 1986). Galen proposed four personality types based on the predominance of one of the four humors (choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic); these types permeated European personality theories for centuries thereafter. In sum, the ancient Greeks believed that mind and body were part of one system, that a balance between physical and emotional states was fundamental to health, and that psychological factors could influence bodily functions or even cause disease.
eBook - PDF- Graham C. Davey(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
Sarafino, E.P. (2006) Health Psychology: Biopsychosocial Interactions , 5th edn, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sutton, S., Baum, A. & Johnston, M. (2004) The SAGE Handbook of Health Psychology , London: Sage. 7.7 CONCLUSION Health psychologists may be researchers who develop and test biopsychosocial theories that explain the mecha-nism underpinning health and illness. The mechanisms underpinning health and illness span many disciplines, so Health Psychology draws on a range of related research literatures. Health psychologists may also be practitioners who develop theory-based interventions to change health-related behaviour patterns. Many health psychologists are simultaneously researchers and practi-tioners. Interventions may be aimed at changing mecha-nisms and systems at different levels from the individual to the international. They may also be aimed at preventing ill health or at maximising the self-care of patients who are already ill. Interventions may target patients directly (for example aiming to reduce hostility or increase adher-ence) or they may focus on the behaviour of health-care professionals who themselves can shape patient behav-iour. In each case, the aim is to enhance health and the effectiveness of such interventions must be tested. WHAT IS Health Psychology? 147 RELEVANT JOURNAL ARTICLES Adler, N. & Matthews, K. (1994) Health Psychology: Why do some people get sick and some stay well, Annual Review of Psychology , 45: 229–59. Friedman, R., Sobel, D., Myers, P., Caudill, M. & Benson, H. (1995) Behavioral medicine, clinical Health Psychology and cost offset, Health Psychology 14: 509–18. Kaplan, R.M. (1990) Behavior as the central outcome in health care, American Psychologist 45: 1211–20. Kok, H., Schaalma, H., Ruiter, R.A.C. & van Empelen, P. (2004) Intervention mapping: A protocol for applying Health Psychology theory to prevention programmes, Journal of Health Psychology 9: 85–98.
eBook - PDFDiscovering Psychology
The Science of Mind
- John Cacioppo, Laura Freberg(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
421–429, doi:10.1080/00313830903180349. 6 5 7 4 10 9 8 3 2 1 0 Number of health complaints Low hardy High hardy High academic stress Low academic stress © Cengage Learning ® Copyright 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGY AND HEALTH? 639 What Is the Relationship Between Psychology and Health? You might be surprised to see a section about Health Psychology in your psychology textbook. Isn’t health the exclusive domain of medical personnel rather than of psychologists? It all de-pends on how you define health. For most of its history, the field of medicine viewed health as a lack of disease (Juster et al., 2010). Treatments were designed to make sick people feel better. In more recent years, health has been more commonly defined as the attainment of a positive state of well-being, rather than simply the absence of disease. Medicine today is more likely to use a biopsychosocial model of health, in which health is viewed as the sum of biological (such as genetics, infection, and injury), psychological (such as lifestyle, stress, and health beliefs), and social factors (such as culture, family, and social support; McEwen & Gianaros, 2011). In 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed a definition that reflects this more contemporary model of health: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 2003, para. 1).
eBook - PDF- V. Durand, David Barlow, Stefan Hofmann, , V. Durand, David Barlow, Stefan Hofmann(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Remember, too, the tragic phys- ical and mental deterioration among elderly people who are removed from social networks of family and friends (Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2007). Psychological and Social Factors that Influence Health c What is the difference between behavioral medicine and Health Psychology? c How are immune system function, stress, and physical disorders related? Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 250 • CHAPTER 7 Physical Disorders and Health Psychology Health and Health-Related Behavior The shift in focus from infectious disease to psychologi- cal factors has been called the second revolution in pub- lic health. Two closely related new fields of study have developed. In the first, behavioral medicine (Feldman & Christensen, 2014), knowledge derived from behavioral sci- ence is applied to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical problems. This is an interdisciplinary field in which psychologists, physicians, and other health profes- sionals work together to develop treatments and preventive strategies. A second field, Health Psychology, is not inter- disciplinary, and is usually considered a subfield of behav- ioral medicine. Practitioners study psychological factors that are important to the promotion and maintenance of health; they also analyze and recommend improvements in health-care systems and health-policy formation within the discipline of psychology (Nicassio, Greenberg, & Motivala, 2010; Taylor, 2009). Psychological and social factors influence health and physical problems in two ways (see ● Figure 7.1).
eBook - PDF- Shahe S. Kazarian, David R. Evans(Authors)
- 2001(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
As pointed out by Belar and Deardroff (1995), psychology cannot “practice” behavioral medicine nor psychosomatic medicine. Health psy-chology, however, is one of several health care and basic science fields that con-tribute to the understanding of health and the consequent treatment, rehabilita-tion, and prevention strategies that evolve from such an understanding (Feuerstein et al., 1986). Other health care and basic science fields that contribute to behav-ioral medicine include service professionals (nursing, dentistry, physical therapy, and dietetics), the behavioral sciences (sociology, anthropology, and epidemiol-ogy), biomedical sciences (physiology, biochemistry, immunology, and biosta-tistics), and medicine (psychiatry, cardiology, neurology, family medicine, phys-ical medicine, and occupational medicine). In addition to its endorsement by the APA Division of Health Psychology, Matarazzo’s (1980) broad definition of Health Psychology has not been subject to much controversy even though a narrower definition (Pomerleau & Brady, 1979) for the field has been proposed. The broad definition of Health Psychology explicates the application of the diverse discipline of psychology to understand-ing of and intervening in health system issues: sensation and perception, emo-tion and motivation, learning, developmental, social, neuropsychology, experi-mental, industrial and organizational, individual differences, personality, and clinical (Feuerstein et al., 1986). An important focus of health psychologists is the prevention of disease and health promotion (Evans, 1994, 1997; Weiss, 1982). The broad definition of Health Psychology also allows varied scientific (e.g., basic research, research on new interventions, and program evaluation) and prac-tice activities (e.g., diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and health promotion) within health care systems.
eBook - PDF- (Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
(2014). Best practices in developing prevention strategies for school psychology practice . World Health Organization (WHO). (2015). What is a health promoting school? . Retrieved from http://www.who.int/school_youth_health/gshi/hps/en/. Suggested Reading Cook‐Cottone, C. P. (2015). Mindfulness and yoga for self‐regulation: A primer for mental health professionals . New York, NY: Springer. Cook‐Cottone, C. P. (2017). Mindfulness and yoga in schools: A guide for teachers and practitioners . New York, NY: Springer. Cook‐Cottone, C. P., Tribole, E., & Tylka, T. (2013). Healthy eating in schools: Evidence‐based interventions to help kids thrive . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. The Wiley Encyclopedia of Health Psychology: Volume 3: Clinical Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine , First Edition. General Editor: Lee M. Cohen. Volume Editors: C. Steven Richards and Lee M. Cohen. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2021 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Sport and exercise psychology is a field devoted to understanding biological, psychological, and social influences on performance and well‐being, as well as the ways in which these forces interact to influence participation in sport and exercise (e.g., Biddle, 2000). Scientific findings and practical applications derived from sport and exercise psychology are of direct relevance to Health Psychology. That is, sport, exercise, and physical activity contribute to health outcomes. Understanding the factors that influence participation in sport, exercise, and physical activity can facilitate the development of effective interventions. Important health‐related factors may also be considered concurrently with sport, exercise, and physical activity. Physical Activity, Sport, and Exercise as a Cause Much of the Health Psychology literature pertaining to sport and exercise is focused on the ways in which participation in physical activity influences aspects of health and well‐being.
eBook - PDF- Susan Llewelyn, Paul Kennedy, Susan Llewelyn, Paul Kennedy(Authors)
- 2005(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
Health Psychology, 20, 47–63. Oldenburg, B. (2002). Preventing chronic disease and improving health: broadening the scope of behavioral medicine research and practice. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 9, 1–16. Ouellette, S.C. & DiPlacido, J. (2001). Personality’s role in the protection and enhancement of health. In A. Baum, T.A. Revenson & J.E. Singer (Eds), Handbook of Health Psychology (pp. 175–193). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Snyder, C.R. & Lopez, S.J. (Eds) (2002). Handbook of Positive Psychology. London: Oxford University Press. Suls, J. & Martin, R. (2001). Social comparison processes in the physical health domain. In A. Baum, T.A. Revenson & J.E. Singer (Eds), Handbook of Health Psychology (pp. 195–208). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Uchino, B.N., Cacioppo, J.T. & Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K. (1996). The relationship between social support and physiological processes: a review with emphasis on underlying mechanisms and implications for health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 488–531. MODELS AND CONCEPTS 19 Wallston, K.A. (2001). Conceptualization and operationalization of perceived control. In A. Baum, T.A. Revenson & J.E. Singer (Eds), Handbook of Health Psychology (pp. 49–58). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. WHO (1992). International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Zeidner, M. & Endler, N. (Eds) (1996). Handbook of Coping: Theory, Research, Applications. New York: John Wiley & Sons. CHAPTER 3 The Person’s Experience of Health Care Paul Kennedy and Susan Llewelyn University of Oxford, UK INTRODUCTION In this chapter we will focus on the individual’s experience of the health care system. This experience is influenced by many factors that include historical, cultural and economic developments.
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