HEALTH

PSYCHOLOGY:
Introduction
UNIT I
WHAT IS HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
 Health psychology is an exciting and relatively new
field devoted to understanding psychological
influences on how people stay healthy, why they
become ill, and how they respond when they do get
ill.
 Health psychologists both study such issues and
promote interventions to help people stay well or get
over illness.
 Health psychology has been specifically defined as
“the aggregate of the specific educational, scientific,
and professional contributions of the discipline of
psychology to the promotion and maintenance of
health, the prevention and treatment of illness, and
the identification of etiologic and diagnostic correlates
of health, illness and related dysfunction and to the
analysis and improvement of the health care system
and health policy formation (Matarazzo, 1982).
WHAT IS HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
 Etiology refers to the origins or causes of illness,
and health psychologists are especially interested
in the behavioral and social factors that contribute
to health or to illness and dysfunction.
 Such factors can include health habits such as
alcohol consumption, smoking, exercise, the
wearing of seat belts, and ways of coping with
stress.
 Health psychologists analyze and attempt to
improve the health care system and the
formulation of health policy.
 They study the impact of health institutions and
health professionals on people’s behaviour and
develop recommendations for improving health
care.
CHANGING PATTERNS OF ILLNESS
 Until the 20thcentury, the major causes of illness and death in
the United States were acute disorders, especially tuberculosis,
pneumonia, and other infectious diseases.
 Acute disorders are short-term illnesses, often the result of a
viral or bacterial invader and usually amenable to cure.
 Now, however, chronic illnesses —especially heart disease,
cancer, and diabetes—are the main contributors to disability
and death, particularly in industrialized countries.
 Chronic illnesses are slowly developing diseases with which
people live for a long time. Often, chronic illnesses cannot be
cured but rather only managed by patient and health care
provider.
 These are diseases in which psychological and social factors are
implicated as causes. For example, personal health habits, such
as diet and smoking, are implicated in the development of heart
disease and cancer is critical to the likelihood of developing
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).
 CHANGING PATTERNS OF
ILLNESS
 Consequently, health psychology has evolved, in part,
to explore these causes and to develop ways to modify
them. People may live with chronic diseases for many
years; psychological issues arise in connection with
them.
 Health psychologists help the chronically ill adjust
psychologically and socially to their changing health
state.
 They help those with chronic illness develop treatment
regimens, many of which involve self-care.
 Chronic illnesses affect family functioning, including
relationships with a partner or children, and health
psychologists both explore these changes and help
ease the problems in family functioning that may result.
 ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY
AND RESEARCH
 The field of health psychology is changing almost daily
because new issues arise that require the input of
psychologists (Saab et al., 2004).
 For example, new technologies now make it possible to
identify the genes that contribute to many disorders.
Just in the past few years, genes contributing too many
diseases, including breast cancer, have been uncovered.
 Health psychologists conduct research that identifies the
risk factors for disease, such as a high-fat diet, and help
people learn to change their diet and stick to their
program.
 Helping people make informed, appropriate decisions is
fundamentally a psychological task. Advances in genetic
research have made it possible to identify carriers of
illness and to test a fetus for the presence of particular
life threatening or severely debilitating illnesses.
THE ROLE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
IN HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
 Changing patterns of illness have been charted and followed by the
field of epidemiology, a discipline closely related to health
psychology in its goals and interests (Miller, 1992).
 Epidemiology is the study of the frequency, distribution, and
causes of infectious and noninfectious disease in a population,
based on an investigation of the physical and social environment.
 For example, epidemiologists study not only who has what kind of
cancer but also why some cancers are more prevalent than others
in particular geographic areas or among particular groups of
people.
 With the help of epidemiology health psychology is concerned not
only with biological outcomes but also with health related quality of
life and symptomatic complaints.
 Health psychologists are becoming more involved in the effort to
improve quality of life among those diagnosed with chronic
illnesses, so that these individuals may live out their remaining
years as free from pain, disability, and lifestyle compromise as
possible.
 INCREASED MEDICAL
ACCEPTANCE
 Another reason for the development of health psychology is
the increasing acceptance of health psychologists within the
medical community.
 Although health psychologists have been employed in health
settings for many years, their value is increasingly
recognized by physicians and other health care
professionals.
 At one time, the role of health psychologists in health care
was largely confined to the task of administering tests and
interpreting the test results of individuals who were
suspected of being psychologically disturbed.
 Now, however, caregivers are increasingly recognizing that
psychological and social factors are important in health and
illness.
 Accordingly, the role of the psychologist in changing
patients’ health habits and contributing to treatment is
increasingly acknowledged