intro to health psych

WHO health def

physical, mental, and social wellbeing

health is NOT

an absence of disease or infirmity

wellness

state of optimun health

biomedical model

focus on illness, dominant model for past 300 years, illness can be explained on the basis of aberrant physiological processes

biomed model - single factor model

illness due to one factor, biological malfunction

whats wrong with biomed model

mind body dualism, emphasis on illness over health, reductionism

reductionism

illness reduced to microlevel procesesses, such as chemical imbalances

biopsychosocial model

focus on system, health and illness are consequences of interplay of biological, psychological, social factors

advantage of biopsych: macrolevel processes

psychological and social factors are determinants of health, just as microlevel processes are

advantage of biopsych: multiple factors

involved in health and illness

advantage of biopsych: health and illness

Mind and body cannot be distinguished in matters of health and illness, emphasis on health and illness

health psychology

aggregate of the specific educational, scientific, and professional contributions of the discipline of psych to promotion and maintenance of health, prevention and treatment of illness, identification of etiologic and diagnostic correlates of health, and improvement of the health care system and health policy information

smoking

who is likely to quit? how to increase numbers of those who quit?

healthy eating

how to encourage children to have healthy relationship? how to design media campaign that gets people to improve diets?

exercise

what would be effective in promoting regular exercise?

how do u prevent illness

lower stress

What behavior is important in treating an illness?

adherence to medicine

how do u treat a symtpom that cannot be treated with meds?

dealing with chronic symptoms

rise of health psych

emerged in 1970s, rapid growth in last 25 years

health psych in apa

has own division, and its own journals

clincal and counseling psych training programs

have a track that allows students to specialize in health psych

health care

largest service industry in US, main emphasis on prevention has potential of reducing health care costs

research in healthcare

conduct research on how satisfied people are with their healthcare

health psychologist work settings

uni, hospitals, industrial/occupational health settings, independent practices