Introduction

Question 1

Define health

Answer 1

a complete state of physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease

Question 2

What is the role of a health psychologist? (5)

Answer 2

• health promotion
• prevention and treatment of illness
• focus on aetiology and correlates of health, illness, and dysfunction
• improve healthcare systems and formulate health policies
• psychological interventions

Question 3

How are future health problems prevented? (4)

Answer 3

• changing behaviour through existing resources
• developing new models of behaviour change
• identifying and targeting preventative health behaviour
• creating a social context which promotes healthy choices

Question 4

How are illnesses prevented and treated effectively? (4)

Answer 4

• stress management
• following treatment regimen
• focus on those at risk
• focusing on protective factors as well as risk factors

Question 5

At what 2 levels due clinical health psychologists intervene?

Answer 5

1. Individual level - treat illness, prevent disease progression, reduce disability
2. Systems level - training staff and consultation

Question 6

What is the humoral theory of illness?

Answer 6

according to the Ancient Greeks, disease was a result of the 4 humors (blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm) being out of balance

Question 7

What was the explanation for illness in the middle ages?

What was the cure?

Answer 7

disease was regarded as god’s punishment for evildoing

cure: torturing the body to drive out evil - later replaced with penance

Question 8

What is the biomedical model? (2)

Answer 8

all illness can be explained on somatic bodily processes

assumes that psychological and social processes are irrelevant to disease

Question 9

What are the assumptions of psychosomatic medicine?

Give an example

Answer 9

specific illnesses are produced by people’s internal conflicts

e.g., ulcer-prone personality - someone with excessive needs for dependency and love has an increase in stomach acid, producing ulcers

Question 10

What is the biopsychosocial model?

Answer 10

health and illness are consequences of the interplay of several factors:

• biological pathogens
• social factors
• psychological factors

Question 11

What are advantages of the biopsychosocial model?

Answer 11

• emphasizes both health and illness
• health is not taken for granted
• aids the diagnosis process
• explicit significance of the doctor-patient relationship

Question 12

What are the major causes of illness and death in the US?

Answer 12

acute disorders (short term illnesses - usually possible to cure)

Question 13

What are the main contributors to disability and death?

Answer 13

chronic illnesses - cannot be cured, but managed