Lecture 1 - What is Health Psychology Flashcards
(41 cards)
What is Health Psychology?
The study of how psychological influences contribute to health, illness, and reaction to illness
what is health psychology not
clinical psychology
What Might be Appealing about this
Discipline?
Applied discipline
• It’s really about BEHAVIOUR CHANGE!
• Can inform many real-life decisions
what is the WHO definition of health
WHO, 1948: “A complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.”
This state of optimum health is called what
“wellness”.
What Health Psychologists Do
Health promotion and maintenance • Prevention and treatment of disease
• Research
• Analyze and improve health care system and health policies
• And many more possibilities
what do heath psychologists research
- Etiology
* Epidemiology
what is etiology
(causes of disease)
what is epidemiology
(frequency/distribution/determinants of disease in a population)
Are the mind and the body part of the same system? • Or are the mind and the body two separate systems?
We have come full circle in answering these questions.
it started with it as one unit, then separate and now again it is one unit
what was the prehistoric period view of the mind and body
Early cultures: prehistoric and ancient Egypt
• Mind and body one unit
• Illness caused by evil spirits and Gods
• E.g., trephination
what was the ancient greek view of the mind and body
Proposed “humoral theory of illness”
who Proposed “humoral theory of illness”
Hippocrates
what is the humoral theory of illness
An imbalance of bodily fluids in the body: blood, black bile, yellow
bile, and phlegm in the body
• Said that disease is related to bodily factors but can also impact the mind
• ”good diet and lifestyle” as cure
what was the middle ages (500-1450) view of the mind and body
- Return to supernatural and religious interpretations
- Illness was punishment for sins
- Priest was central to healing
what was the renaissance period known for
Beginning of the Biomedical Model
explain the view of the Renaissance Period: Beginning of the Biomedical Model
- Religious approach less accepted with advancement of science
- Disease usually viewed as result of natural causes
- Reemergence of scientific approach
- Mind-body became separate
with the Renaissance Period, the mind and body were separate– who looked after the body and who looked after the mind
Physicians looked after the body
Theologians, philosophers look after the mind
what is the biomedical model
Dualistic Approach – • Mind and body as separate
• Reliance on physical evidence as only basis for diagnosis and treatment
did Freud contribute to some breakdown of the pure biomedical model
yes
what did Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory involve
Conversion Hysteria
what is Conversion Hysteria
unconscious conflicts can produce physical illness
• Unconscious conflict is converted into a symbolic physical symptom
• E.g. loss of vision
what is the current view of the mind and body
Moving Towards the Biopsychosocial
Model of Disease
explain the Biopsychosocial
Model of Disease
We now know (again) …
• Physical health is interwoven with psychological and social environment.
• The mind and the body cannot be separated in matters of health and illness.
• Treatment and prognosis are related to expectations and the patient-practitioner relationship
-> scientific methodologies to find evidence -> growing interest in holistic approach
