Definition of Health Psychology

Health psychology is 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, for example, a health psychology researcher might be interested in why people continue to smoke even though they know that smoking increases their risk of cancer and heart disease. Information about why people smoke helps the researcher both understand this poor health habit and design intervention to help people stop smoking.

Fundamental to research and practice in health psychology is the definition of health. In 1948, the world health organization defined health as "a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". This definition, which was very forward looking for its time, is at the core of health psychologists' conception of health. Rather than defining health as the absence of illness, health is recognized to be an achievement involving balance among physical, mental, and social well-being. Many use the term "well-ness" to refer to this optimum state of health.

Health psychology is concerned with all aspects of health and illness across the life span. Health psychologist focus on health promotion and maintenance, which includes such issues as how to get children to develop good health habits, how to promote regular exercise, and how to design a media campaign to get people to improve their diets.

Health psychologists also study the psychological aspects of the prevention and treatment of illness. A health psychologists might teach people in a high-stress occupation how to manage stress effectively so that it will not adversely affect their health. A health psychologist might work with people who are already ill to help them adjust more successfully to their illness or to learn to follow their treatment regimen.

Health psychologists, also focus on the etiology and correlates of health, illness, and dysfunction. 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 illness and dysfunction. Such factors can include health habits such as alcohol consumption, smoking, exercise, the wearing if seat belts and ways of coping with stress.

Finally, health psychologists and 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 behavior and develop recommendations for improving health care.

Reference: Health Psychology-Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_psychology