Why is the Field of Health Psychology Needed?

A number of trends within medicine, psychology, and the health care system have combined to make the emergence of health psychology inevitable. It is safe to say that health psychology is one of the most important developments within the field of psychology in the past 50 years. What factors have led to the development of health psychology?

One of the reasons might be the changing patterns of illness. The most important factor giving rise to health psychology has been the change in illness pattern that has occurred in the United States and other technologically advanced societies. 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 medical illness often the result of a viral of bacterial invader and usually amenable to cure.

Now, however, chronic illness-especially heart disease, cancer, and diabetes-are the main contribution to disability and death, especially 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 the patient and provider working together.

Why chronic illnesses helped spawn the field of health psychology? First, 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, and sexual activity is critically important in the likelihood of developing AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Consequently, health psychology has evolved, in part, to explore these causes and to develop ways to modify them.

Second, because people may live with chronic disease 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 regiments, many of which involve self-care. Chronic illnesses affect family functioning, including relationships with a partner or children and heath psychologists both explore these changes and help ease the problems in family functioning that may result. Many people with chronic illness use unconventional therapies outside formal medicine. Understanding what leads people to seek unconventional treatment and evaluating their effectiveness are also issues on which health psychologistss can shed light.

The field of health psychology is changing almost daily because new issues arise that require the input of psychologists. For example, new technologies now make it possible to identify the genes that contribute to many disorders.

Reference: PARTICULARITIES OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY, http://www.cop.es/English/docs/particularities.htm