This lecture discusses the history and development of health psychology. It covers how health psychology is unique in emphasizing how behavior influences health and exploring ways to motivate healthy behaviors. Current issues addressed by health psychologists include stress reduction, weight management, smoking cessation, nutrition, and reducing risky behaviors. The early history of health psychology involved debates around the relationship between the mind and body. The field emerged in the 1970s to address changing healthcare needs as infectious diseases declined and chronic lifestyles increased life expectancy.

1. DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Government College Women University Faisalabad

2. Course Code:
PSY-508
Credit Hours: 3 (3-0)
Health
Psychology

3. Instructor:
Ms. Maryam Shahzadi
Introduction
to Health
Psychology

4. In this lecture we’ll study:
● Uniqueness of Health
Psychology
● Current issues in
Health Psychology
● Early History
● 20th century

6. How is Health Psychology Unique?
Because health psychology emphasizes how
behavior influences health, it is well positioned to
help people change the behaviors that contribute to
health and well-being. For example, psychologists
who work in this field might conduct applied
research on how to prevent unhealthy behaviors
such as smoking and look for new ways to
encourage healthy actions such as exercising.

7. How is Health Psychology Unique?
For example, while most people realize that eating a
diet high in sugar is not good for their health, many
people continue to engage in such behaviors
regardless of the possible short-term and long-
term consequences. Health psychologists look at the
psychological factors that influence these health
choices and explore ways to motivate people to
make better health choices.

8. How is Health Psychology Unique?
The US Centers for Disease Control National Center for
Health Statistics compiles data regarding death in the
nation and its causes.
Congruent with data trends throughout this century, nearly
half of all deaths in the United States can be linked to
behaviors or other risk factors that are mostly preventable.

9. Current Issues in Health Psychology
Health psychologists work with individuals, groups, and communities to
decrease risk factors, improve overall health, and reduce illness. They
conduct research and provide services in areas including:
● Stress reduction
● Weight management
● Smoking cessation
● Improving daily nutrition
● Reducing risky sexual behaviors

10. Current Issues in Health Psychology
● Hospice care and grief counseling
● Preventing illness
● Understanding the effects of illness
● Improving recovery
● Teaching coping skills

11. Current Issues in Health Psychology
Division 38 of the American Psychological Association
is devoted to health psychology. According to the
division, their focus is on a better understanding of
health and illness, studying the psychological factors
that impact health, and contributing to the health-care
system and health policy.

12. Early History
The body refers to our physical being, including our skin, muscles, bones,
heart, and brain. The mind refers to an abstract process that includes our
thoughts, perceptions, and feelings. Although we can separate the mind and
body conceptually, an important issue is whether they function
independently. The question of their relationship is called the mind/body
problem.

14. Early History of Health Psychology
Acupuncture is a form of treatment
that involves inserting very thin
needles through a person's skin at
specific points on the body, to various
depths. Research suggests that it can
help relieve pain, and it is used for a
wide range of other complaints.

15. THE RENAISSANCE AND AFTER
The 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician Ren´e Descartes probably had the
greatest influence. He introduced three important innovations.
● First, he conceived of the body as a machine and described the
mechanics of how action and sensation occurred.
● Second, he proposed that the mind and body, although separate, could
communicate through the pineal gland, an organ in the brain.
● Third, he believed that animals have no soul and that the soul in
humans leaves the body at death

16. 18th and 19th century
In the 18th and 19th centuries, knowledge in science and medicine grew
quickly, helped greatly by improvements in the microscope and the use of
dissection in autopsies. Once scientists learned the basics of how the
body functioned and discovered that micro-organisms cause certain
diseases, they rejected the humoral theory of illness and proposed new
theories

17. ILLNESS TODAY AND IN THE PAST
During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, people in North
America suffered and died chiefly from two types of illness:
dietary and infectious. Dietary diseases result from
malnutrition—for example, beriberi is caused by a lack of
vitamin B1 and is characterized by anemia, paralysis, and
wasting away. Infectious diseases are acute illnesses caused
by harmful matter or microorganisms, such as bacteria or
viruses, in the body.

18. ILLNESS TODAY AND IN THE PAST
It appears that the decline resulted chiefly from preventive
measures such as improved personal hygiene, greater
resistance to diseases (owing to better nutrition), and public
health innovations, such as building water purification and
sewage treatment facilities. Many people had become
concerned about their health and began to heed the advice of
health reformers like William Alcott, an advocate of
moderation in diet and sexual behavior

19. 20th century
The 20th century witnessed great changes in the patterns of illness
afflicting people. The death rate from life-threatening infectious diseases
declined, and people’s average life expectancy increased dramatically.
The main health problems and causes of death in developed countries
today are chronic diseases—that is, degenerative illnesses, such as heart
disease, cancer, and stroke—that develop or persist over a long period of
time. And worldwide, chronic illnesses account for more than half of all
deaths (WHO, 2009).

20. (Reasons)
The growth of industrialization increased people’s stress and exposure to
harmful chemicals. In addition, more people today survive to old age, and
chronic diseases are more likely to afflict older than younger individuals.
Thus, another reason for the current prominence of chronic diseases is
that more people are living to the age when they are at high risk for
contracting them.

21. (Reasons)
In the age range from 1 to 24 years, over 42% of deaths result from
accidents, frequently involving automobiles. In this age group, the next
four most frequent causes of death are homicide, suicide, cancer, and
cardiovascular diseases. All five of these causes of death are far more
common among 15- to 24-year-olds than for younger ages. Clearly, the
role of disease in death differs greatly at different points in the life span.

22. Biomedical Model
The biomedical model—proposes that all diseases or physical disorders
can be explained by disturbances in physiological processes, which result
from injury, biochemical imbalances, bacterial or viral infection, and the
like.

23. Early History of Health Psychology
The field of health psychology emerged in the 1970s to address
the rapidly changing field of healthcare. Life expectancy was
much lower than, due to lack of basic sanitation and the
prevalence of infectious diseases. Today, life expectancy in the
U.S. is around 78 years, and the leading causes of mortality are
chronic diseases often linked to lifestyle.

24. Brainstorming
Revise the relation between Psychology
and health