So what is Health Psychology?

-


How do we reduce the obesity crisis? How can we help people adopt better diets? Why do some people struggle to maintain a healthy weight? How do chronic conditions impact individuals wellbeing?
Simply put, health psychology is the promotion of health and the prevention of illness, with the ultimate aim of helping individuals and populations achieve better healthier lives.

Health psychologists study how a variety of factors can influence our health, this is known as the Biopsychosocial model. For example, someone may have high blood pressure, making them susceptible to CHD. Along with the standard biomedical explanations for high blood pressure (bio), the individual may also be experiencing high work stress with little support (social) and may have a poor coping style for managing such stressors (psycho). So we can see how many factors are impacting the individuals health outcomes.

Thus, Health psychologists explore how different factors can influence our health and wellbeing, directly by impacting our physiology and indirectly through influencing our behaviours and attitudes. With this knowledge, we can then develop better interventions for targeting the biggest factors affecting our modern health outcomes.


 
 
Non communicable diseases are increasing and becoming a problem. Furthermore, it is suggested that 50% of mortality can be attributed to lifestyle related behaviours such as poor diet, lack or exercise and smoking. Poor lifestyle behaviours have been linked to many chronic illnesses such as

  • Stroke
  • Heart disease
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Cancer
  • Dementia
  • Infectious diseases

    • Health psychologists may then focus on studying and developing interventions for lifestyle risks such as
    • Stress reduction
    • Weight management
    • Smoking cessation
    • Improving nutrition
    • Reducing risky sexual behaviours
    • Hospice care and grief counselling for terminal patients
    • Preventing illness
    • Understanding the effects of illness
    • Improving recovery
    • Teaching coping skills

    Along with helping people maintain a healthy weight, avoid unhealthy behaviours and maintain a positive outlook to reduce stress. Health psychologists may work to help educate  other health professionals to better incorporate psychological approaches into how they treat patients and improve their health outcomes.


    If you are interested in learning more about health psychology and if it could help you, visit BPS Health psychology

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Eating Disorders and Recovery

    -
    Image
    Image source https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uUyykTKmKXQ/hqdefault.jpg Eating disorders are commonly associated with female adolescents. Yet, this widely accepted stereotype does not match the reality, and is a dangerous assumption that shouldn’t diminish the seriousness of the illness. The cliché of eating disorders being something that only affects the younger generation has led to many people ignoring signs and symptoms of eating disorders. Eating disorders are serious illnesses, and getting access to treatment as early as possible can give a person the best chance of making a full recovery. Eating disorders can happen to anyone at any age. Typically, they start as an unhealthy coping strategy, which the person uses to try and manage overwhelming emotions and difficult situations. Regardless of age, gender or ethnic diversity, the symptoms and behaviours associated with eating disorders remain similar. It can have an equally devastating impact on any person’s quality of ...
    Read more

    Simply Psychology...Food addiction

    -
    Image
    When it comes to food addiction there are two possible forms, substance specific or behavioural. One form would occur when specific food substances are eaten (e.g. sugar), such that the food substance itself is addictive. The alternative form suggests that it is the eating behaviour that is addictive (rather than a specific food substance). So, what is a food addiction? Under the DSM -IV-TR, substance dependence has seven criteria, three of which must be met to be classed as addicted (Toates, 2010). Tolerance, withdrawal, larger consumption, desire, spending time obtaining, giving up normal activities and continuing use despite knowledge of harm. Six of these criteria would be met with a food addiction. However, little time would be spent trying to obtain food as its easily available (Toates, 2010). Thus, a food addiction has the potential to be diagnosed as substance dependence. The changes in the brain seen shortly after an addictive food substance is...
    Read more

    Simply Mental Health - Stress

    -
    Image
     Image source: cleanfoodcrush.com     What is stress?   Stress is a biological reaction to anything the brain perceives as a challenge or threat. This can include quick responses, like needing to run away from something or from persistent demands and pressure in day to day life. The exact causes of stress are predominantly dependant on what you perceive as stressful. However, common causes include, physical, social or financial threats where the individual has low control. Pressure at home, work or school, especially if it is persistent and makes you feel out of control, can lead to chronic stress. Fears and uncertainty may cause worrying and negative thinking, or c ognitive dissonance, where your beliefs and actions do not match up. For example, if you believe that helping others is good, but you cannot help someone due to other circumstances, you may feel guilt, which can result in stress. Additionally, conflict with others can make ...
    Read more