Introduction to Health Psychology

Mutiara Budi Azhar

Faculty of Medicine Sriwijaya University

The Changing Field of Health

Patterns

of disease and death

Infectious versus chronic disease

Contagious versus noncontagios disease
Transitional epidemiology (in developing
countries)
Escalating

costs of medical care

DM, heart diseases, hypertension etc

The need to employ behavioral and lifestyle
changes before disease develops.
Dr MBA

What is health?
World Health Organization Definition of
Health (1948):
A

complete state of physical, mental,

and social well-being and not merely
the absence of disease and infirmity.

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Changing Models of Health

The Rise of Biomedical Model

Dualists:

Mind and body are separated entities

Holists:
Mind and body are one
Rene Descartes a renaissance dualists:
Body is part of physical world while
mind is nonmaterial, much like the soul.
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The Biomedical Model

Dominant

paradigm of the medical

profession
Can be characterized as:
Dualistic
Reductionistic
Single-factor model
Mechanistic model
Disease oriented
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Evolving View of Diseases

Anatomical

pathology

Disease is localized in anatomy (16th to

18th Centuries)
Tissue

pathology

Specific tissues could become diseased

while others remain healthy (Late 1800s)

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Evolving View of Diseases-c0nt. 2

Cellular

pathology

Life resides in cells and so cells must

be the place to look for disease (19th
century)
Germ

theory

Discovery that particles in the air that

could not seen (e.g., bacteria) could
cause disease (19th century)

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Advantages of the Biomedical Model

Medications

that destroy pathogens or

ease pain and suffering.
Vaccines to protects against viral
disease
Medical technology to diagnoses
disease
New surgical procedures (antiseptics &
anaesthetics).
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Limitations of Biomedical Models

It is incomplete
Works well when applied to contagious
disease with specific pathogens, but too
limited to take into account the interactions
among social and psychological factors.

There is link between poor mental

health and poor physical health.

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The Biopsychosocial Model

Favoured

paradigm of health
psychology
Can be characterized as:
Multidimensional model
General systems model
Intuitive
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Biopsychosocial Model
Psychological

component:

Behaviour (adoption and maintenance)

Emotional (feelings)
Cognition (thoughts, beliefs, and
attitudes; schemas)
Personality characteristic ways of
thinking and feeling
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The Biopsychosocial Model

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Clinical Implications of the

Biopsychosocial Model
Interdisciplinary

team approach to
assessment and diagnosis
Prevention and treatment should
consider all three factors
An effective patient-practitioner
relationship can improve treatment
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Health Psychology Research

Examples

of studies:

Immune function (Glaser et al.)

Psoriasis (Kabat-Zin et al.)
Breast cancer (Spiegel)

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