Health psychology looks at several factors and how they are involved in preventing threats to physical health. Most commonly, psychological, cultural, environmental, and biological issues are all addressed by those who study health psychology (Marks, Murray, Evans, & Estacio, 2011). In clinical settings, health psychologists work with others in the medical profession, conduct research, teach at colleges and universities, and work on showing people how they can change their behavior in order to live a healthier life (Michie & Abraham, 2004). Promoting public health is a very important part of health psychology and can entail anti-smoking campaigns, weight loss information, and discussions on the benefits of exercise.
The field of health psychology began as part of clinical psychology, but has since branched off and become a field in its own right. Within the field, there are four different divisions -- critical health, clinical health, community health, and public health. There is…...
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References
Cohen, L.M., McChargue, D.E., & Collins, Jr. F.L. (Eds.). (2003). The health psychology handbook: Practical issues for the behavioral medicine specialist. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Marks, D.F., Murray, M., Evans, B., & Estacio, E.V. (2011) Health psychology: Theory-research-practice (3rd Ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Michie, S., & Abraham, C. (Eds.). (2004). Health psychology in practice. London: BPS Blackwells.
Ogden, J. (2007). Health psychology: A textbook (4th ed.). Berkshire, England: Open University Press.
Inpatient psychologists would also possess a more in-depth knowledge of the specific treatment the patient was undergoing, and be able to tailor the treatment plan to the illness. According to the American Psychological Association in a bulletin specifically addressed to patients suffering chronic illnesses: "A qualified psychologist can help you build the emotional resilience necessary to navigate the difficulties of chronic illness. Working with your physician and other specialists, the psychologist can help develop appropriate coping strategies that will not only reinforce your treatment program, but also help you fulfillment in life regardless of any physical limitations" (Chronic illness, 2011, APA). The adult and/or child psychologist could provide assistance in helping adult and child patients deal with stress, regret, PTSD and other associated complaints when warranted.
A fifth possible role might include a psychiatrist specifically trained in an illness present in the population at a high rate or to treat…...
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References
Chronic illness. (2011). American Psychological Association (APA). Retrieved August 11, 2011
Health Psychology Response
Past conducted research led experts to believe that men as a gender tend to not seek medical attention as often as they should for various health concerns. The purpose of this research study was to determine why it is that men under-use primary health services. Since reasons for this attitude towards healthcare are psychological, it necessitates a type of study which is subjective and based upon the individual opinions and experiences of the subjects involved. Researchers are particularly interested in the past negative experiences that these male subjects may have had with healthcare practitioners which would add to this phenomenon of under-utilization.
hile conducting the investigation, researchers conducted "semi-structured" interviews with male GPs who were between ages 35 and 53. The only male GPs that researchers could get to participate in the experiment were persons that were some way already known to researchers. The writers of the document admit…...
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Works Cited:
Hale, Susan and Sarah Grogan. (2010). "Male GPs' Views on Men Seeking Medical Help: a Qualitative Study." British Journal of Health Psychology. The British Psychological Society. 15. 697-713.
Health Psychology: Overeating
Overeating is a health issue that results in obesity in individuals with an eating disorder that results in over-consumption of food products. Various programs are in use by the psychology profession to address the issue of overeating with many of them stating claims of success. This work intends to examine overeating as it relates to the principles of healthy psychology.
According to the work of Prentice (2001) entitled "Overeating: The Health isks" published in the journal of Obesity esearch states that overeating "is a relative term. It refers to the consumption of an energy intake that is appropriately large for a given energy expenditure, thus leading to obesity." There are reportedly specific "environmental and cultural factors that have converged in the past few decades to markedly increase the risk of both active and passive (inadvertent) overeating. Chief among these are the increased availability and promotion of cheap energy-dense…...
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References
Ackard, D.M., Neumark-Sztainer, D. And Story, M. (2003) Overeating Among Adolescents: Prevalence and Association with Weight-Related Characteristics and Psychological Health. Pediatrics Vol. 111 No. 1 January 2003. Retrieved from: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/111/1/67
Astrup, A. (1998) The American paradox: the role of energy-dense fat-reduced food in increasing prevalence of obesity. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 1: 573 -- 577. | Article | PubMed |
Berry, J.T.M. And Glover, R.M. (2004) Stress and Overeating in African-Americans: A comparative Study on the Influence of Stress on Overeating Behaviors. Public Health and the Environment. Nov. 6-10. Washington, DC. Retrieved from: http://apha.confex.com/apha/132am/techprogram/paper_84172.htm
Blair, S.N., Brodney, S. (1999) Effects of physical inactivity and obesity on morbidity and mortality: current evidence and research issues. Med Sci Sports Exerc 31: S646 -- S662. | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
Health Psychology Issues
Health psychology is the field of study in which psychological and behavioral factors of health, sickness, and wellness are examined. This paper has three parts in which the first part is dedicated to an investigation of a health psychology topic along with a broad literature review; the second part reviews a recovery process aided by a self-help group; the third part encompasses presents a behavioral health prevention report.
People are becoming more health conscious than they used to be a few years back and as a result, they are opting for healthier food options. Although diet plans and exercise programs play a major role in weight loss but the imperative role is that of human cognitive processes that persuade one to stay healthy (Smith, n.d.). Human mind is responsible for making everyday decisions, such as what to eat, and in what quantities, hence, the weight loss greatly depends on…...
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References
Brande, L. (2015, December 16). About the alcoholics anonymous (AA) 12 step recovery program. Recovery. Retrieved from anonymous-12-step/http://www.recovery.org/topics/alcoholics -
Burke, L.E., Wang, J., & Sevick, M.A. (2012). Self-monitoring in weight loss: A systematic review of literature. Journal of American Diet Association, 111(1), 92-102. DOI: 10.1016/j.jada.2010.10.008
Graham, S., & Weiner, B. (1996). Theories and principles of motivation. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds.). Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 63-84). New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan.
Patient adherence to taking medications has been a major issue facing many insurance companies. Patients tend to forget to take their medications, and this will reduce the effectiveness of the medicines. The lack of adherence means that the patient's disease will continue developing, and it might become chronic. The patients do not intentionally refuse or forget to take medications, it just happens and sometimes they end up taking the medications later than the appointed times or when they are in pain. In order to promote adherence, most insurance companies have proposed for telephonic coaching, which entails a nurse calling and reminding the patient to take their medication. The nurse no only calls to remind the patient regarding their medication, they also enquire about the patient's progress. This way the patient does not feel burdened with taking medication, but rather they feel they have someone who cares about their…...
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References
Adams, S.R., Goler, N.C., Sanna, R.S., Boccio, M., Bellamy, D.J., Brown, S.D., . . . Schmittdiel, J.A. (2013). Peer Reviewed: Patient Satisfaction and Perceived Success with a Telephonic Health Coaching Program: The Natural Experiments for Translation in Diabetes (NEXT-D) Study, Northern California, 2011. Preventing chronic disease, 10.
Florez, H., Pan, Q., Ackermann, R.T., Marrero, D.G., Barrett-Connor, E., Delahanty, L., . . . Rubin, R.R. (2012). Impact of lifestyle intervention and metformin on health-related quality of life: the Diabetes Prevention Program Randomized Trial. Journal of general internal medicine, 27(12), 1594-1601.
Future of Health Psychology
Health Psychology -- Future Challenges
In Health Psychology, Taylor (2011) notes that in thinking about future challenges to health we must acknowledge that we have made great strides in health-related issues over the past years. In the past decade, life expectancy has risen, death rates have dropped, there have been fewer traffic fatalities and children are missing fewer days of school (2011). All this is great new, but there is still progress to be made and there are some future challenges that are unavoidable.
One unavoidable challenge facing us is the fact that there is a rapid aging population. Taylor (2011) notes that by the year 2021, "we will have the largest elderly cohort ever seen in this and other countries." However, the cohort can go one of two ways: it can be healthy or it can be plagued by illness. Obviously, having a healthy elderly population is the…...
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Reference:
Taylor, Shelley E. (2011). Health psychology. (8th edition). McGraw-Hill.
Dean Ornish in his 2008 TED talk on "natural healing" presents a simple, low-cost and effective plan for disease prevention and management through lifestyle change. Ornish breaks down the areas of discussion into four basic subjects: diet, smoking cessation, obesity, and finally the "psychosocial" implications of health and how to address them in practice. The thread that runs through all these four topics is Ornish's insistence that "the body can heal itself if given half a chance." The lifestyle changes he offers by way of disease prevention are not just a better option than more drastic medical intervention when the disease has progressed, Ornish compares any kind of medical solution without prevention is like "mopping up a floor without turning off the faucet." And as he notes later in the talk, large-scale lifestyle changes may be viewed as disruptive, but the decision to have children is such a large-scale lifestyle…...
Enhancing Health and Wellness
The concept of enhancing health and wellness means different things to different people. To some, the enhancement of health and wellness is about exercise and a fit and healthy lifestyle based on a good diet. To others, enhancing health and wellness is an overarching concept that has less to do with an individual person and more to do with society as a whole. Why society has sickness and how more people can be reached and made to understand the value of health is at the core of this far-reaching understanding. That idea is much closer to what health psychologists consider when they talk about how health and wellness should be advanced into the future (Marks, et al., 2011).
Past experience has shown that there are many different components to health and wellness from a societal standpoint. It is not just about sickness and disease, but about environmental, biological,…...
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References
Marks, D.F., Murray, M., Evans, B., & Estacio, E.V. (2011) Health psychology: Theory-research-practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Michie, S., & Abraham, C. (Eds.). (2004). Health psychology in practice. London: BPS Blackwells.
Taylor, S.E. (2005). Health psychology (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Overview
My personal plan for change focuses on cutting down my alcohol consumption and working towards cessation. Although I am an extremely active and healthy individual, I have a growing concern regarding the frequency of my drinking and my growing tendency to binge on alcohol. I frequently feel physically ill and emotionally drained on the following days following my binges. In addition, while I have not yet experienced any work-related or legal issues connected to my drinking, I know that my romantic partner and several close friends are concerned about my use of alcohol.
I've recently found myself feeling increasingly guilty about my drinking, and on several occasions…...
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References
Gross M. 2010 Alcoholics Anonymous: still sober after 75 years. 1935. American Journal of Public Health. 100(12). 2361-3.
Nathan, P., Wallace, Zweben, J., Horvath, T. 2011 "Understanding Alcohol Use Disorders and their Treatment", American Psychological Association,. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/alcohol-disorders.aspx
"Self-help organizations for alcohol and drug problems: towards evidence-based practice and policy" Workgroup on Substance Abuse Self-Help Organizations. Feb 2003. Retrieved from http://smartrecovery.org/links/VAsmafeb1103.pdf
Affective Distress and Its Impact
Health Psychology: Affective Distress and its Impact
Stress is a significant part of daily life for most people. It can take its toll on a person if he or she does not understand good techniques that can be used to mitigate its effects. One of the biggest problems with stress, other than not knowing how to manage it, is that too much stress can trigger the fight of flight response in some people (Taylor, 2005). When that occurs, the person generally experiences what is called a panic attack or an anxiety attack. These usually only last a few minutes, but they can linger for much longer periods of time in some cases. Panic and anxiety are debilitating (Petersen, Maier, & Seligman, 1995). Often, the person insists that he or she is dying. An ambulance is called or the person is rushed to the emergency room, only to…...
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References
Petersen, C., Maier, S.F., & Seligman, M.E.P. (1995). Learned helplessness: A theory for the age of personal control. New York: Oxford University Press.
articles on compulsive gambling. Specifically, it will summarize and evaluate both articles, discussing the articles themselves, not the issues they cover. Both magazine articles cover aspects and causes of compulsive gambling, or a specific addictive disorder common in America today.
The first article, Gambling: when it is not a game anymore by Jeremiah Weinstock, James P. Whelan, and Andrew W. Meyers, discusses some of the causes of compulsive gambling, and how the gambler can easily and slowly become addicted to betting. The article also discusses how gambling is not a problem for everyone who ever plays in a casino, but it can be a major problem for family and friends of the compulsive gambler, and the community. The article notes, "Studies have found that approximately one in fifty or 2% of Americans have had severe levels of disordered gambling at some point in their lifetime. An additional 3 to 5%…...
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References
Virtues guru Bennett: 'Gambling days over'. (2003, May 31). The Christian Century, 120, 18.
Weinstock, J., Whelan, J.P., & Meyers, A.W. (1999, Summer). Gambling: when it is not a game anymore. Business Perspectives, 11, 18+.
Evidence-Based Programs and Practices in psychological health
Introduction
Numerous years of research and studies in clinical psychology have illustrated that how individuals process received information, particularly with an attentional bias (AB) to scary information as well as bias in negatively interpreting vague information and data (interpretation bias), actually plays a huge part in the start and maintenance of depression and anxiety (Hughes at al., 2016). There is a growing interest in health psychology in the application of these experimental techniques to evaluate possible cognitive processing prejudices in health conditions like chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, and chronic fatigue syndrome together with health behaviors like smoking, eating, and alcohol abuse. Experimental studies in these fields could inform hypothetical development by allowing access to types and levels of information and data processing that might underpin unhelpful disease representation and manipulate health behaviors. Therefore, this paper is a study that aims to review evidence-based…...
Social Media Trends: Health Psychology
One of the most notable trends in recent years is the rise in interest in the field of popular psychology. People conduct personality tests on themselves, engage in self-diagnosis, and simplify psychological conditions (both common and uncommon) and apply them to their daily lives. The ubiquity of the Internet has made this even more accessible. Although self-help books have been best sellers for more than a hundred years, and even 19th century magazines printed personality self-quizzes, the ease of taking and scoring them online has caused an explosion of self-analysis (Bisceglio, 2017). Although some of the quizzes are clearly silly, others, like online versions of the Myers-Briggs, are also used in a serious setting as a method of analyzing prospective employees. “In-depth psychological assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator began popping up in the first half of the 20th century for the purpose of scanning and…...
Health of Indigenous Australian Using Ecological and Holistic Health Paradigm
Patterns of health and illness
Physical Health
Mental Health
Spiritual Health
Social Health
Impact of Broader Environments
Natural
Built
Social
Economic
Political
Critical eflection
Health is a basic component of human life that comprises of multiple facets. The description of health has witnessed dramatic change during past few years, as it has become a holistic phenomenon. Previously, it was considered that a healthy person is the one who does not suffer from any ailment or illness. However in recent times, the physical, psychological and communal aspects of human life have been amalgamated to give a broader perspective to human health which is identical to the concept of indigenous communities (Hjelm, 2010).
Numerous organizations are working extensively for providing adequate health care to the world population since many decades. However, it is appalling to notice that discrimination on social, economic and political grounds has coerced indigenous populations to languish in poor health conditions in regions…...
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References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2012, Australia's health 2012, AIHW, Australia.
Biddle, N & Yap, M 2010, Demographic and Socioeconomic Outcomes Across the Indigenous Australian Lifecourse: Evidence from the 2006 Census, ANU E. Press, Australia.
Caltabiano, ML & Ricciardelli, L 2012, Applied Topics in Health Psychology, John Wiley & Sons, Great Britain.
Carson, B, Dunbar, T & Chenhall, RD 2007, Social Determinants of Indigenous Health, Allen & Unwin, Singapore.
Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) was a German-American psychologist who is widely regarded as the founder of social psychology. His groundbreaking work revolutionized the field by introducing new theories, methods, and perspectives that continue to shape our understanding of human behavior and social dynamics.
Field Theory and the Life Space
Central to Lewin's approach was his field theory, which posited that behavior is determined by the individual's psychological "life space." The life space encompasses the individual's perceptions, motivations, needs, and the social and environmental forces that influence them. Lewin believed that by understanding the field space, we could better predict....
The Profound Benefits of Embracing Early Rising: A Comprehensive Guide In the tapestry of life, the choice of when to awaken carries far-reaching implications. Embracing the benefits of waking up early in the morning unveils a wealth of advantages that can profoundly enhance our well-being, productivity, and overall happiness. 1. Enhanced Cognitive Performance: Studies have consistently shown that waking up early can boost cognitive function. As the brain gradually awakens during the morning hours, it is at its peak for concentration, memory, and problem-solving. By starting the day with this cognitive edge, individuals can tackle their tasks with greater efficiency and clarity. Reference: - Van....
Interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors in health and illness
Emphasis on holistic approach to understanding and treating health conditions
Historical Context
Emergence in the mid-20th century
Influence of biopsychosocial researchers like George Engel
II. Body
Biological Factors
Genetics and genetic predisposition
Physiological responses to stress
Psychological Factors
Cognitive processes and beliefs
....
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