ÜDS-2012-Spring-12

ÖSYM • osym
March 18, 2012 1 min

Psychology’s involvement in health dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, but at that time, few psychologists were involved in medicine. The psychosomatic medicine movement sought to bring psychological factors into the understanding of disease, but that view gave way to the biopsychosocial approach to health and disease. By the 1970s, psychologists had begun to develop research and treatment aimed at chronic disease and health promotion. This research and treatment led to the founding of two new fields: behavioural medicine and health psychology. Behavioural medicine is concerned with applying the knowledge and techniques of behavioural research to physical health, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. Health psychology strives to enhance health, prevent and treat disease, identify risk factors, improve the health care system and shape public opinion regarding health issues. Health psychology overlaps with behavioural medicine, and the two professions have many common methods of diagnosis and treatment. However, behavioural medicine is an interdisciplinary field, whereas health psychology is a speciality within the field of psychology that is concerned with issues of physical health.


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