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Introduction to Health Psychology August 31, 2004
Introduction to Health Psychology
August 31, 2004
• What is Health Psychology?
• Course Goals, Requirements, & Policies
• The Mind Body Relationship: A Brief History
Overview
The field that seeks to understand the behavioral and psychological factors that impact health:
• How does behavior promote and maintain health?
• Why do some individuals become ill?
• How do individuals respond when they become ill?
• How do biological, psychological, and social forces interact to impact health outcomes?
What is Health Psychology?
Health is a complete state of well-being:• Physical well being• Mental well being• Social well being
Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
This state of optimum health is called, “wellness”.
World Health Organization’s Definition (1948)
Areas of Focus In Health Psychology
• Health Promotion and Maintenance
• Prevention and Treatment of Illness
• Etiology (causes) and Correlates of Health and Illness
• Health Policy and Health Care Service Delivery
Course Goals
Review the models of health specifically contrasting the biomedical and biopsychosocial models
Understand psychological processes which contribute to physical health: stress, individual differences, psychological quality of life
Review health behaviors and related factors
Analyze approaches to health promotion and intervention
Explore factors affecting the patient/consumer utilization of medical services and relationship to providers
Review factors related to coping with chronic and terminal illness
Focus on social and structural factors affecting wellness
Exams• Four in-class exams
• Lowest exam score dropped• No make up exams
• Cumulative final
Brief Proposal and Annotated Bibliography• In five to ten sentences you will propose a health-related research project or
intervention.• Read and annotate five articles from peer-reviewed journals
• Be specific about how the article relates to your proposed project or intervention• Due by or before November 23rd
In-Class Activities (12) • Announced and Unannounced• Lowest two scores dropped• Students may have one “relief” assignment – see syllabus for details
Course Requirements
All readings are available online
Log on the library’s website and then search for the journal by title.
You must log on to a computer on campus.
Readings
Policies
Academic Integrity:• Each student is responsible for reviewing the scholastic
dishonesty policy of Michigan State University. • Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated; this includes
giving or received aid on exams, as well as plagiarism for text and electronic sources.
• All exams are “closed-book” exams
General Policies:• No cell phones, pagers, cd/radios/ headphones or
newspapers are allowed in classPlease turn off all cell phones and pagers before
class.• There will be no make-up exams or assignments
The Mind-Body Relationship
What is the relationship between the mind and body?
Are the body and mind completely separate?Do they interact? If so how?
The Mind-Body Relationship: A Brief History
Ancient Times• In ancient civilizations there was a belief that
spirits influenced human conduct and natural phenomena.
• Illness was treated as a disturbance in the body caused by an evil spirit. • Stone age skulls have been found with small holes in
them (trephination) to release evil spirits.• Shaman performs the treatment.
The Mind-Body Relationship: A Brief History
Early Greek Medicine• The early Greeks identified the role of the
physical body in illness• Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
• Disorders are caused by natural factors• There are four humors in the body that need to be in
balance for optimal health• The body has the capacity to heal itself; treat the total
patient, not just the disease
The Mind-Body Relationship: A Brief History
• Galen (A.D. 130-200)• Related Humoral Theory to personality
Humor Temperament
Characteristic
Phlegm Phlegmatic Sluggish, unemotional
Blood Sanguine Cheerful
Yellow bile Choleric Quick-tempered, fiery
Black bile Melancholic Sad
The Mind-Body Relationship
Middle Ages: Mysticism and demonology
• Disease was considered a punishment from God
• Evil is driven out of the body through torture
• The priest was the primary healer
The Mind-Body Relationship
The Renaissance• Mind and body are two separate systems• Dualistic concept of mind and body
attempts to break away from superstitions of past centuries.
• Theologians, priests, philosophers treat the mind.
• Physicians heal the body.• Physical evidence sole basis for diagnosis and
treatment of illnesses.
The Mind-Body Relationship
• Early technological advances separate the mind from the body
• Rejection of the Humoral Theory• Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723):
microscopy• Giovanni Morgagni (1682-1771): autopsies
• Physical evidence becomes the sole basis for diagnosing and treating illness.
The Mind-Body Relationship
Psychoanalytic contributions• Conversion hysteria (Freud)
• The mind and body are linked:
• Specific unconscious conflicts can lead to particular physical disturbances.
• This occurs through the voluntary nervous system.
• The conflict is converted into a physical symptom to release anxiety.
• Many of these conversions are biologically impossible i.e. glove anesthesia.
The Mind-Body Relationship
Psychosomatic Medicine • Field developed in the early 1900s.• Focus on the study and treatment of particular
diseases believed to be caused by emotional conflicts.• asthma, ulcers, hypertension
The Mind-Body Relationship
Psychosomatic Medicine (1930s-1940s)
• Flanders Dunbar and Franz Alexander• Patterns of personality are linked to specific
illnesses.• Psychological conflicts produce anxiety which, in
turn, has a physiological effect through the autonomic nervous system.
• Critiques of methodology used in this approach
The Mind-Body Relationship
Contemporary View• Physical health is interwoven with mental
health and the social environment.• The mind and the body are connected in
matters of health and illness.
Next Time
• The Emergence of Health Psychology
• The Biopsychosocial Model
• Systems of the Body
