Health psychology is a branch of psychology that seeks to understand and uncover the role of psychological factors in the maintenance of health and in the onset, development, and rehabilitation of illness, and to design interventions to help individuals stay healthy or recover from illness.
A Brief History
Since the advent of scientific psychology in the early twentieth century, psychologists have made many important contributions to health care. They looked at why some people are more susceptible to disease, how patients adapt to disease, and what factors can influence health behaviors. In response to these trends, the American Psychological Association (APA) established a task force on the role of psychology in health research in 1973. Members of the task force included counseling, clinical, and rehabilitation psychologists, most of whom were employed in health-related fields. Another task force consisting of social, developmental, and community/environmental psychologists advanced...
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Further Reading
Taylor S, Stanton AL (2020) Health psychology, 11th edn. McGraw Hill, New York
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Guangyu, Z., Xinghua, L. (2024). Health Psychology. In: The ECPH Encyclopedia of Psychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6000-2_769-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6000-2_769-1
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