TO CONCLUDE
Psychology appears to have a role to play in understanding cancer, not only in terms of
beliefs and behaviours, which may be related to the onset of cancer, but also in terms
of psychological consequences, the treatment of symptoms, improving quality of life,
disease-free intervals and longevity.FOR DISCUSSION
Do you know anyone who has had a chronic illness? Think about how psychological
factors such as behaviour, beliefs and coping influenced their state of health.ASSUMPTIONS IN HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
An examination of the role of psychological factors in illness highlights some of the
assumptions in health psychology:
1 The mind–body split. By examining the role of psychology in illness, it is implicitly
assumed that psychology and illness (the body) are separate. This promotes a model
of an individual who has a physical and a mental world which interact but are
separate. Although this interaction is an attempt at a holistic approach to health and
illness, it is still intrinsically dualistic.
2 Correlational studies. Many of the research studies carried out in health psychology
are cross-sectional (i.e. they examine the relationship between variables measured at
the same time). For example, ‘What is the relationship between coping style and
immune status?’, and ‘What is the relationship between life stressors and illness?’
Studies using cross-sectional designs often make statements about causality (e.g.
‘coping style causes changes in immune status’, ‘stressors cause illness’). However, it
is quite possible that the relationship between these variables is either causal in the
opposite direction (e.g. illness causes high reports of stressors, ‘I am now ill and
remember the last six months differently’), or non-existent (e.g. ‘I am ill and I have
had lots of stressful events in my life recently but they are unrelated’ (the third
variable problem)). Prospective studies are used as an attempt to solve this problem,
but even prospective studies only examine the correlation between variables – it is still
difficult to talk about causality.? QUESTIONS
1 Discuss the role of psychological factors in the progression to full-blown AIDS.
2 AIDS kills. Discuss.
3 Describe the role of psychology in cancer onset.
4 Discuss the role of psychological factors in a disease-free interval following a
diagnosis of breast cancer.348 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY