psychology_Sons_(2003)

CHAPTER 22

Health Psychology

CYNTHIA D. BELAR, TERESA MENDONCA MCINTYRE, AND JOSEPH D. MATARAZZO

451

ROOTS OF THE FIELD 451
FORMALIZATION AS A FIELD OF INQUIRY
AND PRACTICE 453
FORMALIZATION OF THE FIELD
WITHIN PSYCHOLOGY 456
American Organizational Efforts 456
International Organizational Efforts 457

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 458

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 459

Training in Europe 460

CONCLUSION 460

SUGGESTED READINGS 461

REFERENCES 461

Health psychology is the aggregate of the specific educational,

scientific, and professional contributions of the discipline of psy-

chology to the promotion and maintenance of health, the preven-

tion and treatment of illness, the identification of etiologic and

diagnostic correlates of health, illness and related dysfunction,

and the analysis and improvement of the health care system and

health policy formation. (Matarazzo, 1980, 1982, 2001)

Health psychology is distinguished from behavioral medicine
in that the latter is an interdisciplinary field examining rela-
tionships between behavior and health and is not limited to
psychology. Yet health psychology does have foundations in
other health and social sciences. Its core knowledge base
involves the integration of biological, cognitive, affective,
social and psychological bases of behavior with biological,
cognitive, affective, social, and psychological bases of health
and disease. Health psychology also includes knowledge
of health policy and the organization of health care delivery
systems. It is a very broad field, characterized by studies in
health behavior, behavioral risk factors for illness, response
to illness, the impact of social support on health, culture
and health, physician-patient relationships, psychoneuroim-
munology, and psychophysiology among others.
Clinical health psychology is the term used for application
of health psychology in professional practice. This specialty

is dedicated to both the development of knowledge and

the delivery to individuals, families, and health care systems

of high quality services based on that knowledge (APA,

1997).

ROOTS OF THE FIELD

The roots of health psychology are in the history of mind–body

relationships along with those of other fields such as phi-

losophy, theology, mathematics, astrology, and medicine.

Mind–body relationships were very much the concern of

priests, alchemists, shamans, or healers, and throughout his-

tory a multiplicity of views converged in two alternating ap-

proaches: a unitary view that postulates that mind and body are

indivisible and a dualistic view that sees them as separate enti-

ties. The roots of health psychology can be traced back to the

unitary view of mind–body relationships (Taylor, 1999).

Our knowledge of prehistoric societies indicates that hu-

mans considered mind and body as a unit, attributing physi-

cal and mental illnesses to demonic possession or evil spirits.

The early writings of Hebrews, Egyptians, and Chinese

confirmed this supernatural view of causality. Stone Age ar-

chaeological findings in Europe and South America show ev-

idence of a surgical procedure called trephination that some

claim shamans used to allow evil forces to leave the body

(Selling, 1940).

In ancient Greece, the unitary view evolved to include nat-

uralistic causes of disease, opening the way to modern medi-

cine. Plato (427–347 B.C.) wrote that “it is not proper to cure

We are thankful to John Weinman, Ad Kaptein, Ralf Schwarzer,
Hannah McGee, and Marie Johnston for their helpful comments on
an earlier version of the manuscript and providing historical infor-
mation regarding the development of Health Psychology in Europe.