Download 01-Introducing Health Psychology

Introducing Health
Psychology
What people die from is
changing
 1900 - Acute Infectious diseases
 Pneumonia
 Tuberculosis (TB)
 Presently - Chronic diseases
 Cardiovascular diseases
 Leading cause of death in the U.S.
 Heart disease
 Stroke
 Cancer
Young people (15 - 24)
most likely to die from:
 Accidents (unintentional injuries)
 Violent deaths
 Murder (Homicide)
 Suicide
Ethnicity and disease
 Diseases and life span vary by
ethnicity.
E.g. Japanese live longer that European
Americans
European Americans live longer that
African Americans
Income and Disease
Poverty & low education =
health problems & lower life
expectancy
Unrelated to ethnicity
Education and death rates
Inverse relation between education
and death rates
More education = less disease (Longer
life)
Are living longer?
1900 = 47.3 years
Presently = 77 years
30 year increase
Why has the life
expectancy increased?
Main factor = lower infant mortality
Will health care cost you
more?
Costs have increased faster than
inflation
Why are medical costs increasing?
Aging population
Sophisticated medical technology
Complex surgical procedures
What is health?
Biomedical model (Western
medicine)
Disease is exclusively a biological
process
Pathogen (disease-causing organism) =
disease
No pathogen = health
Most useful for infectious diseases
What is health?
Newer (more inclusive model)
Biopsychosocial model
Viewpoint of health psychologists
Includes: Biological, Psychological, and
Sociological (social) influences.
Eg. Psychosomatic illness
Advantages of the
Biopsychosocial model
Better for current model of lifestyle
diseases
Adds Psychological and social aspects
Views health as a positive condition
Not just the absence of illness
Advantages of the
Biopsychosocial model
Sees many diseases resulting from a
combination of:
Genetics
Physiology
Social support
Personal control
Stress
Personality
Poverty
Ethnicity
Cultural beliefs
What is the focus of health
psychology?
Health enhancement
Disease prevention
Rehabilitation
Interdisciplinary team member