Chapter 22: Health Psychology

Kerry Chamberlain & Michael Murray

Health psychology Health psychology was formally established in the 1970s when a group of psychologists met in the USA to discuss the relevance and application of psychology to issues of physical health, and formed the Health Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association. A definition of health psychology was subsequently presented at the Division's annual meeting in 1979, which essentially defined health psychology as the contribution of all the educational, scientific and professional aspects of psychology to any and all areas of physical health, and specifically included health promotion and maintenance, illness treatment and prevention, and the role of psychological factors in health and illness (Matarazzo, 1980). Later, the definition was extended to identify a role for health psychology in improving health care services and policies (Matarazzo, 1982). This definition of health psychology remains commonly in use today, although the degree to which health psychologists attempt the additional tasks of ...

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