Foundations of Health Psychology

In the field of physical health and psychological well-being, health psychology specializes in exploring biological, psychological, cultural, societal, and environmental factors of life, and how each of these effects physical and emotional health. Health Psychology explores the underlying factors that have a direct and indirect impact on ones’ quality of life. Successful outcomes require a civilization who can investigate and employ treatment approaches that cultivate health.

The research is beginning to discover that negative feeling states such as sadness, anger, rage, anxiety, jealousy, and envy, have a direct association to a person’s physical condition. Complete health depends on a healthy mind and body, and this course will be explaining the basic understanding of this relationship along with providing suggestions for health providers to assist others in preventing disease and maintaining health. Health Psychology principles integrate psychological perspectives with cutting-edge work in preventive medicine, epidemiology, public health, genetics, nursing, and the social sciences.

The American Psychological Divisions 38 is Health Psychology, which concentrates on interpreting the relationship between health, illness, emotions and lifestyle. Investigations present the biological justifications for the health psychology position in that human emotions are biological, psychological and sociological in quality. There is a need for implementing a different standard for providing health care, the emergence of a unique type of treatment that is positive in nature, integrating individual fitness and community well-being by implementing health psychology principles.

This introductory course consists of 5 parts, available as audios, videos and texts/pdfs, as well as complete references and resources, which covers the following sub-areas within health psychology. The first recording covers how biological, sociological, environmental and cultural circumstances link to physical and mental health; the second covers life with chronic pain; the third explains the relationship between the physical well-being of the heart and psychology; the fourth helps the practitioner understand the communications between the immune system, the central nervous system, and psychological/sociological conditions; the fifth and final recording will provide a basic foundation of the role the emotional system has in learning, memory, adjusting and coping. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.