What Is Health Psychology?

Holistic care is understanding the whole of a person. According to Beryll and Whitehouse 2010:9, Holistic care means looking at all of a person's needs such as their physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual and providing opportunities for these needs to be met.

The reason I applied for “Introduction to Psychology” is because I think there is value in knowing and understanding how the mind functions. It plays a crucial role in my field of study of health care. People in the healthcare field are dealing with real life humans, the basic knowledge of how things are perceived and derived in the human brain is essential to knowing “The Meaning of Care.” That’s our mission statement, as an institution and care giving facility. To comprehend the meaning of care, you have to start with the basic ideologies of how people understand and react to situations. To know the physiology of how the mind works and what senses may trigger as a result. When going into the medical field you have to be prepared for a plethora of situations and encountering diverse people. That being said people handle things differently from others, so you can’t fully predicate how someone may take news.

Explain how mental ill health may be indicated through an individual’s emotions, thinking and behaviour?

Mental health is defined as our emotional psychological and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. Mental health also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices. Maintaining healthy mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence and throughout adulthood. People suffering from mental health disorders often see a change in their mood, thinking and behavior. One in 5 Americans adults experience a mental health issue. One in 10 young people experienced a period of major depression. And 1 in 20 Americans lived with a serious mental health illness (Mental Health Myths and Facts). Factors contribute to mental health problems including; biological facts, such as genes or brain chemistry, life experiences, such as traumatic events or abuse, or family history or mental health problems. Positive allows people to realize their full potential, cope with stress of life, work productively and making meaningful contributions to society (What is

Holistic nursing is a specialty in the field of nursing concerned with the integration of a person’s mind, body and spirit. The specialties include theoretical basis and some grand nursing theories. Precisely, it is the science of unitary human beings published by Martha E. Rogers in An Introduction in the Theoretical Basis of nursing is applied. Statement of practice refers to what, who, where, why, when and how of the holistic nursing practice (American Holistic Nurses Association, 2013.

(P2) – This approach can be applied in health practice such as a health clinic. For example, if a service user is unsure of how to use a form of contraception, they can seek assistance in a health clinic. A nurse can demonstrate how to use different contraception, so that the service user is able to imitate and learn.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". In short, to be completely holistic you must see a person as more than just organ systems, mental health, sexuality, etc. You must see how all aspects of their life impact on each other and the factors that influence them.

The behaviourist approach is a classical conditioning and an example of this would be in a hospital. An individual who has a phobia of being in the dark but this can be helped as they can be shown that they are able to overcome it and they are shown techniques to control it. For operant conditioning a child at the doctors who need an injection, I the child lets the nurse or doctor give the injection they are normally rewarded with a sticker and even balloons. Another example would be within the health and social care setting such as a school for behavioural problems with the operant conditioning of the behaviourist approach can be used. When the child behaves they can be given a reward then this will lead to being conditioned to behaving in a certain manner as they know they will receive good out of it.

There are those who want to become a doctor to keep others healthy and those who want to become a counsellor to also, keep others healthy. This shows that trying to simplify the term ‘health’ into one universal definition could be a difficult task. Physical health that can be tested through x-rays and blood tests, issues such as mental and social health however cannot be tested. A person who is suffering from depression and a person who has a fever should hold the same level of importance to a doctor, parent and society. Health just like people can come in all different shapes and sizes. Health for everyone is not the same. This is shown in different teachings of different disciplines as well. The author defines health as being mentally and physically content with one’s self.

In college, I was in class one day when I suddenly felt my heart pounding. Perspiration quickly rolled down my neck and I was unable to catch my breath. A few minutes later, but what felt like an unbearable amount of time, the feeling subsided but I was left unnerved. I later realized what I had experienced fit the criteria to be categorized as a panic attack. I researched it and found that it was not purely a physical illness; instead, it was psychologically driven. That was what sparked my interest to learn more about the human mind and the physical responses it can create. Psychiatry is a field of medicine that is boundless. Furthermore, it is integral to all of medicine. Many patients develop psychological sequelae as a result of other chronic illnesses. I have always been intrigued by the impact that our emotions have on our behavior. Throughout my life I have often wondered why do some minds create happiness, and others suffering, despite identical external circumstances.

For many years, Doctor and Psychologist have noticed a link between mental and physical health. However, it has never caused any major concerns until now, when the question of how an individuals mental health such as depression could later affect their physical health such as heart problems. In an article “Depression May Be As Bad For The Heart As Obesity” by Carolyn Gregoire digs a little deeper into how a persons’ state of mind can affect their physical health. Gregoire’s article is largely effective by presenting critical information in an organized way, important topics, and language that can be understood by any audience, but does have a weakness with the change in tone.

The findings in this research has opened my view on the proposed integration of psychology and primary care professional. The participants in the pilot study, although a small group, finds the integrating of psychology and primary care to be a beneficial to individuals with chronic diseases. It is evident no one profession in medicine should work alone. The collaboration/integration could have successful results. This collaboration could be deem a positive benefit to the world of science, assisting in the battling issues of physical and mental health issues. Therefore, it is of vital importance in my area of psychology to accept the integration process in working as a team, incorporating more inputs, validating theories, producing new

A health psychologist synthesizes behavioral, emotional, cognitive, social and biological aspects of health in assisting to treat illness and facilitate recovery in order to achieve three basic outcomes: to promote overall health and maintain that health, to prevent, treat or rehabilitate illness or disease and to improve the healthcare system. Simply put, a health psychologist focuses on the overall wellness of the patient or client, and promotes change within the healthcare system to better facilitate that wellness, depending on whether the health psychologist decides to take a more clinical or administrative role. It is where emotional and mental health meets physical health.

In 2016, three PhD’s (doctors of philosophy), E. M. Seabrook and Margaret L. Kern, who study health, personality and positive psychology and Nikki S. Rickard, who studies biological, emotion and health psychology; researched multiple databases of papers that were published

In this essay we will be discussing how stress can cause immunosuppression, coronary heart disease and eating disorders. Then we will discuss the relationship between the 3 different personality types and how they can modify the effect that stress has. There is a physical process when a stressor is perceived, the cerebral cortex communicates with the hypothalamus which then instruct the pituitary gland to secrete ACTH, and this stimulates the adrenal cortex to produce corticosteroids. At the same time the hypothalamus activates the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, which then stimulates the adrenal medulla to release