What Is Health Psychology
Most people don’t think of consulting a psychologist for their
- headaches
- insomnia
- chronic pain
- irritable bowel syndrome
- other medical conditions.
However, many people desire an alternative to taking medication for conditions like these or find medicine or other medical treatments are not as effective as they would like.
Clinical Health Psychologists assist people with a variety of health conditions that are usually thought of as medical. I have become convinced there is no such thing as a purely medical versus purely psychological condition—struggles in 1 of these areas always affects the other.
It is important to begin with a thorough assessment of the problem and the context in which it occurs—in other words, your life. While there are some evidence-based methods that are generally helpful for most people with certain problems (such as relaxation training for tension headaches), your health problem does not occur in a vacuum. Thus, our initial session will involve gathering a lot of detail about where and when your health problem occurs, what you’ve tried to help with it, what has and hasn’t worked, how it impacts you, and what is happening in your life more generally. Sometimes it will be helpful to keep some records to gather additional information.
I typically try to form an understanding of what is happening for you using the theories behind Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS), which are described elsewhere on this website. This helps me to have a working understanding of what is going on and how different interventions may or may not help.
Health psychology (also known as behavioral medicine) uses a wide range of interventions to help people find relief from their health problems. Some examples include assertive communication, mindfulness practices, activity pacing, self-monitoring, breathing retraining, stimulus control strategies, self-compassion, biofeedback, self-hypnosis, guided imagery, and many others. You can find more information here: https://www.sbm.org/healthy-living
If you have a health problem that is not managed as well as you would like, especially if you have noticed that stress impacts this problem, I hope you’ll consider contacting me to see if health psychology might help you.