Health Psychology—The Basics

In the mid-1600s, Descartes made a deal with the church: He would focus on the body, and leave the soul
(mind) to the church, lest he be punished like Galileo. His subsequent writings on physiology focused on “the
neck down” and were influential in the medical knowledge of the time. That is how Cartesian mind-body
dualism began, and led to the biomedical model of health care. In reality, it might have been a good model
given the types of diseases that were the number one killers of humans at that time, and given the limited
understanding of the human body.
Now, however, science has conquered many infectious diseases and mapped the human body to the cellular
level. Our number one killers (heart disease, stroke, and cancer) can be prevented through behavioral methods
but other factors, such as stress, are on the rise. In addition, beginning in the 1970s with advances in
technology, researchers were able to find tangible connections between mental states and physical symptoms.
All this led to the development and growing appreciation of the biopsychosocial model—a more
comprehensive, holistic approach to understanding and treating human health than the biomedical model. This
model, in turn, was influential in the development of health psychology.
Health psychology is a theory-driven field, much more than many other subfields of psychology. You will learn
about many theories in this and other specialization courses. The most basic one is the biopsychosocial model,
which is the focus of this first week. Enjoy learning about this foundational model and learning more about the
history that has led to this fascinating subfield of psychology, along with more details about its history and
current status