Health Psychology in Australia

Abstract

Health Health psychology is the study of the relationship between behaviour and health including our intentions and norms. However, in order to understand health psychology, we must first understand health. This is not as straightforward as it may at first seem. Health is a dynamic concept- if we look back over time we can see clear, marked changes in the way that health has been understood. Historical perspectives on health and illness Concepts of health have fluctuated greatly over time. For example, there is evidence that during the Stone Age (10000-2000 BC), 'evil spirits' were seen as a cause of ill health. Across time, we have seen religious explanations for health, resulting from favour or punishment from God, predominating through Ancient Hebrew (100-300 BC) and early Christian (600 AD) belief systems (Magner, 1992). In contrast, Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC), credited with the Hippocratic Oath, argued that health depended on balance between bodily fluids or 'humours'. He believed that the mind and body were one, and that external pathogens could lead to humour imbalance, and in turn, ill health (Franco &: Williams, 2000; jackson, 2001). Hippocrates' ideas were later supported by Galen (129-199 AD), who believed that temperament was a product of bodily humours, and that people with different temperaments may be differentially susceptible to illness Qackson, 2001; Stelmack &: Stalikas, 1991). However, this was not an acknowledgement of the psychological impacting on the physical. Rather, temperament and illness were both seen as a reflection of the same underlying physical cause - the change in bodily humours.