Health Psychology: A Psychobiological Perspective

516 Pages·1986·55.27 MB·English

by  Michael Feuerstein

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
A PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
A PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
MICHAEL FEUERSTEIN
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Rochester, New York
"
ELISE E. LABBE
University of Miami School of Medicine
Miami, Florida
and
ANDRZEJ R. KUCZMIERCZYK
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Rochester, New York
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Feuerstein, Michael.
Health psychoiogy.
Includes bibliographies and index.
1. Medicine and psychology. 2. Health behavior. 3. Psychology, Physiological. I. Labbe.
Elise E. II. Kuczmierczyk, Andrzej R. III. Title. [DNLM: 1. Behavioral Medicine. 2. Disease
-psychology. 3. Health. 4. Psychophysiologic Disorders. WM 90 F423h]
R726.5.F48 1985 616'.0019 85·25884
ISBN 978-1-4899-0564-2 ISBN 978-1-4899-0562-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-0562-8

First Printing-February 1986
Second Printing-March 1987
Third Printing-June 1988
© 1986 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1986.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical. photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
To my wife Michele, daughter Sara Elizabeth, and son Andrew Scott
Michael Feuerstein
To Rebecca Marcon, Ph.D.-a constant source of inspiration
Elise E. Labbe
To my sister Hania
Andrzej R. Kuczmierczyk
Over 90 percent of us are born healthy and suffer premature death and
disability only as a result of personal misbehavior and environmental
conditions.
Knowles, J. H., Science, 1977, 198, 1104 (Editorial)
PREFACE
Although it has been assumed since early recorded history that psycho
logical factors influence health and illness, it has only been within the
past few years that a group of investigators and clinicians with a shared
interest in the application of psychological principles and techniques to
health and illness has existed. Over this same period of time, a number
of multi-author books on the topic of health psychology and an associ
ated field, behavioral medicine, have been published. Although these
books are major resources for the investigator and the clinician in the
field, it is often difficult for students, both undergraduate and graduate,
to learn the basics of health psychology from such books. Thus, Health
Psychology: A Psychobiological Perspective was written to provide such
basics. The need for such a textbook in health psychology became appar
ent to the first author when he was searching for reading material for an
undergraduate course in health psychology at McGill University. This
book grew out of the course in health psychology, and its structure
represents the course content.
The purpose of the book is to present the theoretical, empirical, and
clinical aspects of the rapidly developing field of health psychology.
Data from a number of subdisciplines within psychology and the behav
ioral and health-related sciences are integrated throughout each chapter
in an effort to provide a balanced perspective. Health Psychology explores
the development of the field and its research methodologies, theoretical
models, and intervention possibilities. The text uses three major prob
lem areas-coronary heart disease, smoking, and pain-as models in
which the principles and techniques presented earlier are applied. The
contributions of a psychobiological approach to the understanding of
these disorders and to prevention and/or treatment are also illustrated.
This book is intended for senior level undergraduates and first- or
second-year predoctoral graduate students in psychology, although ad
vanced undergraduates in the behavioral or biological sciences with
some background in psychology will also be able to use the text. In
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x PREFACE
addition, senior and graduate-level nursing students, students in the
health-related professions~ and first-year medical students will find the
content and depth of analysis useful either in similar courses or in more
general courses on the behavioral contributions to disease or psycho
social care of the medical patient.
This volume can also serve as a useful introduction to the field of
health psychology for the practicing health care professional interested
in the integration of psychological principles and techniques in the prac
tice of medicine. The review of current concepts of stress, health and
illness behaviors, and recent intervention strategies for such major prob
lem areas as coronary heart disease, smoking, and pain, provides the
physician and nurse clinician with perspectives on several critical issues
related to the psychological aspects of health care. This book reviews
much of the theory and research that forms the foundation for the mod
em application of a psychological approach to health and illness.
The book itself is divided into three major parts. Part One reviews
the foundations of health psychology, including a definition and its
general scope, in addition to historical perspective. Research strategies
used in health psychology, with an emphasis on epidemiological re
search, are covered next. Chapter 4 reviews the principles of psycho
physiology that underlie the various concepts and problem areas within
health psychology.
Part Two covers current concepts in the field, which includes stress,
stress and illness, stress management, health behavior, and illness be
havior. These general concepts are presented to introduce the student to
their theoretical complexities. Also, these topic areas illustrate how re
search approaches are used in studying these complex phenomena. The
concepts reviewed in Part Two were chosen because they represent a
cross section of the key issues in health psychology. Stress and the
effects of stress on illness are assumed to playa major role in a variety of
health problems. Stress management is a major clinical activity in health
psychology. In Chapter 7, principles and techniques of clinical psychol
ogy as applied to health and illness are discussed using stress manage
ment as a model. The role life-style plays in health and illness also is of
major interest in health psychology. Chapter 8 thus is a review of the
theoretical and practical aspects of the health behavior concept. Chronic
illness often involves a set of complex problems experienced by the
patient, his or her family, and the health care system in general. The
construct of illness behavior is invoked to help explain these problems.
Chapter 9 provides an overview of the factors that contribute to the
development, exacerbation, and maintenance of maladaptive illness be
havior. It also addresses the management of such problematic behavior.
xi
PREFACE
Case material is provided throughout Part Two to illustrate many of
these concepts.
Part Three integrates basic principles and current concepts for spe
cific problem areas in health psychology. Coronary heart disease (Chap
ter 10) is used to illustrate how an understanding of stress and stress and
illness contributes to our understanding of the etiology of this major
problem. Stress management as an intervention technique, is also dis
cussed. Smoking behavior (Chapter 11) presents a model problem for
the application of principles related to health behavior, whereas Chapter
12, on pain, gives the student an opportunity to consider several of the
concepts presented in Part Two.
MICHAEL FEUERSTEIN
ELISE E. LABB~
ANDRZEJ R. KUCZMIERC2YK
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the Department of
Psychiatry, Division of Behavioral and Psychosocial Medicine, Univer
sity of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and the Department
of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Michael Feuerstein would also like to express his gratitude to the De
partments of Psychology and Psychiatry at McGill University for the
encouragement and opportunity to develop this project.
The initial support of the senior editor and others at Plenum Pub
lishing Company, at the onset of this project, was most appreciated.
Leonard Pace's belief in the importance of this work continuously in
spired the authors. Eliot Werner, who as new senior editor at Plenum
directed this project during its latter stages, provided significant support
and guidance for which we are indebted. We are also appreciative of the
professional editorial effort of Daniel Spinella, production editor, to
hasten the publication of this volume. Lastly we acknowledge the com
petent reviews of an earlier manuscript by Patricia Dobkin, M.S. and
Lawrence J. Siegel, Ph.D.
The highly professional technical support of Cherie D. Rynerson,
Cynthia C. O'Keefe, and Karen R. Nelson was most helpful. Their as
sistance facilitated the completion of this project, for which we are most
thankful. We also wish to thank Cathy Drechsler for her assistance with
the references.
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