The Fallacy of Mother's Wisdom: A Critical Perspective on Health PsychologyWorld Scientific, 2004 - 451 pages Health psychology is an offer of help, an effort to understand how biological, behavioral, and social factors influence health and illness. As one of the fast-growing sub-specialties, it has now outstripped other divisions of psychology in terms of excitement in the public eye. And yet a new occupation was built on somewhat unrealistic, idealized assumptions. The title of this book was therefore chosen to emphasize the fact that an extensive critique of those assumptions is essential. This book proposes arbitrary boundaries for a discourse on health psychology. The array of subjects is based on two major themes: the foundation of health psychology and the range of disorders where psychological knowledge might benefit the sick; and the question of whether or not health psychology has a systematic and pragmatic structure so as to qualify as a profession. |
Contents
The Pillars of the Health | 1 |
Bad Boys and Prenatal Programming | 47 |
Illness in Search of a Place | 83 |
The Deadly Trio | 119 |
Factors and Targets | 153 |
Collective Exaggerated Emotions | 225 |
A Complementary Point of View | 251 |
Holistic Philosophy and a Recipe for Causative Goulash | 301 |
If Health Psychology is the Answer What was the Question? | 343 |
| 407 | |
| 443 | |
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abnormalities activity agents allergy alternative medicine Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease anxiety associated atherosclerosis bacterial bacterial vaginosis BDNF become behavior biological birth body brain cancer cause cells century cholesterol chronic clinical cognitive complex cortex cultural cytokines death deficit delivery dementia depression diagnosis diet disease disorders doctors dopamine drugs effects emotional environmental epidemic epilepsy function genes genetic ghrelin glutamate health psychology holistic human hypertension illness immune impaired increased individuals infections ingestion leptin lifestyle low birthweight major medicine memantine mental metabolic mirror neurons molecular morbidity neurons normal obesity organic outcome pain parasuicide Parkinson's Parkinson's disease pathogens patients physical physicians placebo population potential practices practitioners pregnancy prenatal preterm problem professional prospective memory psychiatry receptors reduce relevant response resveratrol risk factors role salutogenesis serotonin sick social somatic specific stress suicide symptoms syndrome term therapeutic therapy tion treatment women