AN OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY AND HEALTH.pdf

UNIT 2 AN OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY AND HEALTH 1. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The concept of health as a balance between a person and the environment, the unity of soul and body, and the natural origin of disease, was the backbone of the percep...

UNIT 2 AN OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY AND HEALTH 1. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The concept of health as a balance between a person and the environment, the unity of soul and body, and the natural origin of disease, was the backbone of the perception of health in ancient Greece. Similar concepts existed in ancient Indian and Chinese medicine. 2. PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH IN THE ANCIENT TIMES In the 5th century BC, Pindar defined health as “harmonious functioning of the organs”, emphasizing the physical dimension of health, the physical body and the overall functionality, accompanied by the feeling of comfort and absence of pain. Even today, his definition bears importance as a prerequisite for the overall health and wellness. 2.1. Plato (429-347 BC) in his “Dialogues” pointed out that a perfect human society could be achieved by harmonizing the interests of the individual and the community, and that the ideal of ancient Greek philosophy “a healthy mind in a healthy body” could be achieved if people established internal harmony and harmony with the physical and the social environment. 2.2. According to Aristotle’s teaching, man is a social being by his very nature; he tends to live in communities with the duty to respect the moral standards and ethical rules. Aristotle emphasized the necessity for regulating the relations in the society to achieve harmonious functioning and preservation of health of its members. 2.3. Democritus: Connected health with behavior, wandering why people prayed to God for health, which was essentially under their own control. 2.4. Hippocrates explained health in connection with the environmental factors and lifestyle. Hippocrates was the creator of the concept of “positive health”, which depended on the primary human constitution (we consider it today as genetics), diet, and exercise. Hippocrates thought that proper diet and exercise were essential for health, and that seasons’ changes had a profound effect on the mind and body, resulting in different types of predominant diseases during the winter (respiratory tract diseases) and summer (digestive tract diseases) Philosophically, health was discussed in terms of body and soul, and in present society between body and mind, as an active dichotomy (Plato and Hellenism) or as an integrated unity (usually reference to Aristotle), which is important to know about in the current online environment.  3. PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH IN THE MIDDLE AGES In the Middle Ages, health perception was strongly influenced by religion and the church. After Roman Empire fell apart, the church was left as the only important infrastructure providing care for the people and collecting the knowledge on remedies such as herbs grown in monastery gardens. During the period of Industrial Revolution (1750-1914), health became an economic category, which was to allow good condition and working ability and reduce lost work days due to illness. Accordingly, the value of health was such as enabling economic profit. The concept of health was intertwined with Darwinian understandings of strength and being the fittest, where meaning of life was tied to physical survival. Another health aspect considered the ability of the individual to adapt to the influences from the environment to the extent that the individual could tolerate and resist. When the adjustment is over, the disease occurs as a natural consequence. This approach first reflected only biological mechanisms of adaptation, later adding on influences from the environment, which needed to be governed and modified. 4. MODERN CONCEPTIONS OF HEALTH All modern concepts of health recognize health as more than the absence of disease, implying a maximum capacity of the individual for self-realization and self-fulfillment. This should equilibrate the human inner forces and possibilities with the feeling of pleasure or dissatisfaction in their relations with the environment. Social medicine and public health approach to health advocate that we should not only observe the health of the individuals, but also the health of the groups and the community, as a result of the interaction of the individuals with the social environment. The holistic concept of health is contained in the expression of wholeness. Health is a relative state in which one is able to function well physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually to express the full range of one’s unique potentialities within the environment in which one lives. Both health and illness are dynamic processes and each person is located on a graduated scale or continuous spectrum (continuum) ranging from wellness and optimal functioning in every aspect of one’s life, at one end, to illness culminating in death, at the other. Two theories of health: a. The theory of salutogenesis: Centered around the idea that health results from the continuous and everyday life interactions between the individual and the inevitable social, economic, cultural physical, mental and biochemical stressors. It considers factors that support health. b.. Theory of Pathogenesis Pathogenesis is the study the factors that cause disease. To find the “origins of health”, one needs to search for factors that support the human health and welfare. 5. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION PERSPECTIVE Key challenges in the present time and society are: to establish social welfare and to facilitate, encourage, and secure individual autonomy and dignity The modern understanding of health became official when the World Health Organization (WHO), at the time of its establishment in 1948, included the definition of health in its Constitution. The definition was proposed by Dr Andrija Stamper, a prominent scholar from Croatia in the field of social medicine and public health and one of the founders of the WHO. This generally accepted definition states that “health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This definition promoted for the first time that, in addition to physical and mental health, social welfare is an integral component of the overall health, because health is closely linked to the social environment and living and working conditions. 6. THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN HEALTH CARE 6.1. It enables health care professionals understand the behavior of patients and utilize appropriate psychological interventions for them. 6.2. It provides better understanding as to the relationship of the illness and proper ways of conducting behavioral therapeutic interventions through the use of effective communication process. 6.3. It ensures effective coping mechanism to reduce the risks of stress-related illness as the result of illness including the feeling of pain in the health recovery of patients. 6.4. It informs the relationship of behavior and its influence on the well-being of the patient. 6.5. It helps the physician to explain the health-related behaviors that are affected by lifestyle (such as the personal vices of smoking, drinking, drug addiction and etc.) and its health consequences