HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY focuses upon how biological, psychological, and social factors affect health and illness. It is a fairly new field because society has become more conscious of being healthy -- whether it pertains to the food we eat, the way our bodies look, or how we feel. Because of this, psychologists developed health psychology. Many health psychologists perform on the best ways to promote healthy living and prevent disease and/or how people react psychologically when they are diagnosed with an illness. Health psychologists are also interested in patients' personality or attitude to see if it has a positive or negative effect on their health.

This branch of psychology has only flourished fairly recently (i.e., the last 10-15 years) because of the importance of exercising and healthy eating. For the past one hundred years it was assumed that health and illness were biomedical issues. It was thought that a person's genetic makeup caused them to be ill or sick. Health was just considered to be the absence of disease. When medical research improved -- such as with modern surgical techniques and the use of medications, and immunizations -- it reduced death rates and helped to prevent many once life-threatening diseases. But, the chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, lung diseases, and complications from substance abuse, continued to rise in the second half of the twentieth century.

The day typically starts at 8:00 a.m. The health psychologist has an appointment in 2 hours with a newly diagnosed cancer patient. The cancer patient is a young women who is having a difficult time accepting her illness. She has an extremely negative attitude and feels as though there is no hope for a future. The health psychologist needs to help adjust the cancer patient's attitude so she has a more positive outlook on her future. Statistics show that a better attitude can produce a faster rate of recovery as well as better problem-solving and coping strategies. The cancer patient needs to recognize that she is ill, but still be alive enough in her mind to fight the cancer. Trial factors, and psychological factors.