What is health psychology?
Health psychology studies how our thoughts, feelings, habits and relationships affect our physical health, and how illness affects the mind.
The old biomedical model looked only at germs and body parts. The biopsychosocial model (George Engel, 1977) adds two more parts:
- Biological: genes, germs, hormones, the immune system.
- Psychological: stress, beliefs, mood, habits.
- Social: family, friends, money, culture, health care.
Example: heart disease is linked to genes (bio), long anger and stress (psycho) and poverty or lonely living (social).
Stress, appraisal and the body
A stressor is any event that strains us: exams, moving house, illness, or small daily hassles like traffic. Big life changes and many small hassles both add up.
Appraisal (Lazarus): first we ask 'Is this a threat?' (primary appraisal), then 'Can I cope?' (secondary appraisal). Seeing a stressor as a challenge causes less harm than seeing it as a threat.
General Adaptation Syndrome (Hans Selye)
- Alarm: the body's fight-or-flight reaction; heart races, stress hormones (adrenaline, cortisol) rise.
- Resistance: the body stays on high alert and copes for a while.
- Exhaustion: resources run out; the body is open to illness.
Long stress weakens the immune system (studied in psychoneuroimmunology). It is linked with colds, slow wound healing, high blood pressure and heart disease. Some research links a hostile, always-rushed 'Type A' pattern with heart problems; anger and hostility seem to matter most.
Coping and healthy behaviour
- Problem-focused coping: change the stressor itself — plan, study, ask for help. Best when the situation can be changed.
- Emotion-focused coping: manage the feeling — breathing, exercise, music, talking. Best when the situation cannot be changed.
- Avoidance (denial, too much screen time, alcohol) feels good short term but often makes things worse.
Health behaviours that protect us: 7–9 hours of sleep for teenagers, about 60 minutes of activity a day, balanced food, no tobacco. Social support from friends and family lowers stress and helps people recover faster.
A sense of control also helps: people who feel they have some control over events usually cope better than those who feel helpless.
Positive psychology: what makes life go well
Positive psychology (made popular by Martin Seligman around 1998) studies strengths and well-being, not only problems.
PERMA — five pillars of well-being:
- Positive emotion: joy, gratitude, hope.
- Engagement: being fully absorbed. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called this flow — when a task is challenging but matches your skill, time seems to fly.
- Relationships: warm ties with others.
- Meaning: being part of something bigger than yourself.
- Achievement: working towards goals.
Resilience is bouncing back after hard times. Character strengths (kindness, curiosity, honesty, courage) can be used and grown. Simple habits like writing three good things each day (gratitude) raise well-being in studies.
Try it: a one-week health experiment
For one week, each night write: hours of sleep, minutes of exercise, one stressor and how you appraised it (threat or challenge), and three good things from the day. On day 7, score your mood each day from 1 to 10. Do days with more sleep and exercise have better mood? Compare with the sliders in the 3D (last step).
Key formulas and definitions
- Biopsychosocial: health = biological + psychological + social factors
- Stressor: an event that strains us; stress: our reaction
- Primary appraisal: Is this a threat? Secondary: Can I cope?
- GAS: alarm → resistance → exhaustion
- Problem-focused coping changes the situation; emotion-focused coping changes the feeling
- PERMA: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement
- Flow: challenge matches skill, full absorption
- Resilience: bouncing back after adversity
Worked examples
1. Sana's grandfather has diabetes. Give one biological, one psychological and one social factor that may affect his health.
Biological: genes or high blood sugar. Psychological: stress or not believing medicine helps, so he skips it. Social: family meals with lots of sweets, or no money for check-ups. This shows the biopsychosocial model.
2. Kenji has a stomach ache every night before his violin exams, which last two weeks. Name the GAS stage he may reach if this continues for months, and why it matters.
If stress lasts for months he may move from resistance to exhaustion. In exhaustion the body's resources run low and the immune system is weaker, so he may fall ill more often.
3. A student fails a mock test. Give one problem-focused and one emotion-focused way to cope.
Problem-focused: list the wrong topics and make a revision timetable. Emotion-focused: go for a walk or talk to a friend to calm down. Using both is often best.
Common mistakes
- Thinking stress is always bad. Short, manageable stress (eustress) can improve focus; long, uncontrolled stress harms health.
- Saying positive psychology means 'always be happy'. It studies all of a good life: meaning, relationships and growth, including through hard times.
- Mixing up the GAS order. It is alarm first, then resistance, then exhaustion.
- Believing emotion-focused coping is weak. When a situation cannot be changed (like a loss), managing feelings is the right choice.