Clinical Health Psychology

Innovative in approach and filling a gap in the current literature for mental health practice, Clinical Health Psychology: Integrating Medical Information for Improved Treatment Outcomes effectively marries research in medical science, neuropsychology, and clinical health psychology to provide cutting-edge, medically informed approaches to clinical health psychology treatment. Designed to help mental health professionals provide outstanding integrated care to their patients, the book helps readers understand medical terminology, as well as how medical conditions affect patients' cognitive and emotional status. The text convenes scholarly voices and contemporary research from a variety of experts within the disciplines of physiology, neurology, neuropsychology, psychology, and pharmacology. It addresses the impact of medical psychophysiology on the brain to help practitioners better optimize psychotherapy treatment options. Additionally, readers learn new ways to select and modify existing communication approaches and psychological treatments to meet patients' individual needs. The chapters are laid out by major systems in the body and address normal physiological function, key disruptions from major illnesses or injuries, and the emotional and cognitive impact of these disruptions. Clinical Health Psychology is an excellent resource for both future and practicing mental and physical health providers. Amy Wachholtz, Ph.D., M.Div., M.S. is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Colorado Denver, where she is the director of the clinical health psychology Ph.D. program. Her research and clinical interests focus on the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of medical disorders and the complexities of treating of co-morbid pain and opioid addiction in both acute pain and chronic pain situations. She enjoys teaching students from a wide variety of disciplines in classrooms, clinical situations, and research settings at the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Colorado Medical Center.

The Handbook of Clinical Health Psychology provides a comprehensive overview of the practice of clinical health psychology. It is primarily a well-referenced but practical resource, which provides an authoritative, up-to-date guide to empirically validated psychological interventions in health care. Each contributor provides a conceptual synthesis of the area, and how key models are related to formulation, service delivery and research. The book also considers contextual issues and the importance of topics such as ageism and power, which may have an impact on how health psychology is delivered by practitioners, and experienced by recipients of services. It also seeks to provide a summary of evidence concerning crucial aspects in the delivery of care, such as adherence, rehabilitation and stress. The biopsychosocial model is the major theoretical model underpinning all contributions, but use is also made of other models. * Informative and practical: a guide to action * An authoritative, critical and evidence based synthesis of knowledge that will guide best practice * Easy-to-use format intended for practitioners who want to ensure their practice is state-of-the-art

Health Psychology in Clinical Practice provides a collection of first-hand accounts from several of the most established and experienced clinically working Health Psychologists in the UK, explaining what they do, how they do it and why their work is important. In recent years, health psychologists have come into their own in being able to provide high-quality, evidence-based, clinical support for patients by utilising relevant therapies. Trainees and would-be clinical practitioners in the health psychology community are keen to learn more about this aspect of their craft, and this book provides a valuable source of information they can turn to – unlike the vast majority of literature on clinical practice in psychology, written by clinical psychologists, which is mostly of tangential relevance to a health psychologist. As a compilation, the first-hand accounts within Health Psychology in Clinical Practice provide a guide that will help define what clinical health psychology is and should be for a decade or more. This book is an essential resource as a crucial snapshot of practice in the discipline in the UK and will additionally support trainees and those seeking a career in health psychology centered on practice rather than research or teaching.

Bringing together an international group of experts from across all health-related disciplines, Comprehensive Handbook of Clinical Health Psychology bridges the gap between health psychology and medicine to provide you with the up-to-date and relevant information and strategies you need to address both the physical and mental health care needs of your clients. Written in an accessible, reader-friendly manner, this reference covers the conditions and trends that have become most prevalent in the field of health psychology today.

We seek to throw down the gauntlet with this handbook, challenging the he gemony of the "behavioral medicine" approach to the psychological study and treatment of the physically ill. This volume is not another in that growing surfeit oftexts that pledge allegiance to the doctrinaire purity of behavioristic thinking, or conceptualize their subject in accord with the sterility of medical models. Diseases are not our focus, nor is the narrow band of behavioral assessment and therapy methodologies. Rather, we have sought to redefine this amorphous, yet burgeoning field so as to place it squarely within the province of a broadly-based psychology-specifically, the emerging, substantive discipline of health psy chology and the well-established professionalism and diverse technologies of clinical psychology. The handbook's title-Clinical Health Psychology-reflects this reorientation explicitly, and Chapter 1 addresses its themes and provides its justifications more fully. In the process of developing a relevant and comprehensive health assess ment tool, the editors were struck by the failure of clinical psychologists to avail themselves of the rich vein of materials that comprise the psychosocial world of the physically ill. Perhaps more dismaying was the observation that this field was being mined-less than optimally-by physicians and nonclinical psychologists.

The research methods described and illustrated in this book are those particularly useful to the field of clinical and health psychology and cover both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

"This book extends the ongoing discussion on critical approaches within clinical and health psychology. In particular, it emphasises the need to consider the importance of social and cultural factors in understanding health, illness and disability. With detailed examination of a wide range of empirical studies it demonstrates the vibrancy of contemporary critical psychological research." - Michael Murray, Keele University "Provides an original overview of areas within health and clinical psychology that are frequently overlooked in other textbooks. It is distinctive in three major ways: first, it takes an explicitly critical approach, and therefore locates our current psychological understandings of issues within health and clinical psychology within their broader social and cultural contexts. Second, it considers both physical and mental health simultaneously, which is a major strength. Third, it is unique in its scope and focus. In achieving these distinctive features, this text competently draws on up-to-date research and literature across a range of disciplines and fields in an accessible and engaging manner... I personally think it should be a must-read for all those studying and working within the health psychology field!" - Antonia Lyons, Massey University This textbook gives a clear and thought-provoking introduction to the critical issues related to health, illness and disability in clinical and health psychology. Challenging some of the preconceptions of ill-health of the biomedical approach, the book explores how health and illness is often shaped by factors such as culture, poverty, gender and sexuality, and examines how these influences impact on the experience and treatment of physical and mental illness as well as disability. Students are introduced to literature from disciplines other than psychology to provide multiple perspectives on these complex issues. Critical Issues in Clinical and Health Psychology is a key textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in health or clinical psychology, as well as for students from other disciplines related to health and mental health care.

Filling a key need, this practical volume provides state-of-the-art approaches and tools for evaluating both health-related behaviors and psychosocial aspects of medical illness. The book begins by presenting a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment framework. Evidence-based strategies are described for assessing such key lifestyle factors as tobacco use, alcohol and other drugs, physical activity, and social support. Behavioral, cognitive, and emotional issues associated with a range of specific medical conditions--including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic pain, and others--are addressed. Chapters on assessment of specific populations cover pediatric patients, older adults, ethnic/racial minority groups, organ transplant and bariatric surgery patients, and primary care.