What is health Psychology?

Health psychology is the study of psychological processes underlying health and illness. This is essentially how mental and physical health interact in a bi-directional way. Health psychologists use their knowledge of behaviour to help people overcome barriers to change, and engage in health promoting behaviours (e.g. exercise, sleep and diet amongst others). Health psychologists can help people address some of the psychological/mental barriers to changing health related behaviour, and in turn, improve their physical and mental health.

Why might someone see a health psychologist?

Often in our society, people wish to make healthy behaviour change. This could mean getting more exercise, eating a more nutritious diet, or even getting better sleep. For many, however, making these changes are often difficult. Behaviour change is complex, and often the barrier to change can be psychological, environmental or social. A Health Psychologist would help an individual understand their behaviour and in turn, help initiate change.

Take dietary change for example – up until now, public health strategy for changing diet has been to inform the public of what a nutritious and balanced diet looks like. However, most people have a good idea what a healthy/unhealthy dietary pattern contains, but many find it difficult to actually make changes. A Health Psychologist would be able to address some of the underlying psychological barriers that may be an issue, as well as support the individual in understanding their behaviour.

What type of interventions can a health psychologist deliver?

Health psychologists can offer preventative, adjunctive or sole treatments for different types of mental and physical health issues (depending on the issue). A Health Psychologist may work one-to-one with clients on creating healthy behaviour change or could work with groups delivering seminars on health behaviour. A Health Psychologist could also be a consultant for other professionals, companies, government organisations or policy makers, using their expertise in behaviour change in order to create meaningful change.

What is the evidence behind health psychology?

There are more and more research studies supporting the importance of physical health in order to support our mental health, and vice versa. We know that a nutritious and varied diet can impact our mood, our brains development and it’s functioning. We also know that exercise is a good contributor to mental wellbeing. As well as that, sleep is a predictor of overall brain health and healthy ageing.

For many people, they wish to create this behaviour change but struggle to make it stick. This is where a health psychologist comes in. A Health Psychologist would be able to support behaviour change using behaviour modification techniques which may be outside the focus of competence for other professionals (e.g. Nutritionists, personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches). Health Psychologists would have more training in the area of health behaviour modification than most, if not all, other health professionals.