Health & Lifestyle
Health Psychology aims to reduce harmful health behaviours and improve healthy behaviours. For example, poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse. The reduction of these is associated with reducing heart disease, type II diabetes, breast and colon cancer, obesity and more. Health and lifestyle psychologists specialise in intervening and assisting with an individual’s health and wellbeing. Health psychologists also help in creating education and behaviour programs to assist people in recovering from or to assist with their current chronic illness, injury, trauma or disability.
Psychological treatments can also assist in reducing problems that can contribute to and accompany illness and/or injury, e.g. chronic pain, poor sleep, eating issues, anxiety, addiction, depression and emotional reactions such as grief and anger.
Health Psychologists can also assist in coping with diagnosis and treatment of health problems, assisting individuals in coping with terminal illness, as well as dealing with the impact of bereavement, loss and death.