Health and Psychology

I had the opportunity to email a colleague about what I do, do consultation with a colleague about my practice and talk to a couple of attornies about my work.  Although the field of health psychology is now more than 40 years old, many psychologists and most of the general population doesn't know anything about the field.

Psychologists back in the 1960's and 1970's occasionally were able to work in hospitals with physicians providing psychological care to people undergoing medical evaluation and treatment.  By the 1980's the biopsychosocial model of health, illness, disease, illness prevention, and stress reduction started marking the beginning of much more common involvement of psychology into the field of medicine. 

By the mid-1980's psychologists in the field of health psychology or health and medical psychology had also started looking at the etiology of illness, health and disease.  By the late 1980's health and medical psychology was working on health care systems, work flow, quality improvement and decreasing errors, complaints, and managing health utilization, resources, and health care delivery. 

In the 1990's health psychology and medical psychology started diverging into medical psychologists with backgrounds in prescribing, pain management, and hospital based practice, and health psychologists with a focus on health promotion, diagnostic clarification, assistance with treatment understanding and compliance, 

I started in the field in the late 1970's early 1980's when the field was just emerging as it's own entity.  Back then the information included a substantial amount of research and training in understanding physical illness and disease process.  Were were taught a wholistic view of mind, body and spirit and how everything in the body and psyche related to everything else.  A student in my doctoral class did her dissertation on the new field of psychoneuroimmunology--how the immune system responds to stress.  My dissertation was theoretical, focusing on labeling sexual dysfunction and function within a social perspective.

Some medical psychologists have additional degrees in psychophamacology-the prescribing of psychotropic medications.  My background is a little different.  I grew up working in a compounding pharmacy as a pharmacy clerk.  At my home I have a medicinal herb garden.  I consult with patients and physicians on alternative and complementary medicine.  Many patients use foods, herbs and supplements to treat a variety of conditions.  Most of their treating doctors are unaware of what their patients eat, drink, or take for medical conditions unless it is a pharmaceutical.  Some physicians will occasionally suggest an herbal remedy but aren't really sure what might be involved.  I bridge those gaps in information.  I can provide research on how supplements, herbs and foods may nteract with pharmaceutical agents or illnesses.  I can set up symptom tracking systems.  I can help people to understand how medications work and the etiology of illness.  I can help people find resources for goods, services, and support systems for conditions or treatments.

I have a background in neuropsychology and forensic psychology.  So I can explain how the cortex of the brain works and behaviors related to neurological functioning.  I can differentiate between psychological and neurological conditions, and finally because of my background in forensic psychology, I can explain all this in court to a judge, arbitrator, attorney or jury in simple English.