Engel’s portrayal of the biopsychosocial model has significantly redefined psychiatry, medicine, and psychology. With the emergence of health psychology and behavioral medicine in primary care settings and the training of general practitioners on different health paradigms, patients are increasingly aware that their medical providers view them as a person, and not solely by their disease. Read more →

Many health care organizations have integrated the essential findings of health psychology in the form of behavioral medicine – a multidisciplinary field concerned with behavioral and social aspects of medical conditions. The aim is to erase the lines between mental health and physical health and promote the notion that they are indivisible and inherently linked aspects of wellbeing, namely, on the basic premise that behaviors influence physical health. Read more →

Psychology as a profession has rapidly changed since a half-century ago. Psychologists and other medical professionals are increasingly adopting the biopsychosocial model that states biological, psychological, and social processes are inherently, integrally, and interactively involved in physical health and illness. In 1976, the APA developed a Health Psychology division to serve as a professional organization and promoting association for new branch of psychology. As new breed of psychologists, health psychologists were charged to conduct basic and applied research attempting to uncover how psychosocial factors influence the etiology and progression of disease. Health psychologists have since demonstrated the positive therapeutic benefits of employing behavioral and stress coping strategies, patient and family health education, and co-managed care for medical conditions. Read more →