Health Psychology
Health psychology is a specialty division of psychology that focuses on health promotion, management of physical illnesses and improvement of healthcare systems. Health psychology focuses on the World Health Organization’s definition of health, which incorporates physical, emotional and social health. Training in health psychology involves cultivating in-depth scholarship in health research, interventions utilized to treat physical and psychological conditions, and often clinical work in hospitals as part of a multidisciplinary care team. Many health psychologists will spend their careers working in hospital systems, delivering care to patients while also working to help the systems function more effectively as a whole.
What do Health Psychologists treat?
There are many medical conditions that have been demonstrated to respond effectively to psychological intervention. It surprises many people to discover that both insomnia and chronic tinnitus have cognitive behavioral therapy as the gold standard of treatment. Many chronic diseases have therapy as an important part of treatment, as there are significant psychological challenges associated with managing these diseases. Common disorders addressed by health psychology include the following:
Insomnia and other sleep disorders
Chronic tinnitus
Digestive disorders and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Cancer
Neurodegenerative diseases
Concussion
Chronic pain syndromes (including fibromyalgia)
Supporting management of diabetes, metabolic conditions, and autoimmune conditions
Long COVID management
Hormonal changes
Fertility issues
Substance use disorders and smoking cessation
Most people who work with health psychologists will see them through the management of their medical diagnosis. For the health psychologists at BASE, we have many clients who come through their physician’s referrals or the organizations with which we are affiliated.
Professionals who work in healthcare often prefer receiving psychological treatment from health psychologists, as they commonly have insight into the unique stressors of health care careers. The organizational training that health psychologists have also facilitates work with career transitions and career stressors.
What does Health Psychology treatment look like?
As with the other clinicians at BASE, our health psychologists utilize cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as their main intervention, with the addition of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions where applicable. Treatment starts with an intake session to assess areas that client’s would like to address, and the health psychologist will often offer insights in areas that may also be part of the identified problem. For example, food and exercise can often be part of the intervention for sleep, even though they may not have been considered part of the sleep issue. Linking emotions to behaviors that can create positive change is at the center of the work of health psychologists.
How long is treatment in Health Psychology?
Most CBT interventions are time-limited, with emphasis on managing the identified problem and progress monitoring. On average, insomnia cases are treated in 4-12 sessions, and many chronic tinnitus cases are treated within 4-8 sessions. Recent research (article link here) has demonstrated that CBTI is the most cost effective treatment for insomnia, and costs less in a 12-month period than the cost of leaving insomnia untreated, represented through healthcare utilization and impacts on work productivity. For many people, working with a health psychologist can represent the first time they can emphasize all aspects of their health, so not every treatment relationship is terminated quickly, especially as new goals or areas of focus may develop within the treatment relationship. The path to wellness can be complex, and health psychologists are trained to lean into that complexity to help create wellbeing for their patients and their families.
