Rethinking Health

Rethinking Health articulates a new framework for conceptualizing and understanding health that unifies previously disparate areas of scientific research such as health psychology, positive psychology, neurogastroenterology, public health, environmental sciences, and social justice. Integrating perspectives from health psychology, public health, clinical psychology, environmental sciences and critical studies, it stimulates new thinking about the micro and macro determinants of health. It synthesizes person-level processes with social ecological variables to address such issues as the impact of climate change and health inequality. Suitable for upper-level students in health psychology, abnormal psychology and public health, it will also inspire new hypotheses for health research as well as guide public health priorities and public policy

Christie Napa Scollon is a Professor of Psychology at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, USA. During her 20+ year career, she has published dozens of papers and chapters on the topic of well-being and emotions, with her work appearing in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, American Psychologist, and the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. She has taught popular undergraduate courses such as Abnormal Psychology, The Science of Happiness, Positive Psychology, and Health Psychology from where the idea for this book arose.

Prologue: A Personal Story 1. Why We Need a New Framework for Understanding Health 2. The False Dichotomy of Mind and Body 3. Inflammation: The Master Mediator 4. Sources of Inflammation 5. Redefining Health to Include Social Relationships and Positive Affect 6. The Social Ecology of Health: Social/Commercial Determinants of Health 7. Social Justice and Health 8. Climate Change and Health 9. Entry Points: The Vagus Nerve and Gut Microbiome 10. Democratization of Knowledge, Interdisciplinarity, and Limitations