Psychology of Health and Wellbeing

This textbook provides a holistic understanding of health and wellbeing through multicultural concepts and practices in the field. It presents theoretical insights and empirical evidence from both Western and Indian perspectives to uncover various components of health and wellbeing. This volume elucidates the nature and historical framework of psychological wellbeing, including theoretical foundations, research progress, and examples to provide a better understanding of psychological impacts on health and wellbeing. It emphasizes the need to develop cultural sensitivity to enhance health and wellbeing across cultures and how culture offers pathways to understand ill health and to develop interventions to deal with health issues appropriately. The updated literature review will provide the reader with an insight into the important role that culture plays in the maintenance and sustainability of health and wellbeing. The use of robust pedagogical features makes this textbook an invaluable companion for students of psychology, social work, public health, and social economics. It will also serve the requirements of students of other behavioral sciences, nursing, healthcare workers, counsellors, social workers, and policymakers across a range of disciplines.

Meetu Khosla is Professor in the Department of Psychology at Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi. She specializes in health psychology, compassion, resilience, Indigenous psychology, flourishing, and wellbeing across cultures. Professor Khosla has received the Shastri Indo-Canadian Fellowship (2012 and 2023), the ICSSR Fellowship (2013, 2017, and 2025) to France and Canada, the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship (2014) to the United States, and the Erasmus Mundus Fellowship (2015) to Poland. She received the award for Best Professor in Delhi University in Teaching and Research from the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor in 2023. She has published books on Physiological Psychology (2017) and Understanding the Psychology of Health & Well-being by Sage Publications (2022). She has 105 research publications, 206 keynote, invited, and paper presentations at national/international conferences. She actively runs the Mental Health Centre for Wellbeing and Flourishing.

Foreword 1. Psychological foundations of health and illness 2. Understanding Well-being 3. Theories of Health and Wellbeing: Indian Perspective 4. Western approaches to health and wellbeing 5. Health in Cultural context 6. Health-Promoting Behaviors, Nutrition and Eating Disorders 7. Physical Activity, Health and Well-being 8. Understanding Emotions 9. Understanding and Managing Stress 10. Interventions, Challenges and Future Pathways