The Psychology of Health

The first edition of The Psychology of Health has become the standard recommended text for many courses. This completely revised and updated second edition contains new material in all chapters and has several additional chapters on such topics as cancer, nutrition and exercise, social drugs, and the impact of social inequalities upon health. The Psychology of Health will continue to be invaluable for students of health psychology and related fields, including nursing, social work, community care and health studies. The Psychology of Health, second edition, is: * comprehensive: its four parts cover the scope and ambition of health psychology, acute and chronic illness, hospitalisation and the management of disease, primary prevention and health promotion, the importance of the family and the wider social context for health * user-friendly: includes tables, figures and boxes with discussion ideas and questions in each chapter. Prefaces to each part, key point summaries and a glossary of terms give students a useful framework for revision * clearly written by an experienced team involved in undergraduate teaching * a source for further study: with annotated guides to reading and an extensive bibliography.

Marian Pitts is Professor of Psychology at Staffordshire University. Previously she worked in Africa and has taught at the universities of East London, Tennessee and Zimbabwe. She is author of The Psychology of Preventive Health (1996). Keith Phillips is Professor of Psychology and Head of the School of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Westminster. Both have published widely in the area of health psychology.

Part 1: Introduction. An Introduction to Health Psychology. Psychophysiology, Health and Illness. Stress and Coping. Part 2: Patient Behaviour and the Management of Illness. The Medical Consultation. The Experience of Treatment. Pain: Psychological Aspects. Part 3: Health Issues. Social Drugs: Effects upon Health. The Primary Prevention of AIDS. Decision Making for Contraception and Abortion. Essential Hypertension. Coronary Heart Disease. Diabetes. Nutrition, Exercise and Health. Cancer. Part 4: Wider Social Issues. Child Health, Illness and Family Influences. Social Circumstances, Inequalities and Health.