The Fallacy of Mother's Wisdom: A Critical Perspective on Health Psychology

by Myslobodsky, Michael S.

• ISBN13: 9789812384577
• ISBN10: 981238457X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: WORLD SCIENTIFIC PUB CO INC

Summary

Health psychology is an offer of help, an effort to "understand how biological, behavioral, and social factors influence health and illness. Although its claim of a share of health care territory was never loud, it has become one of the fast-growing sub-specialties; it has now outstripped other divisions of psychology in terms of excitement in the public eye. And yet a new occupation was built on somewhat unrealistic, idealized assumptions; the title of this book was therefore chosen to emphasize the fact that an extensive critique of those assumptions is missing. Consequently, there has never been a consensus as to what should be studied first, what to include in and what should be omitted from the health psychology syllabus. This book proposes arbitrary boundaries for a discourse on health psychology. The array of subjects is based on two major themes; the foundation of health psychology and the range of disorders where psychological knowledge might benefit the sick; and the question of whether or not health psychology has a systematic and pragmatic structure so as to qualify as a profession.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
The Point of Departure: The Pillars of the Health Psychology Edifice	1	(46)
`Bad Boys' and Prenatal Programming	47	(36)
Between Psychiatry and Medicine: Illness in Search of a Place	83	(36)
The Deadly Trio	119	(106)
The Obesity Epidemic	119	(34)
Cognitive Decline: Factors and Targets	153	(40)
Self-destructive Behavior: The Cultural Perspective	193	(32)
Collective Exaggerated Emotions	225	(26)
A Complementary Point of View	251	(50)
Holistic Philosophy and a Recipe for Causative Goulash	301	(42)
If Health Psychology is the Answer, What was the Question?	343	(64)
Bibliography	407	(36)
Index	443