Psychology in India, Volume 3

4

Health Psychology: Progress and Challenges

Sagar Sharma and Girishwar Misra

INTRODUCTION

Health psychology is a rapidly growing field and one of the most vibrant specialities within the larger discipline of psychology. It has great potential to enhance our collective understanding of health, bring about health improvements, facilitate high quality care, and inform health policy. The primary vision of professional health psychology is the application of psychological knowledge, methods, and skills to prevent illness, facilitate recovery, and promote health. Facilitating health communication, fostering behaviour change, and reducing barriers to access health provisions are some of the significant concerns of health psychologists. In fact, ...