Here is your short paragraph on Health Psychology and Health Awareness !
Currently health psychology has emerged as an important branch of psychology and a sister branch of clinical psychology.
This emerging branch is devoted to understand how people stay healthy, why they become ill, how they respond when they are ill and finally how they can be made health conscious.
Thus, the purpose of health psychology is to develop health values and health awareness among people particularly in the developing and underdeveloped countries. Even some educated people in developed countries, sometimes neglect their health problems because of lack of awareness.
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Health awareness mentally sets one to take proper and timely care of one’s health. Dangerous diseases like T.B., cancer, cardiac arrest, various infectious diseases unless taken care of in the earlier stage, may lead to unnatural and untimely death.
The main purpose of health psychology is therefore to make people conscious that “prevention is always better than cure”. The various superstitions and false belief of people and by and large fear for routine health check up may lead to health risks.
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This can be reduced by having knowledge of health psychology. Health psychology is also interested in the study of relationship between psychological variables and physical health. Health psychologists can give counselling for a life style characterized by high levels of commitment, flexibility in attitude and a strong motivation to control one’s irrational and anti-health activities.
Knowledge of health psychology makes one cautious of unhealthy habits and risks of unhealthy behaviour. Health psychologists provide counselling to take medical and clinical help, identify techniques to reduce unhealthy habits and promote healthy life styles. Since the W.H.O. defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being of the individual it cannot only be construed as absence of physical disease.
Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists have tremendous role to play in the overall promotion of health psychology. They in fact work in co-ordination with physicians and doctors to keep the physical and mental health of a person in sound condition. For example, various psychosomatic disorders are usually caused by psychological dysfunctions. In respiratory, skin, muscular, skeletal, cardiovascular and endocrine disorders, psychological disorders play a major role. Anxiety, hypertension and stress play a significant role in causing many physical disorders.
A positive attitude towards development of health habits, sanitation and regular health check-ups comes under the scope of health psychology. Health is wealth and/or healthy person is a wealthy person. The purpose of health psychology is to make every one understand and realize the essence of the above saying and work accordingly.