Psychobiological Processes in Health and Illness is an accessible and engaging introduction to the interrelationships between mind and body across a broad range of topics including infectious illness, autoimmunity, cancer and pain. Taking a biopsychosocial approach, it brings together research from a number of disciplines including health psychology, psychoneuroimmunology and behavioral genetics. The textbook presents established theoretical models relevant to psychobiological processes in health and illness, as well as recent developments in systems, technologies and intervention methods.

The Mind–Body Connection
The mind–body connection

Overview

This chapter presents some key concepts relevant to an understanding of psychobiological and psychosocial processes in health and illness. Although the focus of this book is on psychobiological processes, the two are very closely related, so it is important to acknowledge the role of psychosocial processes before proceeding further.

The biopsychosocial model of health is introduced and contrasted with the biomedical model of health. This discussion is set in the context of changing conceptualisations of mind and body and the emergence of ‘new’ fields of enquiry, including health psychology, behavioural medicine and psychoneuroimmunology. In so doing, we consider how advances in research are helping us to uncover the true complexity of links between psychological, social and biological processes with respect to ...

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