Abstract

Health psychology has been often defined as the aggregate of specific educational, scientific, and professional contributions to the discipline of psychology aiming for the promotion and maintenance of health, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the identification of aetiological and diagnostic correlates of health, illness, and related dysfunctions. We can see what the first generation of health psychologists thought to be important from this definition. Intervention targeting those who are identified as risky, and entry to health care services and policies, have been the focus for mainstream health psychology, along with the study of causes of illness.