Notes on the development of health psychology and behavioral medicine in the United States

Abstract

A "standard" historiographical overview of the development of health psychology in the United States, alongside behavioral medicine, first summarizes previous disciplinary and professional histories. A "historicist" approach follows, focussing on a collective biographical summary of accumulated contributions of one cohort (1967-1971) at State University of New York at Stony Brook. Foundational developments of the two areas are highlighted, contextualized within their socio-political context, as are innovative cross-boundary collaboration on "precursor" studies from the 1960s and 1970s, before the official disciplines emerged. Research pathways are traced from social psychology to health psychology and from clinical psychology to behavioral medicine.

Doing Histor{y/ies} of Health Psycholog{y/ies}

“…Moving to what many researchers consider the home of ‘health psychology’ – the United States, Lubek et al (2018) have historiographically melded a traditional analysis of the growth of interest in health research in that country, with a collective biography focussing on just one cohort in one psychology department, to be later supplemented by a bibliometric summary of the literature. They trace how ideas from various sub-disciplines shaped the development of the newly evolving health psychology and neighbouring field of behavioural medicine.…”

A journey to HIV prevention research: From social psychology to social health via multidisciplinarity

“…The ongoing research at the NCHSR, in turn, also influenced my thinking about what a broader multidisciplinary health, a ‘social health’ rather than a ‘health psychology’, would look like. My approach in many ways was similar to that of a few other researchers and teachers, who also chose to work outside the dominant narrow American disciplinary frameworks of the late 1970s of either Health Psychology or Behavioural Medicine as discussed in this issue by Lubek et al 2018 (North America), Murray, 2018 (UK) and Chamberlain et al 2018 (New Zealand).…”

“… 2. Although a committee of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) deliberated on the Role of Psychologists in Health Care and Welfare from 1973 to 1979 (Brown, 2005), the Archives of the Australian Psychological Society list no movement towards a Division for Health Psychologists although at the very same time American colleagues were institutionalising Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine (Lubek et al, 2018). And it was not until 1996 that the College of Health Psychologists (CHP) was formed (Australian Psychological Society (APS) College of Health Psychologists, 2017).…”

The rapid expansion of (mainstream) health psychology in France: Historical foundations

“…Its aims were to bring psychological care to patients suffering from somatic illnesses; to understand the relationship among physician, patient and family; to identify the impact of values and beliefs on the patient’s compliance with prescriptions and preventive recommendations; and finally, to develop a differential psychology of somatic illnesses. Lubek et al (2017) show how these goals in the United States were split in the late 1970s among ‘health psychologists’, largely drawn from social psychology, and ‘behavioural medicine’ practitioners, drawn from behaviouristic clinical psychology.…”