Handbook of Clinical Health Psychology

We seek to throw down the gauntlet with this handbook, challenging the he­ gemony of the "behavioral medicine" approach to the psychological study and treatment of the physically ill. This volume is not another in that growing surfeit oftexts that pledge allegiance to the doctrinaire purity of behavioristic thinking, or conceptualize their subject in accord with the sterility of medical models. Diseases are not our focus, nor is the narrow band of behavioral assessment and therapy methodologies. Rather, we have sought to redefine this amorphous, yet burgeoning field so as to place it squarely within the province of a broadly-based psychology-specifically, the emerging, substantive discipline of health psy­ chology and the well-established professionalism and diverse technologies of clinical psychology. The handbook's title-Clinical Health Psychology-reflects this reorientation explicitly, and Chapter 1 addresses its themes and provides its justifications more fully. In the process of developing a relevant and comprehensive health assess­ ment tool, the editors were struck by the failure of clinical psychologists to avail themselves of the rich vein of materials that comprise the psychosocial world of the physically ill. Perhaps more dismaying was the observation that this field was being mined-less than optimally-by physicians and nonclinical psychologists.

Table of Contents:
1. On the Nature of Clinical Health Psychology.- 1. Some Historical and Philosophical Reflections.- 2. Problems of Boundary and Definition.- 3. The Domain of Clinical Health Psychology.- 4. Clinical Settings and Functions of Health Psychologists.- 5. Training Clinical Health Psychologists.- 6. References.- I. The Knowledge Domain of Clinical Health Psychology.- 2. Psychobiological Factors in Bodily Disease.- 3. Psychological Processes Induced by Illness, Injury, and Loss.- 4. The Risks and Course of Coronary Artery Disease: A Biopsychosocial Perspective.- 5. Some Issues in Research on Stressful Life Events.- 6. Stress, Coping and Illness: A Transactional Perspective.- 7. Coping with Acute Health Crises.- 8. Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability.- II. The Clinical Settings of Health Psychology.- 9. The Psychologist as Health Care Clinician.- 10. Pediatric Psychology: Health Care Psychology for Children.- 11. The Psychologist as Geriatric Clinician.- 12. Collaborative Efforts in Liaison Psychiatry.- 13. The Psychologist as Social Systems Consultant.- 14. Behavioral Cardiology with Emphasis on the Family Heart Study: Fertile Ground for Psychological and Biomedical Research.- III. The Clinical Functions of the Health Psychologist.- 15. Psychological Assessment in Medical Settings.- 16. Assessing the Impact of Life Changes.- 17. Behavioral Indicators of Client Progress after Spinal Cord Injury: An Ecological-Contextual Approach.- 18. Issues in Patient Compliance.- 19. Psychomaintenance of Chronic Physical Illness: Clinical Assessment of Personal Styles Affecting Medical Management.- 20. Behavioral Health Care in the Management of Chronic Pain.- 21. Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Health Psychology.- 22. Hypnosuggestive Procedures in the Treatment of Clinical Pain: Implications for Theories of Hypnosis and Suggestive Therapy.- 23. Patient-Centric Technologies: A Clinical-Cultural Perspective.- Author Index.