Patient Resources

What is health psychology?

Health psychology is the practice of scientifically proven methods to integrate a patient’s mental and physical health. Psychological factors, such as thoughts, emotions and behaviors, can affect health directly. Of course, biological factors also interact with social, spiritual, and environmental factors in an individual. This is why taking an in-depth approach to each patient’s physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social situation is part of every initial assessment.

Here are some ways that Health Psychology can help you:

Resources-Books

Anxiety, Meditation and Stress Management:

Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Kabat-Zinn, Jon.  First published in 1990, content has been revised but any version will be fine. Newer versions may come with audio files for meditations, which are quite helpful.

Unwind!: 7 Principles for a Stress-Free Life. Olpin, Michael & Bracken, Sam.  Published in 2014. ‘Stress-free’ is an overstatement, but many find this book helpful as an introduction into stress management.

Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It Kross, Ethan. Published in 2021, this book is required reading for those who spend a lot of time thinking about their thoughts.

Cancer:

The Human Side of Cancer: Living with Hope, Coping with Uncertainty. Holland, Jimme & Lewis, Sheldon. Published in 2001. An empathetic approach to dealing with cancer, at every phase.

Chronic Pain:

The Way Out: A Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven Approach to Healing Chronic Pain. Gordon, Alan. Published in 2021, this is an essential approach for people with neuroplastic pain. A mental health practitioner uses his experience to illustrate how chronic pain can be turned off in the brain.

Back in Control: A surgeon’s roadmap out of chronic pain. Hanscom, David. 2nd edition published in 2017, and this is the one to have. A spine surgeon shares his own story, along with helpful ideas about how attitudes, beliefs and regulating the autonomic nervous system can radically change the experience of chronic pain.

The Fibro Manual: A Complete Fibromyalgia Treatment Guide for You and Your Doctor. Liptan, Ginevra. Published 2016. Written by a physician who has Fibromyalgia herself, this book describes likely causes, common symptoms, and ways to treat the condition. If you’re ready to make some changes, this is a good road map.

Mayo Clinic Guide to Fibromyalgia. Abril, Andy & Bruce, Barbara. Published 2019. Written by experts from the Mayo Clinic, this physician and psychologist team present an easy to follow guide to causes, treatments, coping and management of fibromyalgia symptoms. Provides an evidence based guide to self-management. Available in the Jefferson-Madison Regional library system.

Unlearn Your Pain. Schubiner, Howard. 3rd edition, 2016, This workbook presents a different model. Instead of only learning to cope with chronic pain, it advocates reversing it. Reading and agreeing with the theory behind this is key to it’s success, and this is the first portion of the book. Resolving unexpressed negative emotions is an important part of the treatment for some people.

Depression:

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. Solomon, Andrew. Published in 2001, and updated more recently. This is a definitive, well written and very complete book explaining depression from psychological, medical, cultural and sociological points of view.

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Haidt, Jonathan. Published in 2006.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome:

Controlling IBS the Drug-Free Way: A 10-Step Plan for Symptom Relief. Lackner, Jeffrey. Published in 2007.  A cognitive-behavioral therapy approach to IBS.

Trust Your Gut: Get lasting healing from IBS and Other Chronic Digestive Problems Without Drugs. Plotnikoff, Gregory & Weissberg, Mark. Published in 2013.

Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia:

Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Guide to Maximizing Brain Health and Reducing Risk of Dementia. Anderson, Nicole, Murphy, Kelly and Troyer, Angela. Published in 2012. About the first half of this book explains the difference between normal aging, MCI and various types of dementia. The other portions delve into coping and life style changes that can make a difference going forward.

For more information about the uses of clinical hypnosis, please visit www.springerpub.com/elkins-brochure