The pre-history of health psychology in the United Kingdom: From natural science and psychoanalysis to social science, social cognition and beyond

Abstract

Health psychology formally came of age in the UK in the 1980s but it was prefigured by much discussion about challenges to the dominance of biomedicine in healthcare and debates about the role of individual behaviour change in promoting population health.Despite current progress and accomplishments it is important to reflect upon earlier attempts to explore the psychological dimensions of health and illness. It is through such exploration that we can begin to reveal the connection between ideas and the social context. This paper focuses on what could be termed the pre-history of health psychology in the UK. This was the period in the earlier twentieth century when psychological approaches were dominated by psychoanalysis which was in tension with more positivist approaches. In the post WWII period the classical form of psychoanalysis turned to a concern with relationships. This was the period which also saw the rise of behaviourism and then cognitivism each of which had a strong influence on the new profession of clinical psychology and then health psychology. 3The pre-history of health psychology in the UK: From natural science and psychoanalysis to social science, social cognition and beyond Introduction Psychological theory and practice are not constructed in isolation from the social world but rather are shaped by it and contribute to our interpretation of reality. In the same way, to understand the development of ideas within health psychology we need to explore the social and historical context within which they evolved. Health psychology accounts, especially in the USA, often trace its history back to the 1960s and 1970s. The 1960s was the period of rapid social and cultural change including challenges to the dominance of biomedicine, de-institutionalization of mental health facilities with shifts in the focus of psychological practitioners, and the growth of alternative medicine. This was followed in the In a previous review of this period (Murray, 2014) I focused on surveying the field by critiquing the content of the major health psychology textbooks. Textbooks selectively systematize current research in a field and lay the foundation for the next generation of students, researchers and practitioners (Lubek, 1993). In this article I explore the precursor developments of the field in the period before health psychology textbooks and courses further helped the new field to grow. Instead of textbooks, the focus is on archival records of research and practice recorded in the major UK psychology journals. These reflect the particular orientation of British psychologists which in the early decades was influenced by European experimental and psychoanalytic ideas but later by American cognitive ideas.Bennett (2015) in his detailed account focused particularly on the contribution of a range of key clinical psychologists in the 1980s. He also refers to the earlier professional disputes between clinical psychologists and medical psychologists which will also be considered in

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

“…Although Canada is officially a bilingual English-French society, ideas from France tend to be overwhelmed by those from south of the border. In this context, critical psychologists have tended to turn away from 'health psychology', to look for inspiration elsewhere (Murray, 2017), and to develop an alternative approach informed by ideas from critical social psychology and community development.…”

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).…”

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“…During this period, a social request for psychological support of medical practice and a comprehensive study of the psychogenic factors of various somatic diseases was conceptually framed [6]. The theoretical basis of the health psychology includes social medicine, clinical psychology, behavioral sciences, a psychosomatic school, as well as socio-psychological and humanistic theories of personality [7,8,9].…”