Subject and Tasks of Medical Psychology

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Subject and Tasks of Medical Psychology
Medical psychology is a branch of psychology that integrates somatic and psychotherapeutic modalities into the management of mental illness and cognitive, emotional behavioral and substance abuse disorders. It is also the application of psychology to the field of medicine involving the treatment of both physical and mental problems. It is involved in the attitude of medical practitioners towards the illness and the patient, the attitude of individuals to the medical team and medication system as well as the attitude of medical practitioners towards their profession. Experts of medical psychology use psychological theories, scientific findings on psychological experiments and the psychotherapy, interpersonal, cognitive, behavior modification and lifestyle techniques to solve psychological and health need of the patients.
The field of medical psychology has developed over the years with significance development taking place towards the end of the 19th century. Generally, clinical psychology is thought to have begun in 1896, when Lighter Witmer put up the very first psychological clinic at the University of Pennsylvania (Trull and Mitchell 49). During the said time, medical psychology was focused on assessment and diagnosis, with very little contribution in treatment. Medication and psychology gradually increased and reached its peak during world war two when there was a huge demand for application of psychology in treatment.

One of the basic assumptions is that a human being is a bio-psycho-social being. This looks at a person holistically in terms of their physiology and anatomy, their mind and cognition and the interaction with other human beings as well as the environment they live in.
Changes in one of the aspects may lead to a change in one or both of these aspects. It is, therefore, necessary to maintain a balance in the care a person gives to the body, mind, and the relationship with others and the environment. The resistance of an individual to illness, the type of illness they are likely to suffer from as well as their attitude to and reaction to medication is dependent on these factors. For example, a person may not suffer from liver cirrhosis due to stress, but stress may push someone to drink excessively and hence suffer from liver problems. Psychology in medicine also helps in analysis of a patient`s personality in relation to the illness suffered. A person`s personality may expose one to certain illnesses, determine the treatment best suited for them and the outcome of the treatment process.
An individual’s everyday life can be affected by their personality, which in turn affects their health (Hawgood and Andrew 148). It may also affect the effectiveness and options of coping mechanisms and the amount of social support the patient receives depending on his/her social relationships. The attitude of a patient to the medical practitioner may influence positively or negatively to how the treatment process will be effective. Depending on the personality of the patient, the medication system may be in line or not compatible with, bringing out changes on the outcome of the treatment. An expert in medical psychology can help determine the best treatment process to follow and the medical practitioner to assign depending on the personality of the patient. The mind plays a big role in the illness suffered and reaction to treatment administered.
The mind of a patient is a key determinant of how the medication will be effective and therefore the medical practitioner must be able to induce the mind of a patient into believing that they can be healed. This can be in the belief that the patient has in the doctor‘s ability to treat them and therefore the extent to which they will follow the advice of the doctor. If two patients are suffering from a similar problem and they both visit a doctor; one is not treated and one is given water and convinced it is medicinal, the one treated has a higher chance of getting well. This is because they involved their mind into the healing process and believed they will get better even though there was no real treatment. Once a person learns that they are sick, their mind is affected too. They may get shocked or worried by the illness. The medical practitioner should be able to analyze and treat the mental disorders caused by the illness to be able to effectively treat the illness.
The mind-body relationship is something that medical psychologist can exploit to increase the efficiency of the medication administered to patients (Egolf and Sondra 383). This is best explained in the bio-psycho-social model that states the relationship between biological psychological and social factors in determining illness and the healing process. It is therefore important to conduct psychotherapy to determine the mental state of an individual before any medicinal treatment is given. The patient if necessary should be given the requisite assistant to manage the emotional aspects of the treatments. The social and medical background of the patient should be studied as well. Some illness is caused by social factors such as stress due to failing relationship. Treatment of the causative social problem should be prioritized in such a case.
A lot of focus goes on in the psychological well being of the patients. The medical staff too needs to be given the necessary support in their work. The patients bring on board their diversities that may be difficult for the staff to deal with. This may get difficult for a medical staff especially if there`s a large number of patients assigned to him/her. Support from the medical facility for example through access to information or equipment needed to deal with the patients makes it easier and motivates the staff to work better. A good working team also provides support to the medical practitioner as they have people they can rely on to help them in their duties and if they work together well one is able to understand the profession better and be good at their job.
Away from the workplace, friends and relatives should also be supportive of the medical staff among them to make them feel appreciated of the work they do. From a psychological view, supporting the medical staff helps them exhibit positive behavior towards their job. The effects of an illness affect not only the patients, but also their relatives and those close to them. They may include stress, frustrations, and depression in serious cases. In this regard, relatives should receive psychological counseling on how to handle patients they have correctly to avoid them feeling neglected. What they should expect after the illness is detected, during the treatment and the aftermath. Patients too should receive counseling of the changes that the illness will bring to them and how to cope with them. Experts in medical psychology should be available for the patients and relatives to provide them with psychological support to influence their cognitive and interpersonal aspects to modify behavior.
It is necessary to have campaigns to sensitize people on the tasks of medical psychology. Many people suffer from various problems including mental illness but fail to seek help due to the fear of victimization and stigma. Such people should be reached out to and encouraged to seek help as mental illness can be treated. It is also important to educate people on the physiological and psychological changes that occur in their body once they are ill and the need to maintain a positive mindset in order to get healed from the mind. For those suffering from terminal illness, it is common for someone to lose hope of recovery and neglect the medical process. Such people are encouraged to seed the help of a counselor. Terminal illnesses can cause stress, frustration, hopelessness, and even anger in the patient. Some cases get out of hand and degenerate into mental disability. In such cases, a psychiatrist may be needed to treat the patient. The relatives of patients also require assistance to enable them move along well with the patient.
All the psychological help required is available and people should be encouraged to seek assistance whenever in need. Posters, social media and mainstream media advertisements and any other form of mass media can be used to reach out to as many people as possible. The advancement of medical psychology has enabled reliable and holistic treatment of patients. It has helped to enlighten doctors on the aspect of psychology in the application of medicine. Researchers and scientists continue to improve on the existing knowledge and we expect to have a clearer understanding of the relationship between psychology and the practice of medicine.

Works Cited
Egolf, Donald B, and Sondra L. Chester. The Nonverbal Factor: Exploring the Other Side of Communication. Bloomington: iUniverse LLC, 2013. Print.
Hawgood, Gareth, and Andrew Ponsen. Cambridge Checkpoints HSC Personal Development, Health and Physical Education 2013. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print.
Trull, Timothy J, and Mitchell J. Prinstein. Clinical Psychology. Singapore : Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.