Abstract
For thousands of years, physicians had available only a few drugs with which to minister to patients and the practice of psychology was an integral and therapeutically powerful component in the practice of medicine. Thus, good “bedside medicine” consisting of empathy, compassion, and a nurturant attitude toward the ill individual was a major component of the physician's armamentarium until relatively recently. However, the explosion in scientific knowledge in biology, physiology, chemistry, and microbiology which began a century ago and has continued through the twentieth century helped produce several generations of physician specialists and subspecialists with little knowledge of the powerful role psychological factors play in health and illness. As a result, practitioners of medicine and practitioners of psychology have had little or no contact during most of this century. However, as advances in microbiology, public health, and nutrition have eradicated many of the infectious diseases, infirmities associated with one's lifestyle have replaced the latter as the major causes of death today. One offshoot of this shift is that after a century of benign neglect, physicians and psychologists have rediscovered a common ground in the arena labeled health and behavior. Some factors responsible for these recent developments are highlighted.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, R. B. (1946).Medical education and the changing order. The Commonwealth Fund, New York.
Belloc, N. B. (1973). Relationship of health practices on mortality.Preventive Medicine, 2 67–81.
Belloc, N. B., & Breslow, L. (1972). Relationship of physical health status and health practices.Preventive Medicine, 1 409–421.
Brock, B. M., Haefner, D. P., & Noble, D. S. (1988). Alameda County redux: Replication in Michigan.Preventive Medicine, 17 483–495.
Califano, J. A., Jr. (1979).Healthy people: The Surgeon General's report on health promotion and disease prevention. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Chesney, M. A., Eagleston, J. R., & Rosenman, R. H. (1981). Type A behavior: Assessment and intervention. In C. K. Prokop & L. A. Bradley (Eds.),Medical psychology: Contributions to behavioral medicine (pp. 199–365). New York: Academic Press.
Clark, K. G.,et al. (1953).Preventive medicine in medical schools: Report of Colorado Springs Conference, November 1952. Baltimore, MD: Waverly Press (also published inJournal of Medical Education, 28(10), Part 2).
Curran, J. A., & Cockerill, E. (1948).Widening horizons in medical education. A study of the teaching of social and environmental factors in medicine, 1945–1946. New York: The Commonwealth Fund.
Engel, G. L. (1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine.Science, 196 129–136.
Felix, R. H. (1950). Psychology and public health. In W. Dennis (Ed.),Current trends in the relation of psychology to medicine. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Flexner, A. H. (1910).Medical education in the United States and Canada. New York: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Franz, S. I. (1912). The present status of psychology in medical education and practice.Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 909–921.
Franz, S. I. (1913). On psychology and medical education.Science, 38 555–556.
Guze, S. B., Matarazzo, J. D., & Saslow, G. (1953). A formulation of principles of comprehensive medicine with special reference to learning theory.Journal of Clinical Psychology, 9 127–136.
Hamburg, D. A., Elliott, G. R., & Parron, D. L. (1982).Health and behavior: Frontiers of research in the biobehavioral sciences. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Holmes, T. H., & Masuda, M. (1974). Life change and illness susceptibility. In B. S. Dohrenwend & B. P. Dohrenwend (Eds.),Stressful life events: Their nature and effects. New York: Wiley.
Jacobsen, C. (1950). Psychology in medical education. In W. Dennis (Ed.),Current trends in the relation of psychology to medicine. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Knowles, J. H. (1977). The responsibility of the individual. In J. H. Knowles (Ed.),Doing better and feeling worse: Health in the United States. New York: Norton, 1977.
Leigh, H., & Reiser, M. F. (1977). Major trends in psychosomatic medicine: The psychiatrist's evolving role in medicine.Annals of Internal Medicine, 87 233–239.
Levy, R. I., & Moskowitz, J. (1982). Cardiovascular research: Decades of progress, a decade of promise.Science, 217 121–128.
Lipowski, Z. J. (1977). Psychosomatic medicine in the seventies: An overview.American Journal of Psychiatry, 134 233–244.
Matarazzo, J. D. (1980). Behavioral health and behavioral medicine. Frontiers for a new health psychology.American Psychologist, 9 807–817.
Matarazzo, J. D. (1982). Behavioral health's challenge to academic, scientific, and professional psychology.American Psychologist 1 1–14.
Matarazzo, J. D. (1983). Graduate education in health psychology, behavioral immunogens and behavioral pathogens.Health Psychology, 2(5) (Suppl.), 53–62.
Matarazzo, J. D. (1987). There is only one psychology, no specialties, but many applications.American Psychologist, 42 893–903.
Matarazzo, J. D. (1990). Psychological assessment versus psychological testing: Validation from Binet to the school, clinic, and courtroom.American Psychologist, 45 999–1017.
Matarazzo, J. D. (1992). Psychological testing and assessment in the 21st century.American Psychologist, 47 1007–1018.
Matarazzo, J. D. (1994). Psychology in a medical school: A personal account of a department's 35-year history.Journal of Clinical Psychology, 50 7–36.
Matarazzo, J. D., Lubin, B., & Nathin, R. G. (1978). Psychologists' membership on the medical staff's of university hospitals.American Psychologists, 33 23–29.
Matarazzo, J. D., Carmody, T. P., & Gentry, W. D. (1981). Psychologists on the faculties of schools of medicine: Past, present and possible future.Clinical Psychology Review, 1 293–317.
Mensh, I. N. (1953). Psychology in medical education.American Psychologist, 8 83–85.
Meyer, A. (1912). The value of psychology in psychiatry.Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 911–914.
Prince, M. (1912). The new psychology and therapeutics.Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 918–921.
Rotevatn, S., Akslen, L. A., & Bjelke, E. (1989). Lifestyle and mortality among Norwegian men.Preventive Medicine, 18 433–443.
Schwartz, G. E., & Weiss, S. M. (1978a). Yale conference on behavioral medicine: A proposed definition and statement of goals.Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1 3–12.
Schwartz, G. E., & Weiss, S. M. (1978b). Behavioral medicine revisited: An amended definition.Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1 249–251.
Southard, E. E. (1912). Psychopathology and neuropathology: The problems of teaching and research contrasted.Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 914–916.
Straus, R. (1959). A department of behavioral science.Journal of Medical Education, 34 662–666.
Thompson, R. J., Jr., & Matarazzo, J. D. (1984). Psychology in United States medical schools: 1983.American Psychologist, 39 988–995.
Wadsworth, W. S. (1898). Psychology in the medical school.University Medical Magazine, 11 138–140.
Watson, J. B. (1912). Content of a course in psychology for medical students.Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 916–918.
Weiss, S. M. (1978a). News and developments in behavioral medicine.Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1 135–139.
Weiss, S. M. (1978b). Research training in behavioral medicine.Journal of Behavioral Medicine 1 241–247.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This article was an invited address delivered to a group of Japanese health psychologists as part of a Health Sciences Seminar in Tokyo on July 24, 1993. Concurrent with its publication here in English, it is being published in the Japanese language in the March 1994 issue of the journal,Japanese Health Psychology.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Matarazzo, J.D. Health and behavior: The coming together of science and practice in psychology and medicine after a century of benign neglect. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 1, 7–39 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01991723
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01991723