Clinical Health Psychology in Medical Settings: A Practitioner's Guidebook » (2nd Edition)

Belar, Cynthia D., PhD (American Psychological Association); Deardorff, William W.

Practicing psychologists and professional graduate students will find this classic guide invaluable for developing specialized expertise in clinical health psychology. The authors, 30-year veterans in the field, provide an overview of the roles and functions of clinical health psychologists as well as the education, training, personal, and professional issues involved. Chapters on assessment, intervention, and consulting with medical colleagues present nuts-and-bolts strategies, case examples, and down-to-earth advice for effective practice.

Sara J. Knight

This book is an introduction to clinical health psychology, covering its history, scope, and professional practice standards. It describes education and training requirements, roles and functions of the psychologist, and ethical and legal considerations. The authors are highly credible. Dr. Belar, in particular, has been a leader in the development of health psychology as a specialty area. The authors aim to provide an overview of the issues and challenge of psychological assessment, intervention, and consultation with medical patients. Its scope is broad in describing the content of health psychology. It attempts to capture the complexities of psychological service delivery in a multidisciplinary and rapidly changing health care environment. The target audience includes advanced graduate students and interns in clinical psychology and practicing clinical psychologists who want to expand their understanding of health psychology. The authors suggest that it may be useful for other mental health professionals who have an interest in work with medical or surgical patients. Tables and exhibits supplement the text. All are clear and well organized. In addition to literature cited, the authors have included reference lists in each chapter that direct the reader to key sources. References are current and pertinent, but some important works are omitted. Appendixes include resources important to the practitioner new to the area, e.g., professional organizations, journals. The authors use case examples to illustrate their discussion. The guidebook is an outstanding reference for students, interns, and new professionals in health psychology. It provides an insightful consideration of psychologicalservice delivery to medical and surgical patients. Its discussion of consultation to medical and surgical physicians is very good. This second edition is important, given rapid change in health service delivery over the ten years since the first edition.

1 Introduction to clinical health psychology 3

2 Becoming a clinical health psychologist 17

3 Clinical health psychology assessment 47

4 Intervention strategies in clinical health psychology 81

5 Pitfalls in practice 111

6 Ethical issues in the practice of clinical health psychology 147

7 Liability risks in clinical health psychology : malpractice claims and licensing board complaints 191

8 Future issues for clinical health psychology 235

App. A Medical abbreviations 245

App. B Journals relevant to clinical health psychology 255

App. C Professional and disease-specific organizations 259

App. D Some medical problems that may present with psychological symptoms 263

References 265

Author index 293

Subject index 301