Health psychology is an exciting field of psychology. In my experience, my role as a health psychologist (HP) often gets mixed up with the work of a clinical psychologist. Although there may be grey areas, there are also key differences between the two roles. HPs look at the way people think and behave, and how this impacts on underlying physical health and illness, including the psychological factors that maintain health and prevent diseases. HPs also help people manage the psychological effects of long-term conditions, such as pain conditions, cancer and cardiac rehabilitation. In contrast, clinical psychologists (CPs) help people improve their psychological functioning and additionally treat mental illnesses and neurological disorders.
Therefore, HPs have a stronger focus on physical health, whereas CPs focus more on mental health. HPs work in many different settings, including NHS settings (for example, hospital or community services), public health (for example, working on initiatives that improve the health of wider communities), and university settings (for example, teaching students about health psychology or doing research on health psychology topics).
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