HEALTH
PSYCHOLOGY
Health psychology facilitates the acceptance of a medical diagnosis, improves the issues related to its treatment and the impact on family members.
What is a health psychologist?
Health psychology helps in cases of an organic and biological disease to facilitate the acceptance of the disease, the reaction to it and the recovery.
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Our physical health is not only affected by our biological/hereditary component, but also by our behavior, by the environment and social context, and by mental health. The health psychologist is an expert in these specific topics.
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The illness of a family member inevitably also affects how other family members may think, feel and act, therefore the health psychologist may also help with the whole family unit.
Psycho-oncology
The diagnosis of a tumor has a particularly destabilizing effect on the patient and on the family nucleus, and in those cases it is important to look for a psycho-oncologist.
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It's not so much what happens, but how we react to the events. The same diagnosis can be experienced in completely different ways varying from person to person, according to what a disease means in the individual and the family experience, to the patient's stage of life and to personal resources.
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The psycho-oncologist can help to increase the responsiveness to the diagnosis and the tolerance to treatment, also working on the communication, understanding and mutual support within the family.
In order to be able to better face such a difficult moment in life, the psycho-oncologist may offer strategies for regulating intense emotions and help to redefine the personal values that are inevitably questioned,