Behavioural medicine: an integration of psychology and health

Abstract

The process of evolution in health sciences has followed a similar path from being analytical to synthesized or holistic. Multidisciplinary approach has taken over the specialized approach in the area of health care delivery that follows bio-psycho-social paradigm in the understanding and management of health problems in the general hospital setting. Emergene of Behavioural Medicine is the result of such evolutionary process. Behavioural Medicine is the interdisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of behavioural and biomedical sciences, knowledge, and techniques relevant to health and illness and the application of this knowledge and these techniques to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. The present article reviews the historical aspects of the emergence of Behavioural Medicine on the background of biopsychosocial model and impact of life-style factors on health along with the clinical application and role of Behavioural Medicine in the primary prevention. Relevance of Behavioural Medicine in the context of Nepal, and the contribution of clinical psychologists in the health care system of the country along with the need for accepting them in the mainstream of health professionals are highlighted.