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.