Health Psychology Program Overview

How does your health relate to your state of mind? Does your mind influence your state of physical health and illness? Or do your mental and physical states exist symbiotically- each influencing the other? These questions lie at the heart of health psychology.

USP's master of science program in health psychology is based on the scientist-practitioner model of professional psychology. This means that USP graduates are trained in both the scientific foundations of clinical health psychology and in the most modern and scientifically established practice skills. Equal weight is given to training in practice skills and scientific skills so that USP graduates will always be able to learn about advances in assessment and treatment and know how to apply new treatment skills over their professional lifetimes.

Health psychologists study how the mind and behavior influence physical health. They also study how physical health influences the mind and behavior. What we know is that the mind and the body do influence each other; the quality of our mental health affects our physical health, and our physical health affects our mental health.

Clinical health psychologists take the scientific knowledge obtained from research in health psychology and apply it to patients with physical and emotional illnesses. They are interested in preventing illness, in treating those who are ill, and in improving peoples' general physical and mental well-being. They are knowledgeable about the critical interrelationships between behavior, mental health, physical diseases, interpersonal relationships, the health care delivery system, and optimum health. Clinical health psychologists work with patients to modify the effects of stress, lifestyle, and personality functioning in optimizing health and preventing and treating illness.