What are people′s beliefs about health? What do they do when they feel ill? Why do they go to the doctor? How do they live with chronic disease? This introduction to the social psychology of health and illness addresses these and other questions about how people make sense of illness in everyday life, either alone or with the help of others.
Alan Radley reviews findings from medical sociology, health psychology and medical anthropology to demonstrate the relevance of social and psychological explanations to questions about disease and its treatment. Topics covered include: illness, the patient and society; ideas about health and staying healthy; recognizing symptoms and falling ill; and the healing relationship: patients, nurses and doctors. The author also presents a critical account of related issues - stress, health promotion and gender differences.
Alan Radley is Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology in the Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University. He is the author of several books, including Prospects of Heart Surgery (1988) and In Social Relationships (1991). He is also editor of Worlds of Illness (1993) and co-author of Ideological Dilemmas (1988).