Psychodynamic Perspectives on Sickness and Health

Individual chapters of this book are available to purchase online.

This volume heralds a timely integration of psychodynamic thinking with health psychology. The authors explore the emotional dynamics of health and illness by combining psychodynamic theory with rigorous empirical study. Chapter authors delve into the theoretical underpinnings, application implications, and future research directions in many areas, such as cardiovascular psychology, dreaming and illness, and illness and mortality following bereavement.

Throughout, the relationships among loss, personality, and physical illness as well as the health benefits of emotional expression are explored. The result is a volume that contributes to ongoing dialogue about mind–body relations and the stress paradigm of illness, while beginning exciting new conversations relating psychodynamic thought to emerging areas such as psychoneuroimmunology. This book exemplifies the novel, creative, and bold thinking that will emerge when health psychology and psychoanalysis collaborate to understand sickness and health.