Section 6 - Behavioural interventions in medicine

Summary

Readings

Randomised controlled trial of nicotine chewing-gum. M. J. Jarvis, M. Raw, M. A. H. Russell and C. Feyerabend. British Medical Journal, 285, 537-40, 1982.

Conditioned side effects induced by cancer chemotherapy: prevention through behavioral treatment. T. G. Burish, M. P. Carey, M. G. Krozely and F. A. Greco. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 42-8, 1987.

Improvement of medication compliance in uncontrolled hypertension. R. B. Haynes, D. L. Sackett, E. S. Gibson, D. W. Taylor, B. C. Hackett, R. S. Roberts and A. L. Johnson. Lancet, i, 1265-8, 1976.

Effect of psychosocial treatment on survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer. D. Spiegel, J. R. Bloom, H. C. Kraemer and E. Gottheil. Lancet, ii, 888-91, 1989.

Alteration of type A behavior and its effect on cardiac recurrences in post myocardial infarction patients: summary results of the recurrent coronary prevention project. M. Friedman, C. E. Thoresen, J. J. Gill, D. Ulmer, L. H. Powell, V. A. Price, B. Brown, L. Thompson, D. D. Rabin, W. S. Breall, E. Bourg, R. Levy and T. Dixon. American Heart Journal, 112, 653-65, 1986.

Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. D. Ornish, S. E. Brown, L. W. Scherwitz, J. H. Billings, W. T. Armstrong, T. A. Ports, S. M. McLanahan, R. L. Kirkeeide, R. J. Brand and K. L. Gould. Lancet, 336, 129-33, 1990.

Introduction

The recognition that behavioural scientists have a contribution to make to treatment outside the psychiatric arena was first widely acknowledged at a conference on behavioural medicine held in Yale, USA, in 1977 (Schwartz and Weiss, 1977). Since that time, the range of treatments which have been used, and target conditions to which psychological treatments have been applied, has expanded enormously. A growing number of specialist journals and handbooks are now available and illustrate the expansion in research in the area. The involvement of health psychologists in clinical settings has also increased, allowing research developments to be put into practice (Pearce and Wardle, 1989). The readings in this section have been selected to illustrate the range of psychological interventions which have proved effective in clinical settings.