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There is not much information to be had on the psychology of social media. I think this is a relatively new and wide open future subfield depending on how social media continues to develop and influence.

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Establishing firm links between human health and the connectivity of the mind, body and environment is often seen as a challenge. That there is such a link is undeniable. The question of what model of health or illness is used to direct our efforts to maximize our knowledge and the overall health of the nation is crucial for a variety of reasons, which will be discussed later in this document. However, there is a need for clarity in what we are doing in healthcare and why and health psychologist are at the forefront of this endeavor. That difference may be as simple as the difference between healthcare crisis management and the desire to see what can be done to pro-actively search out better health outcomes for individuals and society as a whole.

The biomedical model has been the prevailing model of health since the mid nineteenth century. It has at its core one compelling interest the diagnosis and treatment of disease. According to the proponents of this model health is defined as the absence of disease and medical forces are summoned to treat presenting pathologies (Baum, 2001). Once you define health as the absence of disease, pain or defect the scope of medical intervention is limited. Not taken to account are the psychological and social factors that may influence health or the absence of good health. If health is defined as merely the absence of disease, it forces the medical community into a position that advocates response only in the case of illness or disease (Connor, 1995). In other words, we have a health care system that is most attuned to dealing with the biology of the person after they have already entered some phase of crisis.

The biopsychosocial model (BPS) takes a decidedly different approach and focuses on health as it relates to the whole person, their behaviors, attitudes, cognitions and relationships with others and the environment. Instead of focusing on pathogens and the biological causes of disease this model suggest that to fully comprehend what constitutes good health one has to focus on the totality of the human person. Those who advocate for this model point to another compelling reason for expanding our health model to include psychological and social factors. The mind-body connection has received much attention in research. For example, new cancer treatment centers focus in part on this connection because research has shown that a patients mental/emotional state and the presence of a ...