Department Head:
Dr. Zahi Arnon
zahia@yvc.ac.il
Introduction
Medical psychology deals with human psychological reactions to physical illness or injuries. It deals with health promoting behavior, illness preventing, and improving health care through research, practice, education, training, and advocacy.
It has different names in different western countries like Health Psychology (Division 38 of the American APA) or Behavioral Psychology.
Graduate program description*
Medical Psychology deals in the mutual relations between body and mind, since humans react mentally and emotionally to events that occur in their body, such as illness both acute and chronic, especially life-threatening diseases.
The basic premise of the Medical Psychology approach is that individuals by nature are mentally and psychologically healthy and balanced, and it is the physical event that creates the imbalance. Therefore, Medical Psychology focuses on understanding the relationships between the physical variables of the body and the mental variables such as emotions, thinking processes and behaviors.
These relationships are bidirectional, in other words physical events affect the mental condition, and the mental condition affects the physical condition. Therefore, the Medical Psychology approach seeks to help and support the individual who suffers from a psychological crisis following physical distress, and to help them return to the best balance they can achieve, while at the same time affecting health and recovery by mental means. It also help individuals whose illness is not curable, helping them to keep the best life quality possible facing their death, known as Palliative care.
After completing their degree studies in Medical Psychology, students must also complete an internship of about two years under the supervision of the Ministry of Health, after which they must pass a test which is a condition for certification and receiving a Medical Psychologist license from the Ministry.
* Award of the degree is contingent on approval of the Council for Higher Education
Research
| Name | Research Interest | |
| Prof. Emeritus Rubin Simon Shimshon | Evaluation and psychotherapeutic intervention with children, adolescents, adults, families and groups; Supervision of Psychotherapy; Ethics and bioethics; Loss and Bereavement- Theory, Research and Intervention; |
shimshonr@yvc.ac.il |
| Dr. Meyerson Joseph | Research on the specific contributions of hypnosis in promoting therapeutic processes during psychotherapy. Research interests include psychosomatic symptoms and their development through body-mind interactions | josephm@yvc.ac.il |
| Dr. Laronne Anat | Pediatric palliative care Psycho-oncology Communication Health sociology |
anatl@yvc.ac.il |
| Bercoviz Eran | The Effects of Health and Security Emergencies on Migrant Care Workers Wellbeing, Quality of Care and Wellbeing of their Patients | eran@yvc.ac.il |
| Dr. Arnon Zahi | Hypnosis Integrative Medicine Doctor-Patient Communication |
zahia@yvc.ac.il |
Faculty
Faculty Staff >>
Department Contact Information
Medical Psychology
malia@yvc.ac.il
For additional information in Hebrew see >>