behavioral medicine

a field that applies behavioral theories and methods to the prevention and treatment of medical and psychological disorders. Areas of application include chronic illness, lifestyle issues (e.g., substance abuse, obesity), somatoform disorders, and the like. Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field in which physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and others work together in patient care; it includes strong integration of biological, psychosocial, behavioral, and interpersonal perspectives in developing biopsychosocial models of illnesses and interventions to treat and manage them as well as to promote healthy behaviors. See also behavioral health.

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Psychology term of the day

February 15th 2025

common region

a recently introduced gestalt principle of organization, stating that objects sharing a common bounded region of space appear to belong together and tend to be perceived as a distinct group. For example, animals in a fenced-in enclosure are more likely to be seen as a group than are the same distribution of animals arrayed in open space. Also called law of common region; principle of common region. [proposed in 1992 by U.S. psychologist Stephen E. Palmer (1948– )]