Psychology Department (Adult)

Welcome to our Web Page. This is the Web Page of the Psychology Department, Adult Sector, of the Calgary Health Region. On these pages, you'll learn about who we are and what we do within the Region. More than that, you'll learn about Psychology and how it affects health and illness. We're committed to getting Psychology's power to the people that need it. This Page is an important step in doing just that.

Here are some of the things that we, as psychologists, believe:

• Living a full and satisfying life means paying attention both to physical health and to behavioural and emotional health. It isn't possible to separate the mind from the body in talking about health or making health happen.
   
• Most illnesses have both physical and psychological causes. Whether we're talking about trauma, heart disease, gastrointestinal disease, cancers, diabetes, lung disease, chronic pain, or the mental or emotional disorders, both physical and psychological factors play a role in making them happen. And comprehensive care of these problems means using both physical and psychological methods of care at the same time.
   
• Many of the most serious health problems facing us individually and as a community today are behavioural problems. That is, the way we act, think, or feel plays a major role in the development of the health problem, the course it follows, and its outcome. Research data show us how such health-risky behaviours as smoking, alcohol and other substance abuse, sedentary lifestyle, poor eating habits, and risk-taking (for example, unsafe sexual practices, drinking and driving) influence the diseases we get and what happens to us when we get them. Add to this broth the effects of poorly managed stress, depression, and anxiety and we have a mixture that accounts for 60-80% of the visits people make to primary care physicians. Research-based psychological methods exist that can help people change these health-risky behaviours - for good.
   

On these pages, you'll find out about who we are, where we are, and what we're doing to bring psychological knowledge and techniques to health care in the Calgary Health Region and the Calgary community. From time to time, we'll also offer information about important health-related topics from a psychological view. You won't find the latest fad or flavour-of-the-month cure-all technique or Guru-in-Residence living here. But we will try to help you understand how to evaluate the claims that appear in the popular press and media about those issues and the people who put them forward.
 

Time demands won't allow us to provide personal responses to questions or concerns that you may have. However, you can probably find an answer or a path to an answer in these pages or one of the links. We'll do our best to keep these pages fresh, lively, and informative.

Michael C. King, Ph.D., ABPP(Cl, CN)
Clinical Neuropsychologist
Manager, Psychology
 

Prepared by: Department of Psychology, Rehabilitation & Specialized Clinical Services, Southeast Community Portfolio, Calgary Health Region