When considering the origin of the field some of the early works published in the area is a book by William James in 1922 ‘On Vital Reserves: The Energies of Men; The Gospel of Relaxation’. In this book he discusses how people were sent abroad to rest their nerves because of overwork but in fact because of the feeling of hurry and breathlessness and tension. G Stanley Hall had a chapter “Diseases of the Body and Mind” in his book Adolescence where he mentions the lack of preventive medicine(Hall 1904). As early as 1911 the American Psychological Association (APA) instituted a committee to see how psychology could be taught to medical students (Rodin & Stone, 1987).

Psychologists and psychiatrists have traditionally focused on psychopathology and behavioral disturbances whereas health psychology focuses on physical health. There was some work from the fifties onward on preparing patients for surgical procedures, the effect of personality or mental states on physical health, the effects of pain, health attitudes and decision making and reproductive health behavior until the seventies.  The Health Belief Model was developed in this period by Hochbaum and Rosenstock (1958, 1966) which was a major theoretical influence in health psychology (Rodin & Stone, 1987).  A separate Division of Health Psychology (Division 38) in the APA was formed in 1978 (Rodin & Stone, 1987).