issue 1 09 - APS Member Groups - Australian Psychological Society

New Paradigms in Health Psychology107violence, poverty, crime and ignorance on aglobal scale, drastic measures such as theelimination of third world debt, theundermining of numerous corporate interestsand increased government accountability needto be implemented (Prilleltensky, 2005). Theproblem, according to Murray and Campbell(2003) is figuring out how to connect local andcommunity efforts to mobilise resistance tosocial oppression to broader national andinternational movements.It is only when we achieve an integratedpolitical and psychological understanding ofpower, wellness and oppression that we caneffectively change the world around us(Prilleltensky, 2003). To promote liberation,critical psychology needs to engage with thepolitical and the psychological concurrently, itneeds to operate at the level of the individualand political. This means identifying processesand practices which can transform thepsychological processes associated withoppression and facilitate taking action to bringabout change in social conditions at the levelof widespread discursive practices and thesubjugating forces on the individual. TheSPECS framework recognises that thesedynamic terrains need to be negotiated in orderto promote wellbeing at the individual,relational and collective levels. The broadreflexive nature of the SPECS model not onlytakes these psychological and political forcesinto account but also provides a solid base towhich new theories of health and wellbeingcan be incorporated.ReferencesBurton, M., & Kagan, C. (2004). Liberationsocial psychology: learning from LatinAmerica. Journal of Community andApplied Social Psychology, 15, 63-78.Engel, G. (1997). From biomedical tobiopsychosocial. Being scientific in thehuman domain. Psychosomatics, 38,521-528.Lipton, B. (2005). The biology of belief. SantaRose, CA: Elite Books.Maher, P. (2002). A review of traditionalAboriginal health beliefs. TheAustralian Journal of Rural Health, 7,229-236.Marks, D., Murray, M., Evans, B., Willig,C., Woodall, C., Sykes, C. (2005).Health psychology: Theory, researchand practice (2 nd ed). London: Sage.Murray, M., & Campbell, C. (2003).Beyond the sidelines: Towards a morepolitically engaged health psychology.Health Psychology Update, 12(3), 1-11.Prilleltensky, I. (2003). Critical healthpsychology needs psycho-politicalvalidity. Health Psychology Update,12(3), 1-11.Prilleltensky, I. (2005). Promoting wellbeing:Time for a paradigm shift inhealth and human services.Scandinavian Journal of PublicHealth, 33, 53-60.Prilleltensky, I., & Gonick, L. (1996).Polities change, oppression remains:On the psychology and politics ofoppression. Political Psychology, 17,127-147.Prilleltensky, I., & Nelson, G. (2002). Doingpsychology critically: Making adifference in diverse settings. NewYork: Palgrave Macmillan.Watts, R., & Abdul-Adil, J. (1994).Psychological aspects of oppressionand socio-political development:Building young warriors. In R. Newby& T. Manly (Eds.), The poverty ofinclusion, innovation andinterventions: The dilemma of theAfrican-American underclass.Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Woese, C. (2004). A new biology for a newcentury. Microbiology and MolecularBiology Reviews, 68(2), 123-186Address correspondence toemail timmackellar@gmail.com.The Australian Community Psychologist Volume 21 No 1 June 2009