Edward Sarafino's best-selling health psychology text draws from the current research and theories of many disciplines to describe how psychology and health are interconnected using the biopsychosocial model to synthesize all the information together into a straightforward text. While maintaining the widely praised organization and pedagogy of earlier editions, the author updated each chapter.

Some of the many topics which have been expanded include the following: the coverage of age, gender, and sociocultural differences in health and health promotion, AIDS prevention, psychoneuroimmunology, and methods of coping.