Psychology of human health: to statusing the problem in the coordinates of modern paradigms

The article reveals scientific approaches to the problem of psychology of human health in the coordinates of modern paradigms. The category of health is revealed as a complex, multidimensional sociocultural phenomenon that reflects the most significant biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of human existence in the world. Persistent sociocultural patterns of health, social perceptions of this phenomenon, and intrapersonal health regulators are studied. It is shown that health psychology is an interdisciplinary branch of psychological knowledge about the causes of diseases, factors favorable to health, and conditions for maintaining health throughout the entire life course of a person. It is emphasized that health psychology as a science examines the problems of psychological causes of health, methods and means of its preservation, strengthening and development. The analysis of the most common concepts and models of human health was carried out and it was shown that the understanding of human health as a higher mental function allows to generalize the different directions of psychological research in this field, to correlate its most important concepts, such as the idea of health, the value of health, motivation to improve health, physicality, health promotion, healthy lifestyle, etc. Without denying the tradition of research that has developed in this field, the concept of health as a higher mental function brings its study to a higher level of generalization, contributing to the setting of a new range of tasks. The concept of health as a higher mental function is most promising in the field of research of psychosomatic diseases, which are characterized by a complex intertwining of different levels of health, while the methodological potential of activity theory (idea about the structure of activity, the role of motivation in the maintenance and development of activity, etc.) and activity-oriented concepts can be more successfully implemented in relation to occupational health issues.