ABSTRACT
All of us will have been ill at some time in our lives, even if with only a headache or a cold. We are also aware that our state of health is not the same from one week to the next, although we may not think of ourselves as being ill. Why should some people hardly ever appear to be ill and yet others seem to be in perpetual chronic ill health? The difference can be understood in terms of models. These are derived from psychological theories and have been investigated in many studies in health psychology. There is no one correct model, and all the models contribute to our understanding of differences in health.
