Biological Model Of Abnormality Essay

Biomedical model: The perspective of psychology concerned with the biological basis of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

From the time of the advent of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and therapy until now, psychologists have searched for new and better ways to both understand and treat the human psyche. Many psychologists have spent their lives analyzing the complexities of human thought, behavior, and interactions with societal influences in order to find new ways to guide humans towards a more fulfilling human experience. Throughout time, various theories and models of therapy have emerged, each with their strengths and weaknesses in their efforts to help humanity live more fulfilling lives. Psychoanalytic, Adlerian, existential, person-centered, gestalt, behavior, cognitive, cognitive behavior (CBT), reality, feminist, postmodern, and family systems approaches have all made important contributions towards the evolution of psychological theory and therapy. One of the most widely accepted and practiced forms of theory and therapy in today’s world of psychology is CBT. Cognitive-Behavior Therapy has a rich and storied history, contains more inherent strengths than weaknesses, and provides effective treatment for a variety of psychological conditions.

The medical model focuses on the molecular structure of drugs and indicators of mental or emotional disorders. However, the medical model is not effective treating mental and emotional disorders. The medical model indicts the notion that abnormal behavior is the product of physical problems and be treated medically. The medical model depends upon independent tests to demonstrate or contradict if a patient is ill. The psychological model uses tests to demonstrate or contradict whether a patient is ill. It is at this point of agreement that the two models separate. A restriction to the psychological model is if a patient that is unconscious, or their communication ability is compromised to the degree that they are

The Strengths and Limitations of the Biological Model of Abnormality This model uses physical illness as a model for psychological disorder, suggesting that like physical illness, mental illness has an underlying bodily cause. It proposes that genetic, organic or chemical disorders cause metal illnesses which give rise to behavioural and psychological problems. Thus, abnormality has physical causes such as brain dysfunction (neurological), biochemical imbalances, infections or genetics and so can only be cured through medical treatments. Therefore it implies that abnormality results from properly

Contrary to what many people believe, America’s health status is not quite “up-to-par,” to say the least. Over forty-seven million people in the United States lack health insurance; that is more than 15% of our nation’s population! At first this disturbing truth seems impossible to believe, being as America is one of the most technologically advanced and economically developed countries in the world. “We spend trillions of dollars per year on medical care. That’s nearly half of all the health dollars spent in the world. But we’ve seen our statistics. We live shorter, often sicker lives than almost every other industrialized nation. “We rank 30th in [global] life expectancy” (Adelman 2008). Knowing this brings rise to the question: why are

Cognitive therapy was established in the 1960’s. It is one of the therapeutic approaches included in a group of cognitive behavioral therapies. It was established by Aaron Beck who actually changed the name from cognitive therapy to cognitive behavior therapy not too long ago. The therapy reveals distorted or harmful beliefs by applying techniques to analyze and remodel maladaptive thinking and learning or learning to centralize attention from obsessive thinking, while also integrating numerous techniques to bring about successful behavior change. This paper will provide a review of the theoretical orientation of cognitive therapy along with the personal viewpoint of counseling, change, and cognitive therapy from the author’s perspective. Additionally, an overview of depression is explained and how cognitive therapy can be utilized for treatment for depression.

According to Seligman and Reichenburg (2014), “cognitive-behavioral therapy is not one approach, but a term applied to a coherent model that is open to and integrates new empirical findings about a pathological disorder into a new model of treatment for that disorder (344)”. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is structured and directive, relying heavily on the cognitive tools of psychoeducation, Socratic questioning, and inductive method. CBT interprets personality development as a process of combining introspectively reflective cognizance with learned response (CBT, 2010). It can occur through the interaction between the thoughts regarding one’s

From this realization, he created an intervention geared towards altering individuals’ negative self-concepts and challenging their way of thinking. Beck’s cognitive behavioral therapy is based on the cognitive model theory (Heffner, n.d.). The cognitive model holds the premise that our thoughts are responsible for how we behave. So, flawed thinking is at the root of all mental disorders. Beck used cognitive model to understand that a change in the mental process can treat depression (Beck, 2005). Although Beck’s cognitive therapy intervention started off as a treatment for depression; it has been modified and adapted to fit the needs of many different mental and psychical illnesses.

The biological model, or medical model, emerged in the late nineteenth century following the discovery of the correlation between brain damage and abnormal behavior. The critical assumption of the

What is the biomedical approach to mental health? "The biomedical model of mental illness assumes that abnormal psychological states or experiences are the results of abnormalities in the brain or genetics and, as such, necessitate medical or chemical

When we think of psychology, most of the time people think of all the usual stereotypes. They dream up in their heads the “shrink” sitting in a chair, with the patient randomly talking as they write away what they are saying on paper. Or perhaps they drum up images of horrible, scary institutions where people are “thrown away” never to be heard from again. In reality there are many variations of this profession, including therapies and techniques. They are helpful people to people of not only mental illness, but those who suffer from stress, anxiety, this list can go on. Though for my paper I will be writing about cognitive behavior therapy, which is a combination of as the name states cognitive and behavior therapies. My hope is to do the subject matter justice in my research paper.

Cognitive therapy is one of the few theories that have been extensively scientifically tested and found to be highly effective in over 300 clinical trials. It focuses on the immediate or automatic thoughts the client has and how these thoughts affect their feelings and behaviors. The goal of cognitive therapy is to identify these thoughts that are poorly affecting the client. Then teach the client how to identify these automatic thoughts and how they can effectively change them. Through the very structured sessions of cognitive therapy, a client should essentially learn the tools to be their own cognitive therapist for future problems they may encounter. The therapy session will not make them an expert but they will be better prepared to

In my opinion, the patient’s root of abnormality manifested during early childhood. After her parent’s divorced at age 3, she developed a close relationship with her mother and her maternal grandmother. Her mother continuously makes arrangement’s to leave her with other caregivers and then returns throughout her early childhood. At age 8, her maternal grandmother dies and her mother is hospitalized for schizophrenia at age 10. This form of early childhood up-bring contributed to the patient’s developed anxiety and fear of abandonment, as well as other symptoms of borderline personality disorder. According to the attachment style, the patient would be considered insecurely attached to the mother. Her limited ability to withstand the distress

The philosophy of cognitive behavioral therapy is that “think and feeling are connected people are creative (Halbur & Halbur, 2015, p.47)”. The key aspects of theory are to challenge the irrational beliefs that we hold about ourselves. Aaron Beck the primary founder of cognitive behavior theory assumed that people can control how they feel and what they think. He believed that our inner thoughts and beliefs affected how we are affected on the outside. One of the key concepts is that the client’s dysfunctional thinking can be derived from an erroneous internal process or bias.

Cognitive Theory claims that behavior can be changed through changing faulty thinking, irrational thoughts, automatic thoughts, or learned cognitive misconceptions. When a client has negative images of themselves or their accomplishments, it sets the pace for their behavior, perceptions and expectations; when that thinking is exposed as faulty to the client, the client can then begin to change their behavior based upon restructured, truer images of reality. It has been shown to be effective therapy for individual, group, marital and family treatment, in treating depression, addiction, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, and some organic conditions such as schizophrenia, and in many social work settings, such as child welfare, private practice, mental health, crisis intervention, and health care.