Biomedical Vs Social Model Essay

The socio-medical model of health concentrates on the social factors that add to health and well-being in our society. It states that research indicates that death rates began to fall and life expectancy began to rise as improvements had been made in cleanness of water, the building of new council houses and

The bio-medical model of ill health has been at the forefront of western medicine since the end of the eighteenth century and grew stronger with the progress in modern science. This model underpinned the medical training of doctors. Traditionally medicine had relied on folk remedies passed down from generations and ill health was surrounded in superstition and religious lore with sin and evil spirits as the culprit and root of ill health. The emergence of scientific thinking questioned the traditional religious view of the world and is linked to the progress in medical practice and the rise of the biomedical model. Social and historical events and circumstances were an important factor in its development as explanations about disease

A bio-psychosocial describes an approach systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery. Biological factors include defective biological processes compounds that lead to biological dysfunction and illness. Psychological factors are about the individual’s emotions, behavior, and mental processes. Social factors include social status and relations. These factors are all considered in an attempt to understand the underlying factors of such disease.

Please explore what is meant by the terms social model and medical model. Describe an aspect of sociological theory and explore how it impacts and influences the delivery of Health and Social Care.

Dahlgren and Whitehead’s (1991) model, as described by Warwick-Booth, Cross and Lowcock (2012), is made up of a core containing a number of fixed determinants of health, including sex, age and hereditary factors. The model then consists of four layers surrounding the core. The first layer is based on individual lifestyle factors, which can include

Nonetheless, there are limitations associated with the medical model and the DSM. These limitations include focusing on the symptoms rather than focusing on other factors in the

The biomedical model and the biopsychosocial model are both representations of health commonly accepted in modern society. The biomedical model considers the absence of disease is physical wellness. This model is good practice but it has limitations. On the other hand, the biopsychosocial model takes into account the whole person which has led to extensive research in many aspects of wellness. It addresses more than physical well being as many people now are ill but they have no presence of disease. Socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity and generational differences all play important roles in

A biopsychosocial model is a deep interrelation of all of this three-factor such as biological factors(genetic and physical history), psychological factors (cognition, will, and emotions), and social factors (socioeconomic status, culture, religion, and technology). When a combination of all of this three-factor working together, it will lead to an outcome of an illness, however, each of this factors on its own is very insufficient to lead to an

The biomedical model of health fails to comprise factors such social or environment that relate or associate with illness and also it views very little about the individual`s wellbeing history such as medical history or feelings. Holistically, a person`s well-being doesn’t not depend on physically states only and the biomedical model of health believe that a person is ill or has broken (leg or arm), they can be fixed which would lead to health restoration along with that, this model doesn’t consider that the person have or will be in pain and that pain can lead to many. Through this model, there are high chances of diagnosing wrong illnesses. For example: an individual might repine about back pain and then with biomedical model method (tests), the back might appear ok, but the history of something such insomnia, depression or others would not be viewed.

The Biopsychosocial model (BPS) was established in the early 1970s as a replacement for the biomedical approach created by George Engel (1977). He had argued against the reductionist biomedical model of disease for not considering the behavioural, psychological and social dimensions in the model (Jull, 2017). Wade and Halligan, (2016) had established that biomedical remains as the dominant healthcare approach. The aim of BPS is to integrate the biological factors with psychological and environmental factors, Engel (1977) suggested that the biopsychosocial model of illness has a significant role in the functioning of humans in terms of disease or illness and can make medicine more scientific and should be adopted into psychiatry research (Adler, 2009). Davies and Roache, (2017) established that the model was exceedingly determined, recommending new details for practices as well as a non-reductive advocate for mental illness.

It is reductionist because it reduces illness to low-level processes such as chemical imbalances, pathogens, genetic predispositions and disorders. According to this model, individuals are not responsible for illnesses caused by factors beyond their control and treatment should include vaccination, surgery and the like which all aim to remove the cause of the illness. In this model of practice, an individual can either be healthy or ill because there is no continuum. That a psychological disorder can lead to an illness but there is no in-between. The biomedical view thus identifies treatment of various parts with the ultimate goal of a cure. If success in this model is defined as a cure, death is defined as ultimate failure, to be avoided at all cost. Patients whose diseases cannot be “cured” are deemed as “incurable”. [7]

Health is defined based on three dimensions: physical, mental and social health; a fairly recent modification from the 18th century viewpoints (Ware,1987). Health is perceived differently according to the different models of health that help in guiding and understanding of health and health issues. In relation to the following essay, two models; biomedical model and social model will be discussed and compared in terms of their relevancy in the modern times. The second half of the essay will focus on the effectiveness of the social model in explaining the increasing prevalence of health conditions related to the obesity epidemic.

This shows how psychological health is related to physiological health, these are combined to make the biopsychosocial model of health. This is a more holistic approach to health. This model of health will be better suited to this patient as it combines mind and body (Biopsychosocial model, 2015). So, if her views on exercise are changed, she will be more likely to

The biomedical model of health takes into account the physical or biological quality of life and is widely used in the Western medicine approach to health (Gurung, 2104). A basic assumption of this model is that the mind and body connection is irrelevant. Many advances in medicine have occured because of the biomedical model of health. In using evidence-based medicine it has been possible to evaluate the results of clinical and pharmaceutical research in order to make strides in medicine (Ashton, 1999). It takes advantage of algorithmic treatment options. Even though this approach may be more difficult for a psychiatrist to utilize when diagnosing and treating a patient, this model has radically shaped psychotherapy research and psychiatric medication (Deacon, 2013). The biomedical approach lends itself more readily to research because of its quantitative nature and it is less subjective than the biopsychosocial approach when measuring emotions and culture.

Townsend and Davidson (1988) also suggested that the term health is derived from the word “whole”, which is a recipient of the healing process. Therefore, an attempt to heal or cure in medical field literally means, to make whole or restore health. It is this idea that influences medicine to adopt a mechanistic approach towards disease management thereby obscuring the understanding of health in human context of well-being, which advocates for alternative or complementary approaches. This viewpoint also reflects in some definitions and the medical model discussed above. The criticisms of the medical by Illich (1974) is that the medical view only deals with the cause of disease or illness rather than the external factors affecting the person’s health. Within different sections of medicine, for example the mental health department, there are marked differences when explaining the origin of illness, disease and treatments.