The Biopsychosocial Model Of Health

Society has progressed both socially and technologically as has medicine. This includes our understanding of health and healing as evidenced by Dossey’s three eras of medicine. Era 1, beginning in the 1800’s, reflected the prevailing view that health and illness are totally physical in nature and therapies included surgical procedures and drugs. Era 2, starting in the 1950’s, related to the mind and body. Practitioners began to realize that emotions and feelings can impact health. Era 3, still developing today, began in the 1990’s and builds on the previous eras by adding the spirit and proposes that consciousness is not confined to one’s

Health is not limited to a physical illness that can be cured or alleviated but must encompass the entire individual. It includes spiritual, emotional, social, mental and physical aspects of the individual. All of these areas must be assessed and evaluated when caring or a patient and their families (Chitty, 2007, p. 303).

Naidoo and Wills(2001, p.47) “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ - WHO (1946).” This definition falls into a holistic way of defining health, which believes that there are more areas to look at when thinking of health than just simply the absence of a disease. It considers the cause of why someone is ill and not just simply about ’fixing it’.

The biomedical model relies on several assumptions including the concept of mind body dualism with the mind and body seen as separate entities and accepting that they can be treated separately. The body itself was viewed as machine with a broken part that could be repaired or healed by an expert. There is a belief that a disease has its origin in a specific and knowable cause. The sick body can be examined, treated and repaired without taking other factors into consideration. The doctor holds a detached view of the patient and treats the body in isolation without considering other reasons that contribute to the condition.

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.

The definition of health is fluid, ever changing and carries different meanings across individuals, societies and cultures. Although it is difficult

Two of the three models of health and healing discussed by Dossey (1999) were Era II Body/Mind Model of the 1950s and Era III Body/Mind/Spirit Model of the 1990s. According to Dossey (1999), post World War II the Medical Doctors noticed that there was proof that the functioning of the human body can be affected by other factors such as stress and emotions which, can lead to diseases such as ulcers and high blood pressure. This model brought to light the realization that treating the human body is complex because when the physical body is not well the mentation of the patient is affected resulting in exacerbation of other

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.

Another model of health that evolved over time is the physical-mind model. This model purports that a person’s overall state of health or ability to heal can be affected on how or what they think. For instance, that depression or anxiety can negatively impact a critically ill patient’s ability to heal. It also recognized that feelings or emotions can physically manifest as illness. For example, someone who is extremely anxious can give themselves an ulcer, without doing something to physically harm themselves. Simply being under significant stress can cause a physiological response to stimulate the creation of more stomach acid and wears a hole in the lining of the stomach, creating an ulcer. When using this model of health, doctor and nurses can treat a person, mind and body, when they have an illness.

The Biopsychosocial (BPS) model greatly differs because while the biomedical answers the main question “why do people get sick?” the BPS also answers the question “why else do people get sick?” [9] According to the BPS model, the human being is complex and must be understood as a whole. That there is a relationship between body, mind and environment and that one aspect affects the others. Health and illness are caused by multiple factors and have multiple effects, from the biological or cellular level

In modern society there is a general consensus that ‘good health’ is something that everyone wants to experience and that each individual knows what this involves. Because there are so many different definitions of health and ill health it can become a very complicated concept. Walsh (2011) states that “In sociological terms ‘health’ and ‘illness’ are contested concepts. This means that the general meaning of these words should not be taken for granted.

The approach attributes complex events or phenomena to many causes. All these three components affect how a person develops. The biopsychosocial model is used in many fields because of how it examines how different factors affect an individual. Biological factors are usually due to genetics which are ingrained aspects of an individual such as hair color and skin tone. Biological factors also include other aspects such as brain changes and functioning of major body organs like kidney, liver or one’s motor skills. Psychological factors include aspects such as emotions, behaviors, thoughts, coping skills and temperament. The social component of biopsychosocial theory looks at social factors such as one’s culture, interactions with others, and one’s economic status (Newman & Newman, 2014). The theory is used in examining mental health disorders, social disorders and the general development of an

unlike the biomedical model; it not only focuses on an individual’s biological alterations to understand an illness but also the distal (social, psychological and behavioural) factors for understanding of diseases such as NCDs (Borrell-Carrio et al., 2004). Thus in the present day society where the diseases are driven by social factors, the biopsychosocial model is the most relevant model in addressing the current health care issues.

The biopsychosocial model of health is a multidimensional approach to health (Lecture 1, 2014). It focuses not only on the biology or physiology of a person, but also includes the psychology of a person and the manner in which society and culture influence health as well (Gurung, 2014). It was developed in the 21st century as an important theoretical framework to approaching health and medicine (Richtig, Trapp, Kapfhamer, Jenull, Richtig & Trapp, 2016).This approach makes the assumption that the mind and body connection is not only relevant but also vital to a person’s entire well being. It takes a holistic approach when treating an individual and can improve health in the