Final Biopsychosocial vs Biomedical Essay PDF

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Biopsychosocial vs Biomedical Essay Omar Puente-Gutierrez Grand Canyon University PSY 352: Health Psychology Professor Whitten January 23, 2022

2 Biomedical vs Biopsychosocial Models: Starting off, both the biomedical and biopsychosocial models have been highly impactful in their unique ways as they’ve both been used as tools to further knowledge in regards to health and illnesses. The amount known before these models came out was limited, up until the 18th and 19th century which is where both of these two medical approaches began. The biomedical model was a spectacular approach giving physicians and providers a clearer understanding of what was truly going on with the body. Not only did this model play a huge role in interpreting illnesses but also gave a better approach of how to treat them effectively (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). This then became the foundational roots of the medical field up until a newer approach presented itself. This newer model called itself the biopsychosocial model as it went ahead and added a few piggybacked off of the biomedical approach. Unlike the biomedical model, which looked at health and illness from strictly a biological perspective, this newer approach thought to consider psychological and social factors being important aspects to consider when it came to health. Biomedical Model The biomedical model came to be popularly recognized around the 19th century as medical issues arised and were pointed in the direction of biological factors. In particular, the majority of issues that came up could be explained by psychological processes having to do with physiological disturbances. According to this model psychological variables are what initiate diseases as well as any illness. As mentioned previously the biomedical model was greatly practiced by Western countries and became the go to model which is still used till today. (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). This model has been a great help guiding physicians in the healthcare field to help narrow down any illness to strictly deal with it using biological factors (Deacon, 2013).

3 Biomedical biological factors The main focus of the biomedical model is it really focuses on one perspective and that is biological factors. Biological factors play a huge role in illness or disease assuming that it must've been passed down from previous generations and inherited through our genetic composition. In other words, this model blocks out any psychological or social factors which only focus on the biological aspects. The biomedical model is sure to point directly to biological factors as being the primary reasons for illness. This can consist of genetic vulnerability, injury, abnormal organ functioning, biochemical imbalances, and infections due to bacteria all the way to viruses (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). Having an understanding of biology can better assist in capturing these sorts of topics in a more effective way. Leading Cause of Death The biomedical model has been a fascinating model implemented to observe and analyze health in its own direct way. The primary causes of death were tuberculosis, pneumonia, and influenza. This makes sense because of the fact that this model’s upbringing was primarily focused on germs and tried to prevent as many of those diseases mentioned above. As time progressed, the leading causes of deaths transitioned to heart failure or other diseases such as stroke or cancer which became well known frequent diseases. As the 20th century arrived life expectancy rose from forty-seven years to seventy-seven years of age. This gave medical providers a change in outlook helping them figure out that this biomedical model possibly may not be the best fit with a newly proposed medical model called the biopsychosocial model (Johnson, 2012). Reducing Illness

4 In addition, as the biomedical model was a great model to begin with it quickly became outdated. Even though of its expansion and growth within the medical field, newer and better discoveries used the biomedical model’s blueprint to move further and understand other functions of the body that were yet to be discussed (Rocca & Anjum, 2020). It was quickly brought to the attention of medical providers that even miniscule diseases turned into something much greater (Deacon, 2013). This then led to the thought that other qualities of a person weren’t being taken into account. In order to fully grasp the concept of health providers were limited to the information given from the patient which led to a lack of communication. No one’s at fault, just that in order to fully consider health, a medical provider must go beyond biological factors and dig into other existing factors that may have been ignored the entire time. This then led to the wonderful biopsychosocial model that broadened the scope of health and analyzed disease from a much more reasonable way all for the good of learning new discoveries of preventing disease. Biopsychosocial Model The biopsychosocial model expands the biomedical view by adding biological factors connections to psychological and social factors (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). This was the beginning of a new era as this model proposed that not only biological factors influence health but also psychological and social ones do as well. Ever since this model came to be it’s also been engraved into the foundation of health psychology. When this updated model was launched it crossed paths with the biomedical model but added the cherry on top. The biomedical model being so stuck down in the roots of medical knowledge the most challenging part of this newer model became the acceptance of it. Fascinating enough the person-centered approach diagnosis is based on the biopsychosocial model,connects to science with humanism and uses all the

5 possible ways so clinicians, patiens, and families can collaborate more effectively with managing disease (Papadimitriou, 2017). This new model helped the advancement of the medical field drastically. Biological, Psychological, and Social factors Biological, psychological, and social factors are all equally important for the biopsychosocial model. Biological factors associated with the biopsychosocial model are genetic variables that are passed down through family generations. The textbook makes a great point that in order to have maximum health the body must recognize how to properly work with different biological systems (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). This is very true because communication within the body is everything! As for psychological factors the three most important components are cognition, emotion, and motivation as they play a huge role in health. Cognition dealing with how mental activity is encompassed, emotion dealing with the subjective feelings that affect a person’s thoughts, behavior, and physiology, and lastly motivation which is the process that gets individuals to start some activity and continue to pursue it (Sarafino & Smith, 2017). I’d say psychological factors are as important as biological and social factors. An example of social factors mentioned in the textbook is adolescents often starting smoking due to peer pressure. Conclusion All in all, the biomedical model will continue to be implemented as mentioned it is the foundation of health and illness. Although being so, advancements of the biopsychosocial brought the attention of factors other than biological introducing psychological and social ones. The importance of the other two factors play a drastic impact in understanding health and overall wellness. If it weren't for this newer and updated model we’d still be focused on the singular

6 factor of biology. Overall, the biomedical model was needed to be discovered in order to discover the new and improved biopsychosocial model.

7 References Deacon, B. J. (2013). The biomedical model of mental disorder: A critical analysis of its validity, utility, and effects on psychotherapy research. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(7), 846–861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.09.007 Papadimitriou G. (2017). The "Biopsychosocial Model'': 40 years of application in Psychiatry. Psychiatric = Psychiatriki, 28(2), 107–110. https://doi.org/10.22365/jpsych.2017.282.107 Rocca, E., & Anjum, R. L. (2020). Complexity, reductionism and the biomedical model. Rethinking Causality, Complexity and Evidence for the Unique Patient, 75–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41239-5_5 Sarafino, E., & Smith, T. (2017). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN-13: 9781119299486...