Can we adapt a biopsychosocial model in healthcare?

The health care system in the United States focuses on the process of diagnosis, treatment, and the curing of a health disorder (Brannon & Feist, 2004). This process is an expensive one and practitioners of the biomedical model are aware of the associated costs with treatment and the overall reduction in medical costs when an early diagnosis or preventative treatments are utilized successfully. The biomedical model, which is more of a mechanical focus on the cause-effect reaction of the body to pathogens, is an important part of the equation of total health. However, the biomedical model defines health as absence of disease which, according to Brannon and Feist, is a false or incomplete definition (2004). If you only measure the traceable evidence of the negative variables associated with health it is easy to miss out on a variety of factors associated with overall health such as a patient’s social and psychological conditions.

Many practitioners view health and illness as a combination of a variety of contributing factors such as genetic predisposition, lifestyle factors, family relationships, social support, and behavior. (Lopez & Jones, 2006; Suls & Rothman, 2004). Additionally, as psychologists study the outcomes and predictive factors of behavioralists, behavioral medicine became a part of the biopsychosocial model (and health psychology as a field) that can significantly contribute to the biomedical practitioners’ ability to develop specific treatment plans and increase recovery rates of patients diagnosed with illnesses (Kennerly, 2006).

The implications of adopting the biopsychosocial model over the biomedical model are positive as this newer model incorporates all of the aspects of biomedicine while adding the factors of mental and social health. Adding these two factors contributes to health prevention and health recovery by looking at observable behaviors in patients such as access to health insurance, observing lifestyle habits to see if they could contribute to acquiring a chronic disease, and helping to develop coping techniques for ill patients (Brannon & Feist, 2004).

Want to read more?

Brannon, L. & Feist, J. (2004). Health psychology: An introduction to behavior and health (5th Ed.). CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Kennerly, R. C. (2006). A brief history of the origins of behavioral medicine: The formation of the field and its roots in medical mind body dualism. University of North Texas

Lopez, M. & Jones, K. (2006). What a health psychologist does and how to become one. Division Services. Retrieved January 9, 2007 from the American Psychological Association’s Databases.

Suls, J. & Rothman, A. (2004) Evolution of the biopsychosocial model: Prospects and challenges for health psychology. American Psychological Association, Inc.

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