Health Models: Biopsychosocial vs. Biomedical Several factors influence the way in which individual’s view health, such as culture, beliefs, and age. Health can be a very diverse topic for many, with varying views on what constitutes being healthy, how one should be treated to regain health, and how health problems should be approached. Typically, when one is feeling ill, they will visit a doctor. The way in which the doctor will approach the patient and the problems that they have is strongly influenced by the health model that they identify the most with (Engel, 1980). Two of these health models are the biomedical and the psychosocial models. These models can be examined to understand their assumptions, how they are affected by the leading causes of death, how they relate to research, their aspects during diagnosis and treatment, and their strengths and weaknesses.
Assumptions of the Models
The biomedical approach is centered around the absence of a disease as the definition of health (Gurung, 2014)). This model has a strong emphasis on the biological mechanisms of disease, while assuming that the psychological and social aspects of the patient are unimportant factors in both understanding and treating patients (Lane, 2014). However, the biopsychosocial model does assume that the psychological and social components are essential in understanding and treating the patient. It is essentially the biomedical approach, but with the addition of the psychological components