Health psychology is the combination of medical and psychological ideas used to identify how an individual’s mind and body work, using models to help contribute to the maintenance and promotion of health. To truly define a person as healthy they must be in a state of wellness, physically and mentally. A modern definition of health is the WHO constitution of 1948 as: “A state of complete physical, social and mental well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (Wellness, n.d.) The Medical Model is a model that simply explains health behaviours biologically, without considering any social or psychological factors. It will only look for the physical cause of disease or illness, instead of a potential range of contributory factors. The body and mind are looked at dualistically, rather than as a whole. This model uses reductionism to explain health behaviours in the simplest way, usually only giving a single cause for the behaviour, or classifying the illness or problem as a syndrome. (Banyard, 2002, p. 7) For example, antidepressant medication would be prescribed for depression, without any consideration for a holistic treatment. This can enable people to behave irresponsibly as they have the expectation of receiving a quick and easy treatment from doctors regardless of the …show more content…
In precontemplation, a person would not consider using protection, unaware they are at risk. During contemplation, they may feel ambivalent about using condoms with a partner, they can prepare by seeking advice from a clinic and getting condoms. Using these would begin action for this behaviour, to maintain this an individual could regularly access support from sexual health clinics for tests and condoms, committing to their routine. Although this is an easily interpreted approach, it ignores social influences, such as access to sexual health clinics and income to purchase
Preventative medicine comes with the potential for making our lives both better and worse. Today the world in which we live in has faced steady medicalization of daily existence. Many factors have contributed to the rise of medicalization. For instance the loss in religion, the increase of faith in science, rationality, progress, increased prestige and the power of the medical profession. The medical profession and the expansion of medical jurisdiction were prime movers for medicalization. Medicalization has also occurred through social movements. Doctors are not the only ones involved in medicalization now, patients are active collaborators in the medicalization of their problem. Critics try to argue for or against the idea that this leads to a favorable versus a non -favorable outcome. This increased establishment and development of medicine, including technoscience, has resulted in a major threat to health. The medicalization of normal conditions, risks the creation of medical diagnoses that are widely inclusive and that hold the potential for further expansion. Many biologically normal conditions, like shortness, menopause, and infertility, are currently considered medical problems. These naturally occurring states are now regarded as undesirable and deviant. This process is referred to as medicalization. Although they are considered deviant, however, the process of medicalization also removes culpability: a person’s problems can be ascribed to a chemical imbalance rather than seen as reflecting his or her character or accomplishments. Some of the articles I will be looking into are Dumit’s “Drugs for life” as well as Healy’s “Pharmageddon” and Cassel’s “Selling Sickness” to explore if this process of overmedicalization has le...
If one takes the time to study the medical model view on health there is often evidence to suggest that it is one of the eldest models created to help define mental illness compared to the social model which is relatively new (Pender, 1996) and still holds dominance (Bowling, 2005). Even though there are different phases used in order to strengthen the medical model such as “biomedical model”, “disease model”, “medical model” and “preventive model” all of them are used interchangeably in the compound of literature and upon review it is discovered that the views of each model is either the same or similar. The history of the medical model can be traced back to the nineteenth century however regardless of the age the medical model view of health
The wellness paradigm is “the integration, balance, and harmony of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being through taking responsibility for one’s own health; posits that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” (Seaward, 2015). The four components of the wellness paradigm are spiritual well-being, emotional well-being, mental well-being, and physical well-being.
Everyone has a different definition of health. Everyone wants to tell each other to do better and to be healthy. What exactly does it mean to be healthy? My personal definition of health is a person that has a good outlook on what they've got. They are happy emotionally and mentally. They have five gold stars in every section of health and wellness. Everyone has their days off but these people never remain unhappy or upset. Health is not the absence of sickness, it is so much more. It doesn't have to do with just physical well-being it has to do with all different aspects of health. I do not see myself as a completely healthy person, I have many problems. I am nowhere near where I should be to be considered a healthy person especially in my mental state. I have a lot going on. I do want to improve and better myself as a grow as a person, and that is exactly what I'm going to do. This project has helped me start in that direction. I chose to break the habit of pushing the people I love and the people who love me away.
The medical model embodies basic assumptions about medicine that drive research and theorizing about physical or psychological difficulties on a basis of causation and remediation. It can be contrasted with other models that make different basic assumptions. Examples include holistic model of the alternative health movement and the social model of the disability rights movement, as well as to biopsychosocial and recovery models of mental disorders as illustrated by (Pollock, J. 2005). For example, theory of schizophrenia focuses on environmental rather than medical causes. The medical model and these alternative models do not have to be mutually exclusive. A model is not a statement of absolute reality or a belief system, but a tool for helping
What conflicts exist between social and medical models of health and how might a holistic model help resolve these apparent conflicts?
The notion of health is contextual and an interactive, dynamic process between person and environment (Schim et al, 2007). Both wellness and illness are conceptualized by the ‘person’, existing on a continuum across the lifespan (Arnold & Boggs, 2001).
WHO, 1986 defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Therefore, it is viewed as much a social as a biological issue. "Healthy" is broadly used in the framework of “healthy environments” as to its impact on the benefit of humans.
Wellness is a process where people become knowledgeable of, and make decisions that are beneficial in attaining a healthy and active lifestyle that promotes a greater quality of life (https://www.nationalwellness.org/?page=Six_Dimensions).
To further explain the definition of health and its involvement of a healthy life, theories have been brought out to elaborate more on the topic.
What is health psychology? Health psychology is a field of psychology that was introduced in the late 1970’s to examine the causes of illnesses and to study ways to promote and maintain health, Also to prevent and treat illness and improve the health care system. Health is define as a positive state of physical, mental, and social well-being that changes in degree over time it’s not simply the absence of injury or disease. There are contributing factors that affect a person health weather its stress, substance abuse, nutrition, exercising and losing weight and even pain can be contributor to your health and how it is affected.
But that’s not all. People usually think that a healthy person is one who has got a physically healthy body, which is wrong. Psychological health is equally important. One must make his soul and body healthy in order to maintain a strong and clear mind.
Mental: Mental wellness is engaging the individual in creative and stimulating mental activities to expand their knowledge and skills and help them discover the potential for sharing their gifts with others. While participating in class discussion I felt my mental health getting stronger because I was learning about other people 's lives and experiences. The more we talked about certain topics that were relatable to a typical college student, the more perspective I obtained about underage drinking, short and long distance relationships, and hardships of living in different areas. Gaining various perspectives is key to my dimensions of wellness. To open up mentally and accept diverse information opens up many unknown doors. I considered my mental
Health psychology refers to an area of expertise in applying psychological principles to scientific study of health, illness, and health-related behaviours. It is specifically intended toward a wider perceptive of health, illness, injury, recovery, and the impact of each human life. The knowledge that developed in this subject includes psychological, social, and cultural influences on the development, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of ill and injured people. Health psychologists are also interested in the prevention of illness and injury and in health policy formation. It is a field of study within the general discipline of psychology.
For starters let us review the field of health psychology. Health Psychology is a field of study designed to analyze and address the causes and contributing factors of