Biopsychosocial Model Essay

1028 Words3 Pages

The model of addiction etiology that best describes why people get addicted and how best to help them is biopsychosocial model. The biopsychosocial model, first developed by cardiologist Dr. George Engel, is today widely accepted by the mental health professions. The biopsychosocial model describes addiction as a brain illness that causes personality and social problems. The biopsychosocial model lets us to make solid and accurate differences between substance use, abuse, and dependence. It also allows the signs of addiction to be recognized and structured into progressive stages. The biopsychosocial model of addiction theorizes that crossing biological, psychological and social and systemic properties are essential features of health and …show more content…

Still, this model presents a holistic, systems approach and identifies the interaction as well as influence of various dimensions of the biological, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual environment on the individual. If we can use an integrated approach to the study of addiction we should develop a more exact image of the difficulties that are created by addiction and what is required to be addressed in a particular treatment program. The biopsychosocial approach to the comprehension of addiction can also be used to good effect when looking at many different issues. For example, an examination of; early school leaving or the development of a healthy eating lifestyle can also be examined through the multidimensional views of the biopsychosocial approach. The biopsychosocial model proposes, and the scientific evidence has tended to confirm, that the interdependent factors ;biological, psychological and social all end up influencing each other and feeding into each other in an interdependent way and for these reasons, the biopsychosocial model has much to offer professionals working in treatment, prevention, and research in the addictions

Show More
Related

  • biopsychosocial model

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    Michael is a 56 year old male who lives alone in a small tin shed in the middle of the bush in central Queensland. He has no children, no partner and lives by himself. During the day he spends his time sleeping on the couch or doing chores around the property. If he isn’t asleep, he requires a stimuli to remain occupied. When he was a young boy, he was a very calm child with a great sense of humour. His physical health was perfect with good energy levels. When he was sexually abused at the age of 8, by his grandfather, these characteristics started to change. From the age of 16 he was having regular breakdowns in his thinking and emotional responses. Michael was constantly feeling irritable and having trouble sleeping with frequent nightmares. As the years went by his attitude was extremely negative which led on to him being withdrawn from his family and friends. During his last year of high school, he started to regularly use marijuana. He would experience countless amounts of paranoia episodes where he would hear voices and thought he was being spied on. At the age of 45 he was fin...

    Read More

  • Neil Levy's Article: Addiction Is A Brain Disease?

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Leshner, drug addiction is a chronic brain disease that is expressed in the form of compulsive behaviors (Leshner, 2001). He believes that drug addiction is influence by both biological, and behavioral factors, and to solve this addiction problem we need to focus on these same factors. On the other hand, Neil Levy argues that addiction is not a brain disease rather it is a behavioral disorder embedded in social context (Levy, 2013). I believe, drug addiction is a recurring brain disease that can be healed when we alter and eliminate all the factors that are reinforcing drug addiction.

    Read More

  • The Con-Artist Named Addiction By Sally Satel

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sally Satel, author of “Addiction Doesn’t Discriminate? Wrong,” leads us down a harrowing path of the causes and effects that lead people to addiction. It can be a choice, possibly subconscious, or a condition that leads a person left fighting a lifelong battle they did not intend to sign up for. Mental and emotional health/conditions, personality traits, attitudes, values, behaviors, choices, and perceived rewards are just a few of the supposed causes of becoming an addict.

    Read More

  • The BPS Model Of Addiction

    1768 Words  | 4 Pages

    Before giving a broad overview on the definition of the Biopsychosocial (BPS) Model of Addiction, it must be understood that there is no simple unified theory of addiction that is universally accepted in the health world. This makes the definition of the BPS Model of Addiction not just a simple, one to two sentence definition of what this is, but rather a description of the components within the BPS model of addiction. In a broad sense, this model takes the stand that biological, psychological, and social aspects all contribute to the understanding of addiction. In short, the BPS model of addiction is an attempt to further explain addiction – how it occurs, and how it is maintained. Below is an image (Basic Representation of the BPS Model, 2017) representing this model

    Read More

  • The Biopsychosocial Model and Research in Mental Health

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Toates, F. (2010) ‘The nature of addictions: scientific evidence and personal accounts’ in SDK228 The science of the mind: investigating mental health, Book 3, Addictions, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 1-30.

    Read More

  • Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions.

    1953 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book, Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions, May explores how addiction develops and can be treated from a psychological, physiological, and spiritual standpoint. This theme is clearly shown throughout the text as it shows addiction from a whole person's perspective. The book covers the development of addiction from desire through the experience of addiction. The key focus is on looking at the matter of addiction from multiple stand points then broken down by explaining how addiction is an issue psychologically, physiologically, and spiritually. By focusing on these three areas, the author is able to present the reader with a clear understanding of addiction from all sides of the problem.

    Read More

  • Addiction as Brain Disorder: A Flawed Model

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reinarman, Craig (2004). Addiction as accomplishment: The discursive construction of disease. Addiction Research and Study, August, 2005, 13(4): 307–320

    Read More

  • Disease Model Of Addiction Essay

    1821 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, there are many different addiction theories that interpret addiction in different ways. However, focusing only on the biological aspects like the disease model, or only to the choosing behaviors like the choice theory cannot succeed to understand addiction in a coherent way. That’s why; the biopsychosocial approach provides a conceptual framework that focus on all factors that are related to addiction. As Fisher and Roget (2009) states, “the beauty of the biopsychosocial model is that is does not refute the validity of existing models”. For these reasons, it is important to handle addiction as a biopsychosocial disorder to earn a better understanding of its nature and to be more helpful to the addicts’ treatment process.

    Read More

  • Youth and Substance Abuse

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lash, S. J., Timko, C, Curran, G M., McKay, J R., Burden, J L.; (Jun, 2011). Psychology of Addictive Behaviors; Vol 25(2); 238-251. Doi: 10.1037/a0022608

    Read More

  • Drug Addiction: A Brain Disease?

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    George F. Koob defines addiction as a compulsion to take a drug without control over the intake and a chronic relapse disorder (1). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association defined "substance dependence" as a syndrome basically equivalent to addiction, and the diagnostic criteria used to describe the symptoms of substance dependence to a large extent define compulsion and loss of control of drug intake (1). Considering drug addiction as a disorder implies that there are some biological factors as well as social factors.

    Read More

  • Substance Abuse Counselor Career

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    A big challenge that I will face is deciding which side I will take on a big debate in substance abuse counseling. Some people say that addiction is purely physical, while others disagree and believe that addiction is mostly psychological. Those who believe that it is psychological believe that it usually stems from abuse or as Jane Adams (2003) thinks an over dependence on parents. This side also says that addiction is operant conditioning and that cycle has to be broken (Silverman, Roll, & Higgins, 2008, p. 472). The other physical side of addi...

    Read More

  • Understanding Addiction

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Advances in the fields of neural and behavioral sciences have led to this new-found definition of addiction. Researchers have identified physical differences between the structure of an addict’s brain and the brain of a “non-addict,” implying that these habits are behaviors that alter pathways built by neurons and synapses, as well as altering the availability of recently identified receptors, gene expression, and even an addict’s responsiveness to his/her environment. Biologists have also uncovered elements common to all addiction, regardless of the substance that is being abused. Such standardization acts as a great advancement in treating the disease (1).

    Read More

  • Theory of Alcohol Addiction: Case Study

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many assumptions of why an individual may use different substances and perhaps go from a “social” user to becoming addicted. Understanding the different theories models of addiction many help in the process of treatment for the addict. Although people in general vary in their own ideologies of addiction when working as a clinician one must set aside their own person beliefs. Typically as a clinician it is best for the client to define how they view their addiction and their view may encompass more than one of the five theories. Some theories suggest genetic and other biological factors whiles others emphasize personality or social factors. In this study three theories are defined and given to three different people with different cultural backgrounds, different ideologies, different experiences, and most importantly different reference point of addiction.

    Read More

  • Sociological Theories Of Drug Addiction

    1872 Words  | 4 Pages

    The world involving drug addiction is a taboo topic to many. However, drug addiction is a very real topic that occurs worldwide. The widespread use of drugs is not restricted to the United States, with roughly five percent of the world’s population using in the past few months (Mosher & Akins, 2014). Many scientists, doctors, and specialists study addiction and try to find an explanation for why so many become addicted.

    Read More

  • The Nervous System

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Smith, Melinda, and Lawrence Robinson. "Understanding Addiction." : How Addiction Hijacks the Brain. Robert Segal, 1999. Web. 20 May 2014.

    Read More

More about Biopsychosocial Model Essay

Open Document