Medical Model Research Paper

This paper will discuss the strengths perspective and the medical model. It will discuss the differences between the two. There are some positive and negative benefits to the above mentioned that will be discussed.
Strengths perspective
In the social work profession the strength perspective continues to grow and become a positive way to assess clients. It has developed as an alternative to the medical model approach to helping clients. This common practice takes a look and assessing what is positively surrounding or going on within a human being. When a person is going through trials and tribulations in their life it becomes extremely difficult for that person to see their own positive attributes. Rather this troubled person tends to look inward and focus on all the negative points of the current situation and past situations. As a social worker it is necessary to make these strengths visible to the client that is in need. Rather than concentrating on clients’ difficulties and discrepancies it puts the

The medical model (pathology) focuses on what is wrong with the client themselves. This action in turn has in a way pointed blame and tends to make clients think they are the failure. It is a common practice among all medical professionals, although it is in more of an indirect approach. “On an individual level, it connotes an emphasis on diagnoses rather on people; on a societal level, it connotes a reimbursement system that uses health dollars to address broad social needs” (Kane, 1982). The medical model tends to put labels, in adjunct with the DSM-V, on individuals to diagnose and treat them. This approach is more of a quick fix to a client’s problem. While the medical model is an important factor in treatment of a client and should always be noted, it should build off it and combine it with the strengths perspective