#biomedical model

[hexpatient]

lookin for that post where i basically said that considering mental illness to be a biological Disease erases us from a specific context of discussions of genocide. but oh well here it is again. "treating" peoples "mental illness" with violence and thought reform, intense drugs often prescribed dishonestly or administered forcibly is fine cause its Sickness right? cause its Sickness illness just like cancer so when you try to figuratively or literally beat it out of them, it's fine cause health. :))))))))))))

[violetvapours]

The WHO Calls for Radical Change in Global Mental Health - Mad in the UK

The World Health Organization newly published guidance for community mental health urges an end to forced treatment and the adoption of pers

The WHO Calls for Radical Change in Global Mental Health

On June 10, the World Health Organization released a 300-page document titled “Guidance on Community Mental Health Services: Promoting Person-Centred and Rights-Based Approaches.” The document and its authors call for wholesale change and a revolution in mental health:

Although some countries have taken critical steps towards closing psychiatric and social care institutions, simply moving mental health services out of these settings has not automatically led to dramatic improvements in care. The predominant focus of care in many contexts continues to be on diagnosis, medication and symptom reduction.

Critical social determinants that impact on people’s mental health such as violence, discrimination, poverty, exclusion, isolation, job insecurity or unemployment, lack of access to housing, social safety nets, and health services, are often overlooked or excluded from mental health concepts and practice. This leads to an over-diagnosis of human distress and over-reliance on psychotropic drugs to the detriment of psychosocial interventions – a phenomenon which has been well documented, particularly in high-income countries. It also creates a situation where a person’s mental health is predominantly addressed within health systems, without sufficient interface with the necessary social services and structures to address the above mentioned determinants.

The biomedical model of mental health is an “illness” model, and thus the notion of recovery is associated with a reduction of symptoms. The individual is in recovery from a disease, and psychiatric drugs are understood to be a first-line treatment to help people recover in this way.

The WHO guidance doesn’t spend much energy criticizing the biomedical model of care, but there is an implicit message in all of its pages: that model of care has failed, and what is needed now is a fundamental rethinking of what is possible. The authors write:

A fundamental shift within the mental health field is required, in order to end this current situation. This means rethinking policies, laws, systems, services and practices across the different sectors which negatively affect people with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities, ensuring that human rights underpin all actions in the field of mental health. In the mental health service context specifically, this means a move towards more balanced, person-centered, holistic, and recovery-oriented practices that consider people in the context of their whole lives, respecting their will and preferences in treatment, implementing alternatives to coercion, and promoting people’s right to participation and community inclusion.

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[gothhabiba]

Although the chemical imbalance model remains the dominant cultural story of depression in the United States (France, Lysaker, & Robinson, 2007), its validity has been publicly questioned with increasing frequency in recent years (e.g., Angell, 2011a, 2011b; Begley, 2010; Spiegel, 2012; Stahl, 2012). Scientists have long understood the “low serotonin” explanation of depression to be unsubstantiated (Kendler & Schaffner, 2011; Kirsch, 2010; Lacasse & Leo, 2005), and psychiatry is currently attempting to distance itself from this pseudoscientific notion. Prominent biomedical model proponents now use adjectives like “antiquated” (Insel, 2011) and “outmoded” (Coyle, cited in Spiegel, 2012) to describe the chemical imbalance story, thereby creating the misleading impression that this notion has only recently been exposed as mistaken. Pies (2011) proclaimed that the chemical imbalance theory is an “urban legend” that was never taken seriously by thoughtful psychiatrists. “In the past 30 years,” he asserts, “I don't believe I have ever heard a knowledgeable, well-trained psychiatrist make such a preposterous claim, except perhaps to mock it.” This declaration might come as a surprise to former APA president Steven Sharfstein who explicitly defended the validity of the chemical imbalance theory on NBC's Today Show (Bell, 2005b) in the wake of actor Tom Cruise's infamous remarks criticizing psychiatry (Bell, 2005a). Patients with mental disorders might also be surprised to learn that some doctors use the chemical imbalance story simply as a convenient metaphor for facilitating drug treatment and/or attempting to reduce stigma. Until recently, the American public had little reason to doubt the veracity of chemical imbalance claims promoted by the popular media, health websites, patient advocacy groups, governmental agencies, and other reputable medical authorities. Given recent high-profile revelations about the limitations of the chemical imbalance story, biomedical model advocates may face increasing pressure to disseminate accurate information about mental disorder rather than persist in the promotion of an unfounded but politically and economically useful scientific caricature.

–Brett J. Deacon, “The biomedical model of mental disorder: A critical analysis of its validity, utility, and effects on psychotherapy research.” Clinical Psychology Review 33 (2013), 846–861. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.09.007

[arwriterlove-blog]

Study On The Biomedical Model And Biopsychosocial Model

According to World Health Organization(WHO,2003) heath is defined as “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Every human being on earth desire for a good health. Good heath assists us to gain better value of life. When the good health is affected, every patient who suffers from any kind of heath disorder or illness are usually in a fragile condition of mind or curious. So the approach toward them by medical practitioners should be to explain their current situation and to help them.There are few models of health created and used in hospitals or clinics in order to guide the medical practitioners in treating the patient.

[myheartandmyskull-blog]

stay curious, pls

Am I the only one who finds the history/politics/science of mental health fascinating?!  Apparently not, as this article was one of the most emailed yesterday.

"The American Psychiatric Association has been trying [meet the scientific demands of the present day], mostly by leaving behind ideas about the meaning of our suffering in favor of observation and treatment of its symptoms."

Guidelines can be helpful, but they can also limit, yo.