Schizophrenia/Biopsychosocial Model

Schizophrenia and the Biopsychosocial Model

In 1977, University of Rochester psychiatrist George Engel posited a theory that disease, and health in general, is a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors, rather than simply biological ones. Researchers have discovered that the need to involve "consideration of function in daily life, productivity, performance of social roles, intellectual capacity, emotional stability and well-being" is an important part of clinical tests and patient care. ("Biopsychosocial Model") But it is not only the patient's psychology but social interaction and the environment in which all of this takes place that are also factors. Biopsychosocial factors may work to facilitate, maintain, or alter the course of an illness and can vary with different diseases. These factors can also vary between individuals with the same disease, or between two different episodes of the same illness in the same individual. For instance, research has indicated that...
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