Understanding Depression And Anxiety, Addiction, And Dementia

The biopsychosocial model is a perspective for explaining the causes of mental problems, which collects evidence from the individual’s social, psychological and biological conditions (Toates, 2010, p19). It considers those factors as interdependent and equally important (Toates, 2010, p13). This essay will evaluate this model ability to understand depression and anxiety, addiction, and dementia, and will show that in some cases of mental problems, the biopsychosocial perspective is not the appropriate tool for explaining these problems. Firstly, this approach is crucial for understanding depression and anxiety, and the case of Neha’s depression is an example. Socially, she suffered a divorce and her parents’ death (Toates, 2010, p18).†¦show more content†¦This depression could be alleviated by drugs that reduces cortisol, which is an evidence of the biological root only. Hence, a biopsychosocial model is not useful for explaining comorbid depression. Furthermore, phobia of spiders is a case where the biopsychosocial approach to understanding anxiety is not helpful, and an example of that is Kate phobia (The Open University, 2016a). The reason is that spider phobia happens because of an environmental learning process about a frightening experience, and an evidence about this is the case study of â€Å"little Albert† (McLannahan, 2010, p107). On the other hand, snake phobia is the result of the evolutionary process of human, which is genetically inherited for protecting the survival of human; thus, it has a biological explanation only (McLannahan, 2010, p108). Also, there is evidence from twins’ studies for the genetic predisposition for specific animal phobias (Kendler, et all, 1992, cited in Mclannahan, p 109). Thus, a biopsychosocial approach did not contribute to understanding these specific phobias. Meanwhile, biopsychosocial model is important for explaining OCD. For example, John’s excessive hands washing. Psychologically, he has intrusive thought regarding his family’ safety (Toates, 2010, p1). Stress at work and family misunderstanding are his triggers (Toates, 2010, p2). Using PET scan, there is increase of activities in the prefrontal cortex and the caudate nucleus brain’sShow MoreRelatedMental Health Problems Are Still With Us1406 Words   |  6 Pagesare a problem in society today because the lack of development in pharmaceutical intervention. The essay will endeavor to give evidence on how the lack of understanding in some mental health illnesses has prevented the development in drug treatment. One such problem is seen in dementia, scientist have some understanding on what occurs in dementia but as yet have not found a cure (cited in Leys, Rostron and Heading 2011). 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