Medical Model

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get a peek inside a doctor's mind? How do they think through illnesses and other body problems? Is there a certain perspective they tend to use as they make decisions and choose treatments? The answer is yes, and it is the medical model!

Medical Model Definition

The medical model is a school of thought in psychology that explains mental illness as a result of a physical cause. Just like a broken leg can be identified through an x-ray and treated through physical means, so can mental illnesses such as depression (using different identifications techniques, of course).

The medical model is the concept that formulates how mental and emotional issues are related to biological causes and problems. They can be identified, treated, and monitored by observing and identifying physiological signs. Examples include abnormal blood levels, damaged cells, and abnormal gene expression.

Biological research, freepik.com/Freepik

The components of the medical model theory

Psychiatrists/psychologists apply the medical model theory to treat patients. They focus on a few main components: the biochemical, genetic, and brain abnormality explanation of mental illness. To diagnose and treat a patient, they use the above approaches to assess the situation, focusing on the above three components. Typically, psychiatrists assess the patient's symptoms.

Once a patient has been diagnosed with an illness, the psychiatrist decides on the best treatment. Various treatments exist for the medical model, including drug therapies. An old, outdated model is Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a largely abandoned treatment because of some severe risks. Also, the treatment method is still not fully understood.

Medical Model Use in Psychology

Psychiatrists apply the medical model to diagnose patients with mental illnesses. The biochemical, genetic, and brain abnormalities theories are models of how mental health illness is understood.

The biochemical explanation of mental illness

This explanation considers that atypical neurotransmitter activity is a cause of mental illness. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers within the brain which allow communication between neurons. Neurotransmitters can contribute to mental illnesses in several ways.

1. Neurotransmitters send chemical signals between neurons or neurons and muscles. Before a signal can be transmitted between neurons, it must cross the synapse (the gap between two neurons).
2. 'Atypical' neurotransmitter activity is thought to cause mental illness. When there is a low level of neurotransmitters, it makes it difficult for the neurons in the brain to send signals. This can cause dysfunctional behaviour or the symptoms of mental illnesses. Similarly, abnormally high levels of neurotransmitters can lead to brain dysfunction, as it upsets the balance.

The genetic explanation of mental illness focuses on how our genes affect the development of certain diseases within the brain. Humans inherit 50 percent of their genes from their mothers and the other 50 percent from their fathers, and it is well understood now that diseases can be inherited through genes.

Scientists have identified that there are variants of genes that are associated with specific mental illnesses. Some biopsychologists argue that these variants are predispositions for mental illnesses. This, combined with environmental factors such as childhood trauma, can lead to the onset of mental illnesses.

Gottesman et al. (2010) provided supportive evidence of the genetic explanation. To calculate the risk levels of children inheriting mental illnesses from their biological parents. The study was a natural experiment and a national register-based cohort study. The study used a register available in Denmark to see how many parents and their offspring did and did not have mental illnesses.

The variables investigated were:

• Independent variable: whether the parent had been diagnosed with bipolar or schizophrenia

• Dependent variable: child diagnosed with mental illness (using the ICD)

The comparison groups were:

1. Both parents were diagnosed with schizophrenia
2. Both parents were diagnosed with bipolar
3. One parent diagnosed with schizophrenia
4. One parent diagnosed with bipolar
5. Parents with no diagnosed mental illness

Results

The table shows how many parents were diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and the percentage of their children diagnosed with the mental illnesses by 52 years old.

When one parent had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and the other with bipolar, the percentage of offspring diagnosed with schizophrenia was 15.6, and bipolar was 11.7.

Conclusion

This research suggests that genetics is a significant contributor to mental illnesses. The more offspring are predisposed to a genetic vulnerability, the more likely the child will be diagnosed with a mental illness. If both parents have been diagnosed with the respective disorder, the higher the child's chances of developing the disorder.

Medical Model of Mental Health: Brain Abnormality Explanation of Mental Illness

Research has found that people diagnosed with mental illnesses may have brain abnormalities. These include:

• Lesions - damaged brain regions can disrupt the functioning of that brain region and cause mental illnesses/symptoms. Lesions are parts of the brain that have been damaged because of an illness or physical trauma.
• Smaller brain regions - research has shown that patients with mental health illnesses sometimes have a lower grey matter volume in the areas associated with the illness/symptoms.
• Poor blood flow in specific brain regions has been found to contribute to the onset of mental illnesses

Pros and Cons of the Medical Model

The medical model has a vital role in psychology as it is a widely accepted school of thought for treating mental illnesses. This indicates that the model's views are widely applied to the psychological services available. However, there are cons of the medical model that should be considered when applying the model for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.

Practical application of the medical model for the treatment of depression

A psychiatrist who accepts the medical model school of thought could treat a patient with depression using drug treatment. The typical type of drug used for this treatment is called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Pros of the medical model

Let us consider the following strengths of the medical model:

• The approach tends to be objective and follows an empirical approach to diagnosing and treating mental illnesses.
• There is research evidence such as Gottesman et al. (2010) that shows a genetic and biological component to mental illnesses.
• The medical model has real-life practical applications. For example, it describes how people with mental illnesses should be diagnosed and treated.
• The treatment methods used nowadays are widely available, relatively easy to administer, and effective

Cons of the medical model

One of the major causes of schizophrenia is high levels of dopamine. The drug treatment of schizophrenia typically blocks dopamine receptors (stops high levels of dopamine released). This has been found to reduce positive symptoms of schizophrenia but has no or little effect on negative symptoms. This suggests that the biochemical approach partially explains mental illnesses and ignores other factors (reductionist).

The treatments given in the medical model do not try to get to the root of the problem, and instead, it tries to combat the symptoms. There are also certain debates the medical model tends to fall into in psychology overall:

• Nature versus nurture - believes that genetic makeup (nature) is the root of mental illnesses and ignores other factors that may cause them. For example, it ignores the role of the environment (nurture).
• Reductionist versus holism - the model only considers biological explanations of mental illnesses whilst ignoring other factors such as cognitive, psychodynamic, and humanistic. This suggests that the model over-simplifies the complex nature of mental illnesses by ignoring important factors (reductionist).
• Determinism versus free will - the model suggests that people have no free will over their well-being. For instance, the model indicates that their genetic make-up determines mental illness. This implies that you are helpless against developing certain mental illnesses and acting a certain way.