Biopsychosocial and Biomedical Model of Health

1651 words 7 pages
Human beliefs about the causes of illness and injury vary from one era to another. In the Neolithic times (c.a 8000- 9000 b.c ), illness and injury being common phenomena’s, were directly associated to natural events manipulated by higher powers which also controlled climate changes and other natural events. Overtime, healing ceremonies, songs, sacred objects, and incantations were developed as means of pacifying the evil forces which were believed to cause diseases, and illnesses. Then, during the period of intellectual development, ways of western medicine was first implemented by Hippocrates, who was regarded to as the most celebrated Greek practitioner and till date is known as the father of medicine. Hippocrates helped overcome the …show more content…

People were yet again led to believe that human behavior was a result of possession of spirits (good or evil). During this time religious leaders served as both preachers and medical practitioners and the church defied scientific research on human body.
Then arose the theory of dualism by René Descartes, where he stated, that mind and body have independent functions and mechanisms and that the mind was physical much like the machine while the mind which was perceived to be the soul was distinct with its contributions to human behavior. His theory conveyed that, the mind/souls functions determined human’s psychology was influenced by one’s physiological mechanisms. The mind hosed fluid through the nerves of the body that caused the body as a physical entity to function hydraulically. His theories never went beyond this as the church through its beliefs and the ideas it imposed into the minds of the people created a barrier between such scientific yet real approaches.
Psychologists today abide by a monistic theory that conveys, the body and mind depend on each other and cannot be separated, a the mind resides in a portion of the physical body so, they are interdependent. However, due to the lack of technology to study the minute components of the brain it is not possible to derive a clear cut relation between the mind and body as the functions and

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