When Your Doctor Attempts To Intimidate You;How to Target an Interdisciplinary Team Approach In Diagnosis,Treatment and Cure of illness

#Action Plan;

#Target an interdisciplinary team approach uniquely centered 

on you In diagnosis,treatment and prevention of illness

"The biopsychosocial model has led to the development of the most therapeutic and cost-effective interdisciplinary pain management programs and makes it far more likely for the chronic pain patient to regain function and experience vast improvements in quality of life"- Robert J. Gatchel, PhD, ABPP, Krista J. Howard, PhD and Nancy D. Kishino

Recovery during illness is more effective when diagnosis and treatment of our the patient involves an understanding how their experiences relates to their illness.

The Biopsychosocial  model encourages a positive shift in the way people think about health, illness, and healing.The model is an integral part of the principles of health psychology should be utilized  by conventional western medicine but is not.

According to Jane Ogden,2004,some patients and physicians view the  concepts Biopsychosocial as being a personal affront to gaining knowledge and do not believe that pain relates to overall emotional well-being. Others fear that people working in the health psychology fields will judge them or their pain as being “abnormal.”

When Your Doctor Attempts to Intimidate You

 I have observed that when some patients complain to their doctors about pain for example, some medical professionals after carrying out physical examine or laboratory test try to discredit patient complaints of pain and intimidate people into making them believe that the problem simply does not exist and that it is all a figment of the imagination.

However, this is not true  because research indicates that  there is a relationship between the physical brain and pain or disease process that people experience. Therefore, the problem may simply not be medically proven, or the location of pain cannot be found in the body at the time.

 Do not be tricked into believing that an illness is a figment of imagination as this belief may cause psychological problems and increase physical symptoms. The above thoughts are sincere and generalized examples of what I mean when I say that healing comes, in part, from the underlying psychological aspects of the mind (thoughts and feelings), behaviors and the brain. 

Pain;The Scientific Evidence For the Biopsychosocial Model of Medicine There is now a growing evidence base for supporting the Biopsychosocial approach to pain. For example, in response to the 
"over-medicalisation" of musculoskeletal pain,in particular,the use of x-rays and CT scan was often found to be unnecessary by the Australian Acute Musculoskeletal Pain Guideline Groups. And this now part of the guidelines for their Clinical Practice since 2003.

Furthermore, in recognition of the biopsychosocial  approach to pain, the Royal North Shore Hospital in conjunction with Sydney University also introduced the Master of Science in medicine (Pain Management),now widely recognized as one of the world's leading evidence-based degrees in pain management.

We now know from scientific studies that the mind and body are intimately connected (i.e., via neurochemistry) and that changes in physical health can influence mental and emotional health (and vice versa). The nature of our relationships with others also can affect our overall health. By examining how these factors influence each other, we can develop ways to improve our physical and psychological health and well-being. 

 Clinical Health Psychologists labeled this way of thinking as being as the Biopsychosocial approach to understanding health and well-being.

The Biopsychosocial model encourages a positive shift in the way people think about health, illness, and healing. Health Psychology is a relatively new sub-category of psychology and is not well known to many people.

I hereby conclude that more medical health practitioners should incorporate the use of the biopsychosocial model for  a more effective approach to health, illness. Health psychologists have been using this model in exploring the physical, psychological, and behavioral aspects, and consider the problem in a holistic fashion.

Clinical Implications of the Biopsychosocial Model

There are several implications of the biopsychosocial model for clinical practice with patients.

•  First, the model maintains that the process of diagnosis should always consider the interacting role of biological, psychological, and social factors in assessing an individual’s health or illness (Oken, 2000). 

• Therefore, an interdisciplinary team approach may be the best way to make a diagnosis (Suls & Rothman, 2004).

• Second, the biopsychsocial model maintains that recommendations for treatment must also involve all three sets of factors.

•  By doing this, it should be possible to target therapy uniquely to a particular individual, consider a person’s health status in total, and make treatment recommendations that can deal with more than one problem simultaneously.
•  Again, a team approach may be most appropriate (Schwartz, 1982).

• Third, the biopsychosocial model makes explicit the significance of the relationship between patient and practitioner. 

• An effective patient-practitioner relationship can improve a patient’s use of services, the efficacy of treatment, and the rapidity with which illness is resolved (Belar, 1997).

   (see diagram to the left). 
         In summary, the biopsychosocial model clearly implies that the practitioner must understand the social and psychological factors that contribute to an illness in order to treat it appropriately. 

In the case of a healthy individual, the biopsychosocial model suggests that one can understand health habits only in their psychological and social contexts. These contexts may maintain a poor health habit or, with appropriate modifications, facilitate the development of healthy ones. 

In the case of the ill individual, biological, psychological, and social factors all contribute to recovery.

Benefits of Using the Biopsychosocial Model in Practice

The Biopsychosocial model when used in practice can:

• Significantly improve the likelihood of successfully quitting any addiction 

• Help people become more physically fit 

• Assist with decreasing chronic pain 

• Improve the quality of life with those diagnosed with a terminal illness 

• Prevent further complications of any serious physical ailment 

• Assist in learning new ways to cope with the tensions that govern everyday life. 

We need to embrace this holistic fashion of health so that we can achieve our full potential and discover new ways to manage a medical condition and improve our current physical health by learning motivational techniques that can help.

#Action Exercise

• Adjust your health checkup pattern.i.e., your health checkup must NOW involve an interdisciplinary team approach that should include a mental health professionals i.e., psychologists and not only a medical doctor/s

• Resolve to start visiting  a psychologists whether or not all medical options of treatment has been exhausted. This is because the biopsychosocial model of health is  the  best way to go in order to achieve a good quality of life and strong relationships.

•  By doing this, it should be possible to target therapy uniquely particular to you as individual.