Medical model
The medical model is a prevalent framework in healthcare, emphasizing diagnosis and treatment of diseases primarily through physiological causes. It views health as the absence of disease and interprets symptoms—both objective and subjective—as indicators of underlying medical issues to be addressed. This model is often likened to a mechanical approach, where the human body is seen as a machine needing repair. While it offers a structured method for understanding various health conditions, including mental disorders, it has faced criticism for its reductionist perspective and the tendency to overlook psychological and social factors. Critics argue that this model can foster a paternalistic dynamic between healthcare providers and patients and may inadequately address the complexities of mental health. In the context of disability, the medical model is similarly challenged for emphasizing impairments as physical malfunctions that need correction, rather than recognizing the role of societal barriers. Advocates for disability rights prefer the social model, which views disability as a result of societal failure to accommodate differences, thus promoting a more inclusive approach to health and wellness.
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Medical model
The medical model is a widely used model for diagnosing and treating a patient. It is one of the most common approaches to medical treatment and is often contrasted with the holistic or wellness model. When used in a psychological context, the term refers to the view that psychological disorders result mainly, if not solely, from physiological causes; in the context of disabled persons, it describes an approach that focuses primarily on the person’s disability, aiming either to cure it or, failing that, to alleviate his or her impairments. In both contexts, the medical model has been criticized for being reductive and for pathologizing deviation from the norm.
Overview
The medical model of clinical practice centers on the concept of disease. It defines health in negative terms, as the absence of disease, and defines disease as the body’s deviation from normal physical functioning. Symptoms, whether objective (such as raised body temperature) or subjective (such as feelings of discomfort), are clues to an underlying physiological disorder, which should be the focus of the treatment. The medical model is often described as taking a mechanical view of medicine, with the patient’s body treated as a machine that has malfunctioned and must be repaired. Though it is the dominant approach to medical practice in the Western world, the medical model has increasingly been countered by the holistic model, also called the wellness model, which views fulfillment of all of a person’s needs—psychological and social as well as physical—as necessary for good health.
While the medical model may be useful in many clinical contexts, it has drawn criticism for its application in certain areas. The medical model of mental health approaches psychological disorders in the same way as any other disorder: by assuming an underlying physiological cause, of which phenomena such as hallucinations and suicidal thoughts are considered to be symptoms. These disorders are typically treated with medication; more rarely, electroconvulsive therapy or, in extreme cases, surgery may be recommended. While it is generally accepted that many mental disorders have at least some basis in biology, and use of the medical model has helped destigmatize mental disorders among the general public, this approach has been challenged for disregarding the role of nonphysiological factors in mental illness and for promoting a paternalistic relationship between doctor and patient. The potentially dangerous side effects of the available treatments have also been cause for concern. In the 1970s, psychiatrist Ronald D. Laing criticized the application of the medical model to psychology because, unlike physiological disorders, mental disorders are diagnosed not via physical pathology but on the basis of behavior and reported experiences.
Also criticized for its paternalism is the medical model of disability, which similarly focuses on the physiological, viewing a disabled person’s impairment as a physical error that should be corrected or controlled by medical means. According to this model, the impairment itself is what makes a person disabled. However, advocates for disability rights have largely rejected this model in favor of the social model of disability. They criticize the medical model for focusing on disabled people’s limitations; viewing impairments as inherently negative; promoting an image of people with disabilities as helpless and disempowered; and concentrating efforts on changing the disabled person so he or she can better function in society. The social model, in contrast, regards impairment as an inherently neutral difference rather than a negative abnormality; defines disability as arising not from the impairment itself but from the failure of society to accommodate it; and prioritizes adaptation of the environment to be more inclusive, such as by adding wheelchair ramps or by making important information available in large-print or Braille text.
Bibliography
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