Psychological Disorders and Biopsychosocial Model

Anthony Agnese Professor Basak Sahin PSY100 Term Paper 04/23/11

In psychology, there are many different things that are incorporated and that are categorized in the field of psychology. Psychology is the study of mind. With this ne a big thing that is studied by many is psychological disorders and the Biopsychosocial Model. These two things are usually found together because they go hand and hand together. These two concepts go together because the Biopsychosocial Model helps classify psychological disorders and why they occur. Another thing about psychological disorders is that many people are unsure how they occur but they affect people very differently. In research, two articles that have help explain both of these topics in depth. The first article is Cognitive Vulnerability to Psychological Disorders: Overview of Theory, Design, And Methods by John H. Riskind and Lauren B. Alloy. The second article is Personality Disorders: A Biopsychosocial Model by Joel Paris. Also in both of these articles it show how there is a connection between the two and how they can work together and why they are associated together. In the article, Cognitive Vulnerability to Psychological Disorders: Overview of Theory, Design, And Methods, it talks about how the Cognitive Vulnerability Model shows how origins and casual factors can lead to psychological problems in individuals. In talking about this it shows how people can possibly develop a psychological disorder. It is said that most psychological disorders are developed after an individual goes through a stressful event. (Riskind) In most stressful situations to puts a lot on a persons mental health so it could be understandable to why it can affect someone. Some cognitive vulnerability factors that are states are faulty beliefs, dysfunctional attitude, and dysfunctional inferential. These factors cause different psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, and maladaptive mental simulations. (Riskind) This is important

because it shows how certain things can cause a psychological problem. In this as well, most of the psychological disorders dont occur until the specific factor is triggered. In the cognitive vulnerability factors there are two factors in psychological disorders, which are specific and nonspecific. According to the article, Specific causal factors are relatively unique or focal factors in that they influence and predict the development of a particular problem, but do not equally apply to all psychological problems or disorders in general. and nonspecific (or common) causal factors are characterized by their relatively low discriminatory power and in this way, potentially cut across a range of different psychological problems. (Riskind) This is very important in research because in specific and nonspecific factors both have different characteristics and can have a different effect on certain people, which makes classifying or determining the problem in a person hard. It is also said the people can have compound vulnerability which means that they have multiple cognitive factors that effect them and causes multiple psychological problems or disorders. Thus also making it harder in determining peoples specific problems. With all this information on how things can possibly trigger a psychological disorder and that there are several factors in which determining what psychological problem it is, lead to also lead to how could this occur in someone. Which then brings up the Biopsychosocial Model. In the second article, Personality Disorders: A Biopsychosocial Model, it talks about what the model is and how it helps classify certain things about the psychological disorders. According to the article, The Biopsychosocial model is an attempt to conceptualize the multiple causes of mental disorders. This theoretical model implies that many etiological factors could be necessary but that none by themselves would be

sufficient conditions for the development of a psychiatric disorder. The etiological influences on any disorder may function as risk factors or protective factors. These factors could include biological vulnerability, the psychological impact of life experiences, and the influence of the social environment. (Paris) This is very important to know because this model can be used to understand the causes and effects of psychological disorders. People are developed by personal traits, behavior, thoughts and emotions, which also can affect who they are because how they function in life including their temperament and social learning. All these factors can lead to how they develop and if it is possible contribute to the type of psychological disorder they can develop if something were to happen where a psychological disorder could occur. The article states Temperament reflects behavioral dispositions that are observable early in life and are primarily determined by biological factors. Traits are complex dispositions that involve both behavioral and cognitive factors and reflect an important degree of environmental input. (Paris) This shows that once again that a person is effected by outside sources and it directly affects them. Also another topic covered in this article is biological factors that are form genetic studies and biological markers. These can be found through out family history and it can be inherited.(Paris) Also this model can show that psychological disorders can be developed through a persons family history or their social life. Which is interesting that there a several things that can cause a psychological disorder not just a persons family history or that they been through something in their life. The two articles definitely have a connection between each other not just because they have to deal with psychological disorders. It has to do with more of what cause the

psychological disorders. Inside of what causes then are the different types of factors, specific and nonspecific, and the outside factors as well. Also a key point that was brought up in these articles is that psychological disorders arent just from family history or just from a traumatic experience in life or just from how a person was affected by their social environment. That using this Biopsychosocial Model in helping determining psychological disorders is significant use due to the factor and characteristics it takes into consideration when it determining the psychological disorder. With these two articles to preform further research on this topic there are a few options in which can help see results. The first thing would be something of a group study. In this study, it would take several people with different psychological disorders, with different lifestyles and how they developed their psychological disorder (inherited or social). This could be very significant because you can take these people and diagnoses them and finding out how they developed the psychological disorder. Especially what caused the disorder if it occurred from a social environment reaction such as stress or trauma. As well would specific thing that trigger it if certain situations are brought up. As well, if they lifestyle they lived before psychological disorder and if things they did could have lead it. In doing thing this it could help expands and developing more of a definition in the Biopsychosocial Model. Another thing that could be done to help further research these two topics is to do a similar thing above but to also incorporate personal traits such as temper to evaluate how the psychological disorder effects a persons personality. In conclusion, psychological disorders are a big part of psychology. This is because psychology is the study of the mind and these psychological disorders are a disruption in the mind and studying them are important to figure out how they affect the

mind. With the Biopsychosocial Model it helps classify and determine what happened to these peoples mind so that everyone can have a better understanding in which had occurred. Also to see how they are developed and what factor can trigger them.

Work Cited Joel Paris (1993). Personality Disorders: A Biopsychosocial Model. Journal of Personality Disorders: Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 255-264. Riskind, J. H., & Alloy, L. B. (2006). Cognitive vulnerability to psychological disorders: Overview of theory, design, and methods. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25(7), 705-725.