The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model: Reconciling Art and Science in Psychiatry
2010 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine

This is the first book-length historical critique of psychiatry’s mainstream ideology, the biopsychosocial (BPS) model.

Developed in the twentieth century as an outgrowth of psychosomatic medicine, the biopsychosocial model is seen as an antidote to the constraints of the medical model of psychiatry. Nassir Ghaemi details the origins and evolution of the BPS model and explains how, where, and why it fails to live up to its promises. He analyzes the works of its founders, George Engel and Roy Grinker Sr., traces its rise in acceptance, and discusses its relation to the thought of William Osler and Karl Jaspers.

In assessing the biopsychosocial model, Ghaemi provides a philosophically grounded evaluation of the concept of mental illness and the relation between evidence-based medicine and psychiatry. He argues that psychiatry's conceptual core is eclecticism, which in the face of too much freedom paradoxically leads many of its adherents to enact their own dogmas. Throughout, he makes the case for a new paradigm of medical humanism and method-based psychiatry that is consistent with modern science while incorporating humanistic aspects of the art of medicine.

Ghaemi shows how the historical role of the BPS model as a reaction to biomedical reductionism is coming to an end and urges colleagues in the field to embrace other, less-eclectic perspectives.

"1101796563"
The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model: Reconciling Art and Science in Psychiatry
2010 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine

This is the first book-length historical critique of psychiatry’s mainstream ideology, the biopsychosocial (BPS) model.

Developed in the twentieth century as an outgrowth of psychosomatic medicine, the biopsychosocial model is seen as an antidote to the constraints of the medical model of psychiatry. Nassir Ghaemi details the origins and evolution of the BPS model and explains how, where, and why it fails to live up to its promises. He analyzes the works of its founders, George Engel and Roy Grinker Sr., traces its rise in acceptance, and discusses its relation to the thought of William Osler and Karl Jaspers.

In assessing the biopsychosocial model, Ghaemi provides a philosophically grounded evaluation of the concept of mental illness and the relation between evidence-based medicine and psychiatry. He argues that psychiatry's conceptual core is eclecticism, which in the face of too much freedom paradoxically leads many of its adherents to enact their own dogmas. Throughout, he makes the case for a new paradigm of medical humanism and method-based psychiatry that is consistent with modern science while incorporating humanistic aspects of the art of medicine.

Ghaemi shows how the historical role of the BPS model as a reaction to biomedical reductionism is coming to an end and urges colleagues in the field to embrace other, less-eclectic perspectives.

35.0 In Stock
The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model: Reconciling Art and Science in Psychiatry

The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model: Reconciling Art and Science in Psychiatry

by S. Nassir Ghaemi MD MPH
The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model: Reconciling Art and Science in Psychiatry

The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model: Reconciling Art and Science in Psychiatry

by S. Nassir Ghaemi MD MPH

Paperback

$35.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

2010 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine

This is the first book-length historical critique of psychiatry’s mainstream ideology, the biopsychosocial (BPS) model.

Developed in the twentieth century as an outgrowth of psychosomatic medicine, the biopsychosocial model is seen as an antidote to the constraints of the medical model of psychiatry. Nassir Ghaemi details the origins and evolution of the BPS model and explains how, where, and why it fails to live up to its promises. He analyzes the works of its founders, George Engel and Roy Grinker Sr., traces its rise in acceptance, and discusses its relation to the thought of William Osler and Karl Jaspers.

In assessing the biopsychosocial model, Ghaemi provides a philosophically grounded evaluation of the concept of mental illness and the relation between evidence-based medicine and psychiatry. He argues that psychiatry's conceptual core is eclecticism, which in the face of too much freedom paradoxically leads many of its adherents to enact their own dogmas. Throughout, he makes the case for a new paradigm of medical humanism and method-based psychiatry that is consistent with modern science while incorporating humanistic aspects of the art of medicine.

Ghaemi shows how the historical role of the BPS model as a reaction to biomedical reductionism is coming to an end and urges colleagues in the field to embrace other, less-eclectic perspectives.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781421407753
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 10/01/2012
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

S. Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., M.P.H., is a professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and director of the Mood Disorders Program at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston. He also serves on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. He has written several books including Mood Disorders: A Practical Guide; A Clinician's Guide to Statistics and Epidemiology in Mental Health: Measuring Truth and Uncertainty; A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness; and The Concepts of Psychiatry: A Pluralistic Approach to the Mind and Mental Illness, the last also published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: The Rise of the Biopsychosocial Model
1. The Perils of Open-mindedness: Adolf Meyer's Psychobiology
2. So Many Theories, So Little Time: The Rise of Eclecticism
3. Riding Madly in All Directions: Roy Grinker's "Struggle for Eclecticism"
4. A New Model of Medicine: George Engel's Biopsychosocial Model
5. Before and After: Precursors and Followers of the Biopsychosocial Model
6. Cease-fire: Ending the Psychiatric Civil War
Part II: The Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model
7. Drowning in Data
8. Teaching Eclecticism
9. Psychopharmacology Awry
10. The Vagaries of the Real World
Part III: What Next?
11. The Limits of Evidence-Based Medicine
12. Osler's Ghost
13. The Two Cultures
14. Between Science and the Humanities
15. The Meaning of Meaning: Verstehen Explained
16. The Beginning of a Solution: Method-Based Psychiatry
17. A New Psychiatric Humanism
Afterword: Pre-empting the Straw Man
Appendix: How Can We Teach It? A Proposal for Education of Psychiatrists
Notes
A Brief Glossary of Concepts
References
Index

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews