The core assumptions of the biopsychological approach
The biopsychological approach involves the following assumptions:
- The brain chemical activity helps define the process of message transmittance in a human brain;
- An evolutionary perspective on the patient’s health concerns provides a deeper insight into the disease and contributes to a more efficient search from the solution;
- Genetic research of the factors inducing the psychological problem in question is crucial to working on the solution for the problem;
- Neurotransmitters function assessment helps evaluate the severity of the disease;
- Hormonal transmission assessment allows us to understand the problem from both the psychological and the endocrinal aspects;
- Analysis of the genetic influences provides a full-scale check of the possible obstacles in curing the patient’s disease;
- Analysis of the functions of specific parts of the brain leads to a better understanding of how to develop the approach towards a specific disorder (Zachar, 2012).
Historical disciplines converging to create biological psychology
The idea of creating the theory that would explain psychological processes from a biological point of view and vice versa, thus, providing the opportunity for a more detailed study of the factors inducing specific diseases and disorders, is not new. The suggestion to blend the biological and psychological ideas into a single theory that could provide the foil for the development of a completely new branch of medicine was provided in 1977 by George L. Engel (Borrel-Carro, Suchman & Epstein, 2004). However, it would be a mistake to assume that biopsychology is based solely on biology and psychology. Though the latter two doubtlessly make a huge chunk of it, biopsychology also incorporates the elements of philosophy, since, in the latter, the issue known as the mind-body problem exists (Kron, 2012).
The earliest examples of a biological approach to studying the behavior
Though the relation between the biological specifics of a human body and certain psychological problems might seem a bit far-fetched at first, when considering the issue closer, one will inevitably see that there is a close relationship between the two. A very graphical example of such a relation is depression. The given problem, through psychological, can be caused by several physiological factors, such as liver disorder.
Another example of the link between the biological and the psychological is a specific skin condition caused by psychological factors is agoraphobia. Defined as the fear of height, it might be caused by the difficulties in spatial orientation, which, in turn, are the result of cerebellum dysfunction (Bernstein, 2010).
Examples of modern careers that have resulted from studying biological psychology
- Neuropsychologists study the effects of structural changes occurring in the brain;
- Mental health counselor advocates for people with mental impairments or disorders;
- Neuroscientist researches the specifics of human brainwork;
- Pharmaceutical explores the effects of specific drugs on human neurochemistry (Kuther & Morgan, 2012).
The way biological psychology viewed by other professionals in psychology today
Biopsychology enjoys wide popularity and recognition among professionals nowadays. Considered the means to view the processes within a human body from two points of view, it is believed to offer a priceless opportunity to analyze both the psychological and the physiological factors. Thus, technically, any disease can be approached from two aspects, the biological and the psychological one. Given the fact that the nervous system is intertwined with the remaining 11 (cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, excretory, muscular, immune, integumentary, lymphatic, reproductive, respiratory, and skeletal ones), it should be considered an integral part of a human body. Therefore, diseases must be considered both in the physiological and neurological context.
Reference List
Bernstein, D. (2010). Essentials of psychology. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning Borrel-Carro, F., Suchman, A. L. & Epstein, R. M. (2004). The biopsychological model 25 years later: Principles, practice and scientific inquiry. The Annals of Family Medicine, 2(6), 576–583.
Kron, S. (2012). The mind body problem. Anesthesiology, 116(1), 219–221.
Kuther, T. L. & Morgan, R. D. (2012). Careers in psychology: Opportunities in a changing world. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Zachar, P. (2012). A partial (speculative) reconstruction of the biological basis of emotionality. Emotion review, 4(3), 249–250.