Your Status: Logged out Log in

Critically assess the extent to which the medical model of abnormality has successfully explained mental-ill health.  

Member rating: 5 out of 10 stars (2 votes) | Words: | Submitted: Thu Jan 13 2005

Page Preview
Preview
Previous 1 of 4 Next

On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:

Critically assess the extent to which the medical model of abnormality has successfully explained mental-ill health. (18 Marks) The medical model (sometimes known as the biological model) became most dominant in the middle of the 19th Century, and is still the most dominant model up to date. It was thought that abnormal behaviour came from mental illness caused by organic or physical disorder. This is a biological approach regarding abnormality as an illness or disease. Some mental illnesses have been linked to microorganisms. Barr et al 1990 found there was increased evidence of schizophrenia in children whose mothers had the flu when they were pregnant. This suggests that the cause of mental illness might be a disease. Psychiatrists usually adopt this model as they are trained in medicine having obtained a medical degree. Doctors base their diagnosis on physical symptoms e.g. raised blood pressure. Although many psychological disorders do not have physical basis...

Get instant access



  • Instant, unlimited access to our documents in full
  • Swap your work for free access, or pay £4.99
  • To see the full version of this document and 147,187 others
Register Now
OR

Receive email updates for this category



  • Simply tell us your email address and receive a weekly Study Help Email for FREE
  • Receive 3 FREE essay views with each email
  • Get all the latest essays from Coursework.Info & discussion from TheStudentRoom.co.uk