Monthly Archive for February, 2006
Should Basic Health Insurance Cover Mental Health?
Last night I decided to hide from the subfreezing temperatures outside by settling down with a warm cup of mint tea and my newly arrived health insurance policy. In a effort to make my task more tolerable, I decided that I would read it through a biopsychosocial lens.Most noticeable among the stacks of sections upon subsections upon sub-subsections was paragraph "J" under "Covered Benefits." Notable because this section was supported by the shortest narrative on the entire page, only four words -- No benefit is provided.
Mind and Body in Pain
Engel's commitment to revolutionizing the health care sector remains important, for we are all affected as consumers, patients, practitioners, or administrators. His message is notably broad, for the scope of the holistic biopsychosocial model is virtually limitless - from psychiatry, immunology, and public health to pain, sexuality, and everyday life - and defines a wellness balance. This may explain the interconnected nature and difficulty in studying (and perhaps more so in treating disorders involving) these phenomena.
The Biopsychosocial Model of Health & Illness
Health is traditionally equated to the absence of disease. A lack of a fundamental pathology was thought to define one's health as good, whereas biologically driven pathogens and conditions would render an individual with poor health and the label "diseased". However, such a narrow scope on health limited our understanding of wellbeing, thwarted our treatments efforts, and perhaps more importantly, suppressed prevention measures.Many institutions and medical doctors have managed to incorporate a holistic view of health in sound medical application, primarily based on the Biopsychosocial (BPS) Model of Health and Illness.
What is a D.O.?
A Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) just might be your family practitioner, cardiologist or even your obstetrician. Surprise! They are not all M.D.s.The increasingly growing hand of biopsychosocial medicine is pulling back the curtain on various types of medical fields. An example is osteopathic medicine. If you'd like to see a physician for your illness, there are only two fully-licensed choices in America who are are authorized to do everything from prescribe medicine and deliver babies to serving as your family practitioner.
Popular Posts
- Mind Games - Science's Attempts at Thought Control
- The Science of Stuttering
- Risks of Personalized Medicine
- Intelligence - Are You Holding Back Your Brain?
- Is Grief a Mental Illness?
- The Brain's Buying Power
- The Cost of a Good Night's Sleep
- Inside Your Brain on Holiday
- Risk Factors for Recurrence of Depression
- Salvia Divinorum - DEA Control over Magic in the Mint
Future Posts
Latest Posts
- Intelligence – Do You Need it to be Successful?
- A Trip for Terminal Patients
- Memory Ain’t What It Used to Be – And That’s Good for Psychotherapy
- The Science of Stuttering
- Are Your Friends Making You Fat?
- Beer – The Smarter Drink
- Macroeconomics and Suicide
- From Nymphomania to Hypersexuality
- Commitment – It’s the new Love
- Religion and Depression – Cause or Effect?
Comments
- david: I think you did an excellent j
- bikash12: I think you did an excellent j
- Veronica Pamoukaghlian, MA: Thank you for your insightful
- Richard Kensinger, MSW: I agree w/ Howard Gardner's pe
- Melbzi: Muso's and smoked pot.I q
- Melbzi: I am 36 and from Melbourne Aus
- CODER: When we get sick, really sick
- Rusti Hauge: I don't see any evidence to th
- david: Fantastic content, being in Pr
- Kevan Henson: Write to me.Kevan Henson
- Kevan Henson: Tbi's are the way of your daug
- Kevan Henson: Tbi's suck because now we are
