The biomedical model of health - Essay Example

Although it has been introduced in the nineteenth century, the roots of the model date back to the 17th century when Cartesian dualism existed. After its introduction the model replaced the previously famous Humoral paradigm in the twentieth century. The discovery of antibiotics proved to be a breakthrough in the approval of the model. However in the late twentieth century some of the sociologists again started questioning the integrity of the biomedical model of health as they considered the social wellbeing of an individual to be as important as the biological well being (Curtis 2002; Taylor 2008; Lovallo 2005; Havelka et al 2009).

Biomedical Model of Health The biomedical model of health takes its roots from the Cartesian dualism which is dated back to the seventeenth century in the times of Descartes. Cartesian Dualism revolved around the aspect that both mind and body are two separate entities irrespective of their functions. In a similar fashion the model considers physical causes to be the main reason for the disease. The model has replaced the previously followed Humoral Paradigm which was formed by the Greeks. According to this paradigm the diseases in a human body are caused because of a certain abnormality in the four basic fluids of the body.

In those times the four basic fluids of the body were believed to be blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. The treatment of this paradigm also revolved around the maintenance of these four basic fluids. One thing common about the Humoral paradigm and biomedical model of health is that both of them consider bodily factors to be the cause of the disease (Curtis 2002). The biomedical model of health revolves around certain factors which have to be present. The model states that for a person to be unhealthy he has to have some sort of biological abnormality.

It also states that every disease has some specific cause which has to be diagnosed by the doctor in order to cure the patient. It also involves the process of treatment and states that the human body can be reversed back to the normal condition if the right treatment is served to the diseased person. It states that psychological and social processes do not take part in the disease causing process. Moreover it also assumes that mind and body are two different entities that have no such relation with each other.

And lastly the health of the whole society is dependent on the resources that are available to the medical society as a whole (Taylor 2008). The model is largely followed all over the world and its principles are also seen to be the most convincing these days. It is because of this model that researches are being conducted on the biochemical and genetic processes of the body to find out about the different diseases. Moreover all the doctors being trained these days are trained on the principles of this model as they have to learn about the internal environment of a human being so that they can treat them.

In other words they have to understand the human body so that they can intervene in the process of disease that may be causing harm to the patient (Curtis 2002; Taylor & Field 2007). It has helped to carry out several projects have proved to be a breakthrough in treating various diseases occurring in the society. The Human Genome Project is an example of the advantages of this model. Human Genome Proj