A physical/mental disease, diagnosed by a medical professional from a person's symptoms. Treated with physical methods, such as medication, to address physical/biological causes. Treatment returns person to pre-illness condition
Several interacting factors play a role in health and ill health, including: Biological characteristics (genes, neurochemistry), Psychological characteristics (stress, attitudes), Social characteristics (family, culture)
Treatment takes all three factors into account to enhance health. Focus on prevention, and mental ill health is not just faulty biology, so treatment is not just correcting the 'fault'
The dominant biomedical view is that your health and ill health are two categories. The biopsychosocial approach opposes this as too simplistic. It proposes that health exists on a continuum varying between two extremes
Whether you experience stress depends on how you think about the stressor and your ability to cope with it. Psychological stress occurs when the perceived demands of your environment exceed your perceived ability to cope
How we think about our ability to deal with stressors. What coping resources do we believe we have? Internal coping resources are psychological, including resilience and self-efficacy.External coping resources include social support, i.e. network of friends, family and other people
People can become addicted to a substance or a behaviour. They both produce pleasurable experiences and people persist in their addiction despite harmful consequences
Genes contribute to health but do not determine it – if you do not inherit a gene 'for' health or an illness. You inherit a predisposition which makes you more or less likely to be healthy (or ill). This is not inevitable and depends on non-genetic factors
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that allow communication between neurons. Neurotransmitters are usually 'in balance', neither too high nor too low. But levels can become imbalanced due to genetics, stress etc. This affects behaviour depending on whether the levels are too high or too low
We identify with peers because they are similar to us, so we model our behaviour on theirs. Imitation is more likely when peers are having a positive experience
When making decisions we sometimes have to choose between two equally (un)attractive options, so whichever we choose we think, 'Maybe I should have selected the other one'
An inclination to believe one thing rather than another, usually unconscious rather than deliberate. Gender bias and racial bias can affect decisions about diagnosis and treatment