Healthy or ill? About biology, your psyche & your social network!

Healthy or ill? Read here how the interaction between biology, your psyche and your social network influences your well-being!

Healthy or ill? - biopsychosocial model - biology - psyche - social network - healthy - ill - sick - well-being - medication - support - heredity - resilience - personality - stress - relationships - therapy - free initial session

The biopsychosocial model is a widely used approach to explaining the development of health or illness. It illustrates the interplay between biological, psychological and social factors in every person’s life. These three factors interlock like the individual pieces of a puzzle and influence each other.

Biological factors can be: heredity, neurotransmitters in the brain, nutrition, sport, hormones, the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication.

Psychological factors can be: resilience, information processing modes, stress tolerance, time management, communication skills, personality.

Social factors can be: relationships with family members, friendships, perceived support from teachers/bosses/work colleagues, sense of belonging to associations or clubs.

Depending on the characteristics of the individual factors, a person can feel healthy, stressed or ill. The assessment of health, stress or illness must always be made on an individual level. For example, two out of three components could be positive and one component negative, which leads to illness in person A, but is still sufficient for well-being and health in person B.

In another example, the importance of individual impact factors becomes clear: Person A has a biologically determined serotonin deficiency and dysfunctional stress management mechanisms on a psychological level; they can still feel healthy and well if an appropriate social network is available to provide support and assistance. Person B, however, with the same serotonin deficiency and dysfunctional stress management, could fall into severe depression without the support of a loving social network.

In psychological therapy, you can work out how you can positively influence individual impact factors in the three areas of the biopsychosocial model.

In the biological area, this could be: prescribed medication from a specialist, dietary adjustments, regular exercise, supplements and abstinence from alcohol and drugs.

In the psychological area, this could be: stress management training, strategies for dealing with stress, learning communication skills, emotion regulation techniques, relaxation and self-reflection.

In the social area, this could be seeking out or reducing social contacts, strengthening positive relationships, optimising your workplace interactions or joining like-minded groups.

How would you rate your well-being based on the biopsychosocial model? Which individual factors could you change for the better?

Let’s talk about it in a free initial session!

#biology #psyche #social

Healthy or ill? - biopsychosocial model - biology - psyche - social network - healthy - ill - sick - well-being - medication - support - heredity - resilience - personality - stress - relationships - therapy - free initial session