The medical approach to physical and mental health has been diverted and distorted towards overemphasizing the biological dimension of the syndromes that make up various diseases and towards combating disease with "anti ... medicine" rather than promoting "pro ..." health and wellness. We see anti-depressant pills; anti psychotic; anti anxiety; anti pain, antibiotics, antidotes etc. This approach neglecting the "pro" causes a degradation of the cost-effectiveness of the treatments, taking them almost exclusively to surgeries where the damaged part is removed or replaced, or to pills or pharmaco-therapies. Not a few doctors are dedicated to dispensing prescriptions without clarifying to their patients that they are not a complete long-term solution but a partial and temporary relief. The long-term solution requires a proactive daily internal and external prevention work of the patient. It requires learning wellness skills; learn self-help and in short: learn to learn; rehabilitate ourselves; I mean, humanize us.
The description of symptoms and syndromes of mental illnesses in the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders "DSM" does not consider the biological dimensions although it is intended to diagnose them.
What is the remedy to the extreme of the "anti" biological approach?
Is it changing that biological approach of fighting disease for a psychological one of changing behaviors? Is the psychological approach worse or better than the biological one or does it also fall into the error that it tries to remedy?
The mistake: -On simplifying and fragmenting the human mind -
The concept that reconciles both the biological point of view - "anti-disease" and the psychological-emotional-behavioral point of view and also with the social-family and also with the spiritual -Public Health is the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of mind and mental health. This reconciling and systemic model has been lost and weakened in this world of “mass production” and “sub-specialties”. The regrettable and sad antagonism of groups of psychologists against psychiatrists and psychiatry and vice versa is well known. Attacking one approach versus another or one profession versus another or one approach versus another instead of reconciling and complementing them is characteristic and causes of these current deficiencies in adequate mental health treatments. It is easy to understand that a capitalist system is going to generate these struggles and fragmentations because it is going to pay more the one that produces the most quantity instead of the one that produces the best quality and many professionals fall into the temptation to produce more money and lower their quality and lose what more valuable by "degrading his own humanity." A degraded mental health professional harms not only his patients but also the profession and there are more and more in all professions. Our enemy is not other professionals but the administration of the Health industry that seeks to promote profit over service.
The bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach (BSSE) promotes the differentiation of the terms treatment therapy and this last term refers to the integration of therapies in all these dimensions BSSE integrally. For that, it promotes going even further than breaking antagonisms. Promotes the formation of interdisciplinary teams to stabilize the critical phase of diseases with medical specialists -sychiatrist (Bio); Psychologists / Neuropsychologists (psycho); Social Worker / Counselor and Case Managers. That seems to cost the industry more, but it costs less in the long run. After stabilizing the BSSE approach, it changes to promote health and well-being, deepening comorbidities and causes and dynamics-family and social barriers. Ultimately it helps you transition to “self-help and spirituality” as a service to your well-being and the well-being of humanity so that you continue to grow and develop your full human potential.
If we continue to attack each other instead of inviting integration, we will continue to contribute to this type of fragmentation.
The DSM; far from being perfect but it is practical and that makes it valuable. The DSM explains in its content that it does not claim to be the only explanation of health-disease. The mistake has been the overuse by those who distribute the money in the materialistic system that promotes that antagonism-reductionism and results in that fragmentation that is doing so much damage to humanity.
I see psychiatric medications well used and in the minimum effective doses as something very valuable if it is integrated with other modalities of therapies and even more so in interdisciplinary programs. By themselves some psychiatric medicines do not work in the long term, but in the BSSE approach they allow and facilitate the other integral treatment therapies. Promoting self-help is essential for increasing human well-being. Also promoting service to humanity is essential for spiritual well-being.