A Psychological Model of Mental Disorder

Abstract

A coherent conceptualization of the role of psychological factors is of great importance in understanding mental disorder. Academic articles and professional reports alluding to psychological models of the etiology of mental disorder are becoming increasingly common, and there is evidence of a marked policy shift toward the provision of psychological therapies and interventions. This article discusses the relationship between biological, social, and psychological factors in the causation and treatment of mental disorder. It argues that simple biological reductionism is not scientifically justified, and also that the specific role of psychological processes within the biopsychosocial model requires further elaboration. The biopsychosocial model is usually interpreted as implying that biological, psychological, and social factors are co-equal partners in the etiology of mental disorder. The psychological model of mental disorder presented here suggests that disruption or dysfunction in psychological processes is a final common pathway in the development of mental disorder. These processes include, but are not limited to, cognitive processes. The model proposes that biological and social factors, together with a person's individual experiences, lead to mental disorder through their conjoint effects on those psychological processes. Implications for research, interventions, and policy are discussed.

Each Is in Different Circumstances Anyway

“…Psychological stress has long been recognized as certain cause of depression (Avison, Aneshensel, Schieman, & Wheaton, 2010;Brown & Harris, 1978;Kinderman, 2005;Stone, Lin, & Quartermain, 2008). The role of explanatory research is to identify the, often unobserved, mechanisms that trigger or maintain the experienced phenomenon.…”

A review of effective interventions for reducing aggression and violence

“…Arguably within each of these perspectives, however, ultimate behavioural outcomes must be mediated by psychological variables (Kinderman 2005). Whatever the distal factors may be that lead through multiple developmental pathways to aggressive propensity, in the overwhelming majority of cases these interact with current circumstances and are expressed through experiential (including cognitive and emotional) processes and events.…”

“…They also assign a core role to 'agentic emotional and cognitive processes' that are 'posited as the crucial factors that mediate the relation between risk factors and conduct problems ' (2003, p. 361). Kinderman (2005) argued that by ascribing equivalent status to biological, psychological and social factors in causation, the biopsychosocial model pays insufficient attention to the role of psychological processes as a 'final common pathway' in mental disorder. Such a view is equally applicable to understanding violent behaviour, in that regardless of the distal origins of contributory factors, to result in overt actions they must be expressed through psychological processes.…”

“…Whatever the distal factors may be that lead through multiple developmental pathways to aggressive propensity, in the overwhelming majority of cases these interact with current circumstances and are expressed through experiential (including cognitive and emotional) processes and events. Kinderman (2005) has forwarded a general conceptual scheme depicting these relationships, shown in a modified form in figure 2.…”

Diagnosis and Treatment of Mental Disorders in the Context of “Nature – Nurture” Dichotomy

“…Згадуючи біопсихосоціальну модель Г. Енге-ля, П. Кіндерман підкреслює, що на практиці ця модель «була інтерпретована як така, що резервує домінуюче становище для медико-біологічних підходів -соціальні та психологі-чні чинники визнаються, але, тим не менше, вважаються лише модераторами прямої при-чинно-наслідкового ролі біологічних проце-сів» [10]. Психологічна модель П. Кіндермана передбачає, що психічні розлади характери-зуються порушенням психологічних процесів.…”