Presenting a New Model for Addressing Non-severe Psychological Problems: Community Centres Dedicated to Therapeutic Lifestyle Change

Abstract

<p><strong>When clinical psychology emerged as a professional discipline, the illness ideology was embedded into its core assumptions. This ideology, which assumes a fundamental similarity between medical and mental problems, has led to the mistaken belief that psychological problems are best conceptualised as categorical, rather than dimensional. This misunderstanding has contributed to a neglect of non-severe psychological issues. In this thesis, I outline the importance of addressing non-severe psychological problems and present a model for doing so. Interventions for this group must be highly generalizable, so that the same treatment can be applied uniformly across the population, in order to achieve the required scalability. To achieve generalizability, my model focuses on highly non-specific mechanisms of change: therapeutic lifestyle changes (e.g., physical activity, social connection). I propose that participation in these healthy behaviours can be increased using dedicated community centres that address contextual barriers (e.g., access to resources, time costs).</strong></p>