Mental Health — A BioPsychoSocial Perspective

A Praxis Course at Bryn Mawr College
Spring 2002
Supported by the Center for Science in Society and Serendip

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The Biological Perspective 2 ...
Brain and Behavior:
The brain .... and ?

Thoughts from last discussion
Bio = genetic?
Psycho = experience? Together = individual, at a given time? Social = relation/"fit" of individual and culture?

Differences between biological/psychological (? autism, schizophrenia, depression ?) and cultural (? eating disorders, addictions, homelessness, criminality, poverty ?) ... ?

The "spiritual"?

Brain in relation to behavior - Maybe that's all there is?

Brain

"Self" and ... ? The tacit/"I-function" complementarity

Ways of influencing the brain

Pros and cons of thinking about mental health in brain=behavior context

conspros
propensity to "medical model" attitude

associated presumption of "illness" as distinct category

associated assumption of perfectibility

associated assumption of "patient" as object

associated look for "quick fix" therapies

a "neurobiological model" attitude?

accepts existence of innate influences, of continuous variation among individuals

emphasizes importance as well of experience and of personal choice

acknowledges that some kinds of changes take extended time at best, may not be achievable at worst

incorporates cultural context dependence

Have thoughts to contribute? ... join a forum discussion.

To explore in specific cases in the following ...




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