Mental Illness: Comparing Psychological & Biomedical Treatments - Essay Sample

Introduction

Mental illness is common in the world and need to choose a perfect treatment for patients. Psychological and biomedical treatments are common and possess key significant differences. Biomedical treatment entails physiological interventions that focus on reducing existing symptoms associated with certain psychological disorders. In contrast, psychological treatment entails expressing your thoughts to a professional to understand better and resolve existing problems and improve quality of life.

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Biomedical treatments involve biologically based prescriptions based on the medications that must be used to treat mental illness. On the other hand, psychological treatment involves emotionally based prescriptions as people undergo therapy to solve various emotional issues. Psychiatrists conduct biomedical treatment while a psychologist does psychological treatment.

Advantages of Psychological Treatment

Psychological treatment is commonly used for individuals with depression. A significant advantage of the treatment with a combination of medication is that it has few physiological side-impacts, especially for older adults who are under any medication (Clark, Hanstock & Clark, 2016). The treatment offers successful treatment given that the clinical expertise of the therapist must be taken into consideration as well as individual characteristics and culture are considered hence more personalized to patient’s needs.

DisadvantagesThe psychological treatment takes longer as compared to drug treatment to achieve its benefits. Also, psychological treatment is not sufficient in people with a severe level of depression cases. Finally, it isn't easy to keep track of.

Advantages of Biomedical Treatment

Since it involves a combination of medication, it tends to be an ideal treatment for patients in crisis as it reduces symptoms faster. Biomedical treatment enables patients to stay at home rather than in hospitals, reducing the overall medical costs. Also, biomedical treatment has is effective as a high percentage of patients see improvement.

Disadvantages

Their exist various concerns that the treatment is too quick to prescribe and diagnose individuals with various disorders. The treatment provides incomplete information on mental disorders and side effects, which can be associated with various psychiatric medications. Stigmatization is evident for patients with the mental disorders.

Conclusion

Mental illness is a predominant disorder with various methods changing over time to keep pace with technological and medical advances. A perfect treatment should be chosen when treating patients to ensure that the overall recovery objective is achieved. Biomedical treatment is considered effective as it encompasses drug prescriptions to the patients.

Reference

Clark, G., Hanstock, T., & Clark, L. (2016). Psychological Treatment of Co-occurring Anxiety Disorders in Clinical Practice: A Vignette Study. Australian Psychologist, 52(6), 480-490. doi: 10.1111/ap.12214