Biopsychosocial medicine at work

A presenter’s view from the 2016 ALAMA spring conference

Summary:

The Association of Local Authority Medical Advisers (ALAMA) annual spring conference1 was devoted to the biopsychosocial model and its integration into occupational health practice. One of the presenters, occupational physician Charlie Vivian, considers why the biopsychosocial message is vital for modern OH practice

MODERN medicine is based on a biomedical model, which is both reductionist and dualist. It is reductionist because all physical symptoms are deemed to have a physical cause, when in reality, 90% of them do not. And if there is no pathological cause, the model is dualist – the symptoms must all be in the …

Dr Charlie Vivian is a consultant occupational physician.

Author: Vivian C

Tags back pain biopsychosocial manual handling mental health socioeconomic factors

Occupational Health at Work June/July 2016 (vol. 13/1) pp18-20

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