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Psychosocial knowledge and allopathic medicine: Points of convergence and departure

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Abstract

The past 15 years have witnessed a call for allopathic medicine to incorporate psychosocial perspectives into education and clinical practice. While a biopsychosocial perspective has influenced academic medicine in areas such as primary care and psychiatry, its direct impact on clinical medicine has been questionable. One barrier to the incorporation of psychosocial information into medicine which has only recently received attention has been different cultural assumptions which govern medicine versus the social-behavioral sciences. These assumptions are examined in the context of four issues: knowledge paradigms, models of education, acculturation of psychosocial knowledge into medicine, and patient autonomy. This cultural analysis provides a vantage point for understanding similarities as well as points of divergence between psychosocial and biomedical knowledge and practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community and Family Medicine, St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA

    H. Russell Searight Ph.D. (Director of Behavioral Sciences)

  2. Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Edwardsville, USA

    H. Russell Searight Ph.D. (Director of Behavioral Sciences)

  3. Deaconess Family Medicine Residency, 6150 Oakland, 63139, St. Louis, MO

    H. Russell Searight Ph.D. (Director of Behavioral Sciences)

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  1. H. Russell Searight Ph.D.
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Searight, H.R. Psychosocial knowledge and allopathic medicine: Points of convergence and departure. J Med Hum 15, 221–232 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02273709

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