Best Practice: Holistic Methods in Rehabilitation

The Bio-Psycho-Social Aspects of the Individual

Vitruvius

Biology: What we are made of, our physical operations, conditions, and predispositions.

Psychology: Who we are; our neurological and emotional responses to our inner and outer stimuli.

Sociology: How we interact with the world around us; our culture, our supports, our social systems.

The Biology Behind our Needs and Abilities

Our biology is responsible for our physical nature: whether we get cancer, have genetic malformations, anemia, diabetes, liver failure, or heart disease.

Our physical condition dictates our lifestyle.

• Alcoholism has genetic predispositions.• Many people with chronic pain (specifically FSS*) self-medicate with alcohol.• More than 20 % of people reporting alcohol abuse also have mental illness.• Chronic alcoholism is a physically generative agent, leading to...

*FSS= Functional Somatic Syndrome

The Psychology Behind Our Functionality

Our brains function as communicative machines, chemically speaking throughout the grey matter in order to spark emotions, ideas, learning, memories, and imagination. Our realities and lives revolve around these things, and their influence is constantly shaping our existence. In addition to this, our brains are our receptors for the physical world, as well-including the concept of pain.

“Alcohol dependence, abuse, or misuse can cause or exacerbate Cluster B* personality disorders, and alcoholism itself can be mistakenly diagnosed as a personality disorder.”

--Laurence M. Westreich, MD

*dramatic, emotional, or erratic

In regard to treating FSS:“Non-pharmacologic-al treatments involving active participation of patients, such as exercise and psychotherapy, seem to be more effective than those that involve passive physical measures, including injections and operations (Henningsen, Zipfel, Herzog).”

The Importance of Social Ties

In chemical dependency, perhaps the most effective means of maintaining sobriety is the accountability one creates for oneself through the relationships created in recovery. - “I didn't want to go to A.A. I had lost a lot of friends to A.A.!” In mental health, maintain stability

is most effectively done through consistency in counseling, medical and psychological assessments and care. One must be able to connect to others, and have the ability to “…express emotions in ways that communicate what you are experiencing to other people (Travis, 2012).”

This video shows the influence of social ties in facilitating recovery and stability for those with mental illness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBGk6b8I5Ww&feature=related

Concluding Thoughts…Approaching an client or patient as an individual comprised of multiple systems is the best practice within Human Services. Neglecting one of the three aspects of people (bio-psycho-social) is removing a leg or two of a three-legged stool, and insisting it is functional. People and life are reflections of one another, and constantly in push and pull, ebb and flow. We are comprised of multiple systems, and therefore multiple avenues of need and change, and all of these factors must be addressed to facilitate the formation of a healthy individual.

“In this way, life’s ceaseless dynamic of change offers hope and caution simultaeneously. Everything changes. Good times don’t last forever, neither do bad things. Whatever is happening, good or bad, is giving birth to the next state, which will be it’s opposite (Wheatley, 2010).”

• Wheatley, M. J. (2010). Perseverance. (1st ed., p. 49). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

• FYI. (Producer). (2011). Record attempt to break the stigma of mental health. [Web Video]. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBGk6b8I5Ww&feature =related

• Zimmer, C. (2009, August 19). The brain:the dark matter of the human brain. Discover Magazine, (9), (online).

• Westreich, L. M. (2005). Alcohol and mental illness. Primary Psychiatry, 12(1), 41-46.

• Henningsen, P., Zipfel, S., & Herzog, W. (2007). Management of functional somatic syndromes. The Lancet, 369(9565), 946- 955.

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