Perspectives in Clinical Psychology

Model	Focus	Assumptions
Biomedical	Physical aspects of disease	Disease is caused by biological factors
Biopsychosocial	Biological, psychological, and social factors	Disease is caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors
Behavioural-Cognitive	behavioural and cognitive processes	our thoughts and beliefs influence our behavior and emotions, maladaptive thought patterns are the cause
Humanistic-Existential	inherent goodness and free will, search for meaning, self-actualization	behaviouristic models and psychodynamic models are deterministic and limiting; offers individualized approach and is not bothered with generalization
Socio-Cultural	how social, cultural, and environmental factors influence an individual’s behavior and mental processes; norms, culture
Meta-Theoretical Model	integrative approach that considers multiple perspectives	framework that acknowledges that no single theoretical perspective is sufficient to fully understand