The biopsychosocial model has many advantages when dealing with mental health issues. This is because the biopsychosocial model uses a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors to explain health. Dealing with mental health issues can be tricky because there is not a one size fits all treatment plan. In today’s society during a worldwide pandemic and after a year long lockdown depression rates have risen at alarming rates. The fear of a deadly virus mixed with isolation has taken a toll on a lot of people. You take those new fears and add them to an already anxious or depressed person who can no longer relieve stress doing things they love like working out and you have tons of new cases of depression all with a multitude of underlying causes. That is exactly the reason why the biopsychosocial model is most effective when dealing with mental issues like depression.
For example, people with depression can highly benefit from a biopsychosocial approach because it views health in a more holistic way than the traditional biomedical model. The biopsychosocial model would look at three main factors when assesing depression. They would look at the biological factors such as a chemical imbalance, or genetics as one causing factor of depression. They would also look at the psychological factors such as the way a person copes when stressed. Lastly, this model would look at the social influences like the type of people you interact with on a daily basis.
Social influences include things like health promotion, prevention, and health literacy. According to Coutts et al. (2017), “Health promotion refers simply to efforts that are made to encourage people to engage in healthy behaviors, such as eating a healthy and balanced diet, exercising regularly, getting enough rest, and refraining from smoking and abusing alcohol.” This social aspect of health would suggest that eating healthy and getting an adequate amount of sleep can help lower stress which could possibly prevent depression. There is also health literacy which can include developing a healthy relationship with ones care provider that would allow for the discussing of mental health issues such as depression. Seeking out close friends and family in times of need and opening up your social circle can also help alleviate the stresses that can cause depression.
Coutts, L., Gruman, J., & Schneider, F. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (3rd ed.) Sage Publications.
I agree with you that people who suffer depression often benefit from a biopsychosocial approach. A traditional biomedical model is definitely not enough. The psychological interventions for depression include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy, and supportive therapy. (Health Quality Ontario, 2017) Those psychological interventions combined with medication makes a more holistic and effective approach in treating depression. Furthermore, the government could use media, such as newspaper, TV news coverage and social media to establish social influence through health promotion and prevention in the times of this pandemic. Especially in preventing the spread of thus novel virus, the media encourage people to get proper vaccination, take careful precautions such as keep social distance, and remind people to keep a healthy lifestyle.
Reference
Health Quality Ontario, 2017, Psychotherapy for Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Health Technology Assessment https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5709536/