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The medical model’s influence upon couple and family therapy is profound. Borrowing from medicine, couple and family therapists often adhere to evidence-based protocols to guide treatment. Additionally, many couple and family therapists diagnose and encourage the use of medication regularly. Yet, in treating illness, the medical community has traditionally emphasized biological treatment, underestimating the importance of a patient’s psychological, familial, and social challenges. By stressing that greater attention to the psychosocial needs of individuals and families is critical to providing effective care, couple and family therapists break from the medical model and its focus on treating patients’ physiological symptoms. It is noteworthy, however, that the medical community has increasingly moved toward providing patients with more comprehensive care over the last several decades.
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Humans have sought to...
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References
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McPhee, D.P., Robinson, W.D. (2017). Medical Model in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_418-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_418-1
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