APA Dictionary of Psychology

a theoretical perspective and a clinical approach to health conditions that considers their biological factors only, excluding their psychological and social factors. For example, a practitioner adhering to this model in treating a person with chronic back pain would consider the physical symptoms alone, recommending only pharmacological or surgical treatments for them, rather than also address the environmental conditions, social circumstances, and mental factors potentially involved in exacerbating or otherwise influencing those symptoms. The biomedical model remains the dominant model of injury and disease (including their diagnosis and treatment) among medical practitioners, although some inroads have been made within this professional community by the biopsychosocial model.