Shona Thomas
P2 – Explain different psychological approaches to health practice
P3 – Explain different psychological approaches to social care practice
Throughout health and social care there are psychological perspectives which are
used to help service users overcome their issues and this would then result in them
becoming a happier individual. However, all different health professionals use
different approaches as they may see that one is more efficient than the other, an
example of this would be that an individual has an eating disorder and one health
professional may think that the right course of action is to use cognitive therapy to
treat this whereas, a social care professional may think that it is a better idea to use
the humanistic approach.
The biological approach is based upon the idea that everything we are able to do is
genetically inherited from our parents, and therefore if an individual has a mental
illness it is a result of them having a fault in their genetics. This is seen as something
which needs to be fixed as it can cause further problems and it is recommended that
an individual who has a genetic abnormality should have treatment such as
medication or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), this is when an individual is put
“under general anaesthesia, in which small electric currents are passed through the
brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure.”1 It is likely that the approach would be
used in a doctors surgery, a GP would use this to treat someone who has chronic
depression as the most efficient way for depression to be overcome is with
antidepressants and therefore medication is prescribed to the individual as it is
easier to control. There are complications to this as a patient can become reliant on
medication which means that the real problem isn’t being treated but temporarily
controlled and that means that the issue is being controlled which makes daily
activities less of a stress for themselves as well as the people around them.
The cognitive approach is based on how we process information, this means that it
analyses our mental processing skills with a goal in mind of reaching the underlying
problem that people have and then the professional is able to make the individual
see the problem in a different light and is more likely to be willing to work harder to
1 www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/electroconvulsive-therapy/basics/.../prc-
20014161
P2 – Explain different psychological approaches to health practice
P3 – Explain different psychological approaches to social care practice
Throughout health and social care there are psychological perspectives which are
used to help service users overcome their issues and this would then result in them
becoming a happier individual. However, all different health professionals use
different approaches as they may see that one is more efficient than the other, an
example of this would be that an individual has an eating disorder and one health
professional may think that the right course of action is to use cognitive therapy to
treat this whereas, a social care professional may think that it is a better idea to use
the humanistic approach.
The biological approach is based upon the idea that everything we are able to do is
genetically inherited from our parents, and therefore if an individual has a mental
illness it is a result of them having a fault in their genetics. This is seen as something
which needs to be fixed as it can cause further problems and it is recommended that
an individual who has a genetic abnormality should have treatment such as
medication or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), this is when an individual is put
“under general anaesthesia, in which small electric currents are passed through the
brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure.”1 It is likely that the approach would be
used in a doctors surgery, a GP would use this to treat someone who has chronic
depression as the most efficient way for depression to be overcome is with
antidepressants and therefore medication is prescribed to the individual as it is
easier to control. There are complications to this as a patient can become reliant on
medication which means that the real problem isn’t being treated but temporarily
controlled and that means that the issue is being controlled which makes daily
activities less of a stress for themselves as well as the people around them.
The cognitive approach is based on how we process information, this means that it
analyses our mental processing skills with a goal in mind of reaching the underlying
problem that people have and then the professional is able to make the individual
see the problem in a different light and is more likely to be willing to work harder to
1 www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/electroconvulsive-therapy/basics/.../prc-
20014161
