Psychosocial

The psychosocial approach looks at individuals in the context of the combined influence that psychological factors and the surrounding social environment have on their physical and mental wellness and their ability to function. This approach is used in a broad range of in health and social care settings as well as by medical and social science researchers.

People may not be fully aware of the relationship between their mental and emotional wellbeing and the environment. It was first commonly used by psychologist Erik Erikson in his description of the stages of psychosocial development. Mary Richmond, pioneer of American social work regarded there to be a linear relationship between cause and effect in a diagnostic process. In 1941 Gordon Hamilton renamed the 1917 concept of "social diagnosis" as "psychosocial study". Psychosocial study was further developed by Hollis in 1964 with emphasis in treatment model. It is contrasted with diverse social psychology, which attempts to explain social patterns within the individual. Problems that occur in one's psychosocial functioning can be referred to as "psychosocial dysfunction" or "psychosocial morbidity." This refers to the lack of development or diverse atrophy of the psychosocial self, often occurring alongside other dysfunctions that may be physical, emotional, or cognitive in nature.

Scholarly societies in this field brings together researchers, academics and practitioners who are interested in contributing to the development of this inter/trans-disciplinary field of study. There are organisation's such as Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Association for Psychosocial Studies, etc.

Psychosocial assessment considers several key areas related to psychological and social functioning and the availability of supports. It is a systematic inquiry that rise up from the introduction of dynamic interaction, with this diagnosis is constituted as an ongoing process that continues throughout a treatment, and is characterized by the circularity of cause-effect/effect-cause. In assessment the clinician/health care professional identifies the problem with the client, takes stock of the resources that are available for dealing with it, and consider the ways in which it might be solved from an educated hypothesis formed by data collection. This hypothesis is tentative in nature and goes through a process of elimination, refinement, or reconstruction in the light of newly obtained data.

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