I shall be assessing the different psychological approaches and these are the psychodynamic, biomedical, behaviourist and cognitive approaches.

Moreover biomedical model also has some strength in its use of drug therapies as this therapy is effective in controlling psychological symptoms and this can be seen as treating the individual with illnesses such as depression. However this again can be seen as a weakness as when a patient is taken off the drugs and their course of drugs is discontinued symptoms will reappear which clearly shows that the root cause of the condition is yet unsolved. Lastly the biomedical doesn’t blame for their illnesses and just focuses on curing them as it is their genetic make up which results in deformities and this model believes that the individual should not be blamed or stigmatised for this. However the Interactionist perspective would criticise this idea and argue that society would label this individual which could result in them feeling inferior and this is going to cause implications for them as they are less likely to access services effectively.

The next approach I shall be looking at is the behavioural approach. The behaviourist approach uses animals to prove scientific theories of the strengths of this approach is that there is scientific studies carried out to test the behavioural model and all of these have agreed with the theory. This was done by using a child called little Albert to test phobias and fears and Watson used rats to test this. This can be seen as a disadvantage, this is because humans and animals do not behave in the same way and humans are a lot more complex than animals. The behavioural model can also be seen as an advantage and this is because this model explains the psychological problems that the individual may be facing and rejects the labels that biomedical model gives to individuals e.g. ‘ill’ and ‘abnormal’. Also this model takes a practical problem solving approach by changing maladaptive behaviour to be more adaptive by taking into consideration individual differences and viewing each individual as different as everyone’s situation and condition is different. For example someone that has an alcohol additive would be given a mentor to help guide them and give them practical solutions to their problems. However the psychodynamic theory would argue that they look at the root causes whereas the behavioural approach just cures the individual. Therefore the psychodynamic theory would discourage the behavioural approach as it says that you should focus on the symptoms as the symptoms could lead to other illnesses and causes.

The next theory I shall be looking at is the psychodynamic model. This model was created by Freud as he came up with ID, ego and super ego. One of the weaknesses of this model is that it focuses on ideas which cannot be tested. For example it has studies on the sub conscious mind however the sub conscious mind cannot be tested physically and neither can it be seen physically therefore it is different to test Freud’s theory. However others would argue that doesn’t mean you can’t test it that the theory is false. This is because there are lots of evidence from case studies which show clear links from childhood trauma to adult trauma. For example a teenager that has an eating disorder could be because he/she was sexually or emotionally abused which has led them to have conscious thoughts about their body. However this information can also be seen as unreliable as it is not testable. Another weakness of the psychodynamic model is that it blames parents for the psychological disorders that their children are facing and they say it is because of the poor upbringing. This is seen as a weakness because it is seen as unfair to parents as they are not always to blame. Also the psychodynamic model claims that they shouldn’t worry about hurting people’s feelings and they should focus on the truth which is gained from tests.

The last approach I will be assessing is the cognitive approach. This approach looks at the thought processes and the causes of it. This approach has much strength as it has plenty of evidence to show that if you change an individuals way of thinking then it can change their thought processes and altering the way a person thinks by reinforcing positive thoughts in their minds can be seen as effective treatment. However these studies can be seen as biased as everyone gets some sort of irrational thoughts and there is less evidence to show that it is these irrational thoughts that are the cause of disorders. Lastly this approach only states the obvious and doesn’t covey its views through evidence and proof therefore it is seen as unreliable.