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 helping professions in health and social care settings as well as by medical and social science researchers. Adolf Meyer in the late 19th century stated that; "We cannot understand the individual presentation of mental illness, [and perpetuating factors] without knowing how that person functions in the environment." Psychosocial assessment stems from this idea. The relationship between mental and emotional wellbeing and the environment was first commonly applied by Erik Erikson in his description of the stages of psychosocial development. Mary Richmond considered there to be a strict relationship between cause and effect, in a diagnostic process. In 1941 Gordon Hamilton renamed the existing (1917) concept of "social diagnosis" as "psychosocial study". Psychosocial study was further developed by Hollis in 1964 with emphasis on treatment model. It is in tension 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." That 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. There is now a cross-disciplinary field of study, and organisations such as the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), and Association for Psychosocial Studies. Psychosocial assessment considers several key areas related to psychological, biological, and social functioning and the availability of supports. It is a systematic inquiry that arises from the introduction of dynamic interaction; it is an ongoing process that continues throughout a treatment, and is characterized by the circularity of cause-effect/effect-cause.