The Biopsychosocial model is made up of 3 primary components; biological factors,

psychological factors, and social factors. Biological factors of the model would include physical
health, disability, genetics, medications, and neurological status. This model can be used to
holistically understand an individual’s behavior by focusing on biochemical and bioelectrical
processes throughout the brain and the body. Abnormal behavior can be viewed as an illness
brought on by malfunctioning parts of the person. If something is happening with any of the five
factors, it can lead to some sort of abnormal behavior. When medical providers and therapists are
getting to know patients, they must get a full grasp on the biological factors to come up with the
best treatment plan and holistically understand what is going on. So many things can go into why
a person is acting abnormally. There could be important medications that can cause a variety of
symptoms and could come into play when prescribing a medication such as interactions that
would cause other issues. Genetics plays a role as an individual is highly influenced by their
genetics from parents and many mental conditions have been found to have a genetic link.
While biological factors play a large role in understanding behavior, psychological factors are
equally important.
Psychological factors can include cognitions, self-esteem, personality, perception, and
sensation. When getting to know someone a person’s self-esteem, personality, and various
perceptions can have a great impact on their day to day life and they must be acknowledged to
holistically understand their pattern of behavior. Each individual is different as they have
different personalities and perceptions which can change from day to day depending on what is
going on in their own life. These factors I would say are the hardest to acknowledge as the
individual would have to voice them to you and oftentimes people might not want to talk about
them. In order to find out these, you would have to do a lot of interviewing and research to
formulate your idea of their thoughts then possibly summarize your findings and talk to them
about it to see if it is accurate. Their own psychology has a great impact on their behavior which
can change from day to day so it is crucial to study long-term factors, not just short term.
Social factors can include peers, family, school, work, and relationships. The people you
surround yourself with can highly influence the way you act. Individuals might even act
differently around different groups of friends. Family I would say is the biggest influence in
social factors as that is how the individual is raised and truly is molded into the person they are.
For eighteen years, parents influence their children and try to teach them and shape them into the
person the parents want them to be. When they go off to college or move out of the house the
individual then has to use their knowledge and learned behaviors and figure things out for
themselves which can often change. Relationships can also have a large impact on someone's
behavior as they spend the most time with this person, getting to know them and spend the rest
of their life with. While all of these social factors are important to understand behavior
holistically, they are only an outside influence.