The rise and fall of the biopsychosocial model : reconciling art and science in psychiatry / S. Nassir Ghaemi.

"This is the first book-length historical critique of psychiatry's mainstream ideology, the biopsychosocial (BPS) model.

Developed in the twentieth century as an outgrowth of psychosomatic medicine, the biopsychosocial model is seen as an antidote to the constraints of the medical model of psychiatry. Nassir Ghaemi details the origins and evolution of the BPS model and explains how, where, and why it fails to live up to its promises. He analyzes the works of its founders, George Engel and Roy Grinker Sr., traces its rise in acceptance, and discusses its relation to the thought of William Osler and Karl Jaspers.

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

xii, 253 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

The perils of open-mindedness : Adolf Meyer's psychobiology -- So many theories, so little time : the rise of eclecticism -- Riding madly in all directions : Roy Grinker's "struggle for eclecticism" -- A new model of medicine : George Engel's biopsychosocial model -- Before and after : precursors and followers of the biopsychosocial model -- Cease-fire : ending the psychiatric civil war -- Drowning in data -- Teaching eclecticism -- Psychopharmacology awry -- The vagaries of the real world -- The limits of evidence-based medicine -- Osler's ghost -- The two cultures -- Between science and the humanities -- The meaning of meaning : verstehen explained -- The beginning of a solution : Method-based psychiatry-- A new psychiatric humanism.

Includes bibliographical references and index.