This open access book is a systematic update of the philosophical and scientific foundations of the biopsychosocial model of health, disease and healthcare. Fir

For thousands of years, Western culture has dichotomized science and art, empiricism and subjective experience, and biology and psychology. In contrast with the

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

To what extent do social factors such as stress cause physical diseases? How do psychological and social factors contribute to the healing process? The biopsych

Human behavior is a subject so vast that it would seem to defy one's ability to comfortably and confidently grasp its varieties, nuances, shapes, and dynamics.