Core Concept #1 | The Bio-Psycho-Social Model
This brief 3 part series of core concept will help you to understand some common factors outside of just biology that often play a part in chronic GI issues. Educating yourself can also help you to advocate for yourself to get the best care to help you heal.
The three core concepts are
The Bio-Psycho-Social Model
The Autonomic Nervous System
The Window of Tolerance
This 1st core concept is about looking through the lens of a holistic perspective to understand your GI issues. The doctors at the best medical centers in the world don’t just look at your organs, tissues & biochemistry, they treat chronic GI disorders from a larger, more holistic perspective.
Your biology, psychology & social connections are all interconnected. These are the core areas of life where how balanced or out of balance you are affects your GI disorder.
Summary:
Chronic digestive issues are complex struggles. The bio-psycho-social model is the current model many of the most advanced medical centers in the world use to understand the bigger picture of chronic or complex illnesses to be able to stop the disease process & support healing from a holistic perspective
This larger perspective sees your biology as just one part of a system that is inseparable from your mind (psychology) and social connections (environment).
The biomedical model focuses only on biology (the organs, tissues, biochemistry, etc). This is not wrong or bad. If you have to have surgery you want your surgeon to be very focused on just your organs & tissues. This is not the best or most up-to-date perspective to have for you as the patient. You have to be your own advocate & if you’re not looking at the bigger picture you could be missing red flags that keep you from healing.
Your Psychology
Each of these 3 parts has many factors. For this video, we just zoomed into 3 common factors of anxiety related to health that I call the toxic control triangle
Symptom Anxiety - excessive anxiety & worry focused on current symptoms or the possibility of future symptoms
Hypervigilance - attention becoming overly focused & trapped on sensations in the body which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
Catastrophic Thinking - a distorted thought process that overestimates the seriousness or threat of symptoms & underestimates your ability to cope
Your Biology
There are many core processes that lead to chronic GI symptoms. One common biological change is called visceral hypersensitivity. This is when chronic dysregulation causes the nerves in the gut to become sensitized which changes the threshold for pain & discomfort. What in the past would have been unnoticeable now becomes uncomfortable & painful. Since these are all connected this is then fuel for the anxiety.
Your Social Connections/Environmental
The quality of your social connections (or lack of them) has a big impact on both your mind & body. There are many factors but we focused on one from the past & one in the present. Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) are 10 of the most common types of trauma children experience. There is a proven connection between ACES & mental and physical health issues later in life during adulthood.
The factor about your current life is how much social support vs social isolation you have. This is a significant factor in predicting the severity & course of your health issues.
Selected Studies:
Psychosocial aspects of the functional gastrointestinal disorders
Predicting relapse in Crohn’s disease: a biopsychosocial model
Selected Resources:
A YouTube video of further explaining the bio-psycho-social model (13 min)
What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness (12 min)
An ultra popular TED talk that makes the case for the importance of social connection.
For anyone wanting to explore mind/body medicine, this is a classic book. It came out back in 1995 so there are lots of new advancements but the core foundations remain firm.