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Understanding the History of Over Medicalized Terminology in Medicine
​People often think that narrative medicine is "extra." They think of it as something that should be added to the baseline level of care. I would argue that narrative medicine is the bare minimum. Narrative medicine is an evidence-based practice of medicine that requires narrative competence, the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories of patients.
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It is no secret that there is a lack of narrative-based medicine right now. Anyone who works in healthcare will tell you the same thing. Anyone who has been a patient will tell you this also. ​Hand in hand with the concept of lack of narrative practice is the concept of over medicalized terminology.
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These status quo of current physician practice is historically rooted in the current model of medicine, the biomedical model. The biomedical model is the dominant model in medicine today. I​t assumes disease to be fully accounted for by deviations from the norm of measurable biological (somatic) variables. Initially, this model was devised by scientists for the study of disease. It was a functionally scientific model based on a shared set of assumptions and conduct using the scientific method as a backbone. In our culture, the attitudes and belief systems of physicians are molded by this model long before they begin their professional education, which in turn reinforces it without necessarily allowing room for questions of the efficacy of this model. Medicine as an institution became increasingly scientific as physicians and other scientists developed a taxonomy and applied scientific methods to treatment of patients. Ultimately, in this model, there is no room for psychological and behavioral dimensions of illness, aspects which are deeply pertinent to the field of narrative medicine. In other words, this model operates as an entity independent of social behavior.
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The current standard of the biomedical model is not conducive to narrative medicine. To begin dismantling the current rigidity of the biomedical system, we must first begin to shift towards a more inclusive framework for medicine, namely the biopsychosocial model.
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A crucial acknowledgement in medicine is that the boundaries between health and disease, between well and sick, are far from clear. Instead, they are accompanied with social, cultural, and psychological factors. The biopsychosocial model is an interdisciplinary approach that looks based solely biological factors. Instead, it draws parallels between biology, sociology, psychological realms. Currently, medical institutions are seen as impersonal and cold. A lot of this stems from the fact that there is a divide between biomedical qualifications and cultural and emotional humility that equally contributes to stellar patient care. ​​The biopsychosocial model will begin to instill in the field of medicine the urge to treat a patient in a way that fits in with their story and needs, thus making room for a narrative framework of medicine.
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