Social Work Education on Mental Health: Postmodern Discourse and the Medical Model

Abstract

This article provides a pedagogical approach to presenting alternatives along with the traditional medical model in the context of mental health treatment and service provision. Given the current influence of the medical model in community mental health, this article outlines a rationale for challenging the model and considering alternative models and/or interpretations of severely disordered behavior. The first premise of this approach, that social workers need to avoid having the deficit-based, problem-saturated, and pathologizing language of the medical (or any other) model dominate their practice, is inherent in all strengths-based approaches to practice. The second premise, that one can utilize the postmodern language of narrative therapy to constructively discuss alternative approaches, expands on previous social work contributions in this area.

Keywords:

• narrative therapy
• mental illness
• psychopathology
• medical model
• postmodern