The biopsychosocial model was initially proposed to overcome the normative assumption that human diseases are exclusively due to disordered biochemical and/or neurophysiological processes. The model attempts to explain how expectations, thoughts and feelings modify the patient’s motivations to deal with illness and recovery. By considering the physical health in this perspective, healthcare professionals may test the importance of socially and culturally shared principles in alleviating illness experience. The entire biopsychosocial hierarchy may thus appear as a complex network of relationships between the strict logic of scientific explanations and the emotional sustainability with which beliefs may either be defended, changed or even refused. In this paper, we aim at reviewing some of the evidence-based biomedical and psychological findings that provide a unified framework for the biopsychosocial model as a multilevel integrative process. To tackle this objective, we propose to approach the model in biosemiotic terms. It is our contention that the entire biopsychosocial hierarchy could be better understood if approached biosemiotically and the multilevel interconnection of this hierarchy re-examined in the light of a collaborative meaning-making process.

中文翻译：

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生物符号学方法对疾病调节的生物社会心理理解

最初提出生物心理社会模型是为了克服规范性的假设，即人类疾病完全是由于生物化学和/或神经生理过程紊乱引起的。该模型试图解释期望，想法和感受如何改变患者应对疾病和康复的动机。通过从这种角度考虑身体健康，医疗保健专业人员可以检验社会和文化共享原则在减轻疾病经历中的重要性。因此，整个生物心理社会等级体系可能表现为严格的科学解释逻辑与情感可持续性之间的关系的复杂网络，通过这种关系，人们可以捍卫，改变甚至拒绝信仰。在本文中，我们旨在审查一些基于证据的生物医学和心理学发现，这些发现为生物心理社会模型的多层次整合过程提供了统一的框架。为了实现这一目标，我们建议以生物符号学的方式来研究模型。我们的争论是，如果采用生物符号学方法，并且根据协作的意义形成过程重新检查该层次结构的多层次互连，则可以更好地理解整个生物心理社会层次结构。