The biomedical model is a way of life which places chemical balances in the brain as the key reasoning behind experiences of distress. It is a fundamentally individual way of making sense of issues people may encounter, detached from the social and psychological realities that people navigate when experiencing and making sense of their world. The biomedical model therefore posits that mental ‘disorders’ are diseases which can be treated with medication.
The biomedical model has been increasingly challenged in recent history by people in and outside the psychiatric realm. One means this has happened has been the growth in understanding of epigenetics, which show that our biological makeup is not something we are born and die with but is impacted by the environment in which we live. This goes some way to explaining why schizophrenia has been shown to have a more benign course in India than the United States for example.
The biomedical model serves as an extension of a positivist worldview, arguing that the world can be broken down into observable parts. Parts which can be expected to impact on each other in monitorable ways to lead to predictable outcomes.