Healing through the Biopsychosocial lens
How biological, psychological, and social factors interconnect to shape our well-being
As a registered clinical counsellor with a background in body-neutral health coaching, I’ve long been drawn to approaches that honor the full complexity of human experience. In both therapeutic and health coaching settings, I’ve seen how lasting change comes not from targeting symptoms in isolation, but from understanding the interconnected web of our biology, psychology, and social environment.
The biopsychosocial model offers a compassionate, evidence-informed framework for doing just that—inviting us to see each person not as a set of problems to fix, but as a whole being shaped by their body, mind, relationships, and the larger sociocultural and political forces that influence their lives.
That’s why I use this model in every session - as a way to consider not only what’s contributing to a client’s distress, but how those factors interact and influence one another. This model not only helps us understand distress in more nuanced ways—it opens up more compassionate, individualized paths to healing.
What does that mean for you?
Well, as I often aim to do here on The Courage to Thrive, I’m hoping sharing this lens with you will offer you some personal insights to support your own health. I’m inviting you to develop a new lens through which you might view not just your mental health, but also your physical and spiritual heath as well - to consider how biological, psychological, and social factors influence your holistic health and well-being — as well as how they interact.
Here is a 'high level' view of each set of factors:
Biological factors include physiologic factors such as genes and epigenetics, hormones, neurochemicals, neurodiversity, age, lifestyle factors such as sleep, movement, and nutrition etc.
Psychological factors include factors such as maladaptive cognitive narratives/ beliefs and/or behavioural strategies (that likely served you at one point, but may no longer), stress, nervous system regulation, emotional agility, coping skills, trauma history, attachment pattern, etc.
Social factors may include living situation, family of origin and/or broader cultural influences, living in a marginalized body (shape, size, gender, sexual identity, race, religion, etc.), relationships, marital status, social support, educational background, financial status, work culture, work history, etc.
Important: these factors aren’t siloed
And here’s something essential to keep in mind: these factors don’t exist in silos.
It’s not just about looking at biological, psychological, and social influences separately, but also about understanding how they overlap and shape one another, often in subtle and powerful ways.
Also important — these factors may overlap to impact our health in both negative or unhelpful ways, and positive or supportive ones!
See the image below for an image we’ll be revisiting over the next 3 articles.
How these factors integrate
We will be getting into this in much more detail in the articles to come, but for now consider how each of these areas have overlap. One example that feels highly relevant to me and many of my peers is the biology of peri-menopause.
During perimenopause, the body's fluctuating estrogen levels can significantly impact mental health by interacting with psychological processes. These hormonal fluctuations, often referred to as "estrogen storms," can disrupt the brain's regulation of mood and stress responses. Estrogen plays a crucial role in modulating neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which are vital for mood stability. As estrogen levels vary, this modulation can become erratic, leading to mood swings, irritability, and even depressive symptoms. Additionally, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which governs the body's stress response, can become dysregulated during this time, further exacerbating mood disturbances. Research indicates that these biological changes, combined with psychological factors like stress and personal history of mood disorders, contribute to the increased risk of depression during perimenopause (nerdy citations here, here, and here).
As a psychotherapist, my role isn’t to assess or diagnose the impact of hormones on someone’s mental health, but I would be remiss to not address it if a client comes to me with mood related symptoms — especially if they have a history of mood disorders.
In this sense, I often view my role as a psychotherapist as that of a mental health concierge. I might encourage my clients to seek support from their doctor or other health practitioners to support the work we are doing and their overall well-being. This might include referring my clients to other professionals I trust, or encouraging them to be curious about additional factors and how they may be influencing them (sometimes even the act of acknowledging the impact of social/ environmental factors can help folks with the “sense-making” that therapy often offers).
And just to add another layer, I want to speak to how we might consider the social/ environmental factors and how they may play a role here. Unfortunately, many women experiencing significant symptoms in peri-menopause have been dismissed and failed by the medical system (ex. explaining away their symptoms as “normal” and sending them on their way). In the therapy room, I might help clients develop the skills and capacity to self-advocate in the doctor’s office.
What I hope you hear (in that example, and beyond)…
The biopsychosocial model reminds us that healing isn’t one-size-fits-all—it’s layered, dynamic, and deeply personal. By looking at health through this integrative lens, we begin to make sense of our experiences in more compassionate, empowering ways. Whether you’re navigating perimenopause, anxiety, or just feeling stuck, my hope is that this framework gives you tools—and language—to better understand what’s happening beneath the surface. In the next articles, we’ll explore each piece more closely, with practical reflections for your own healing journey.
Reflection prompt:
Which of these three domains—biological, psychological, or social—feels most present for you right now? What’s one small act of care or curiosity you could offer yourself in that area this week?
TLDR (aka. the coles notes of this article)
This is the first in a 4-part series exploring the biopsychosocial model—a holistic way of understanding health that looks at the interplay between our biology, psychology, and social environment.
In this article, we covered:
What the biopsychosocial model is and why I use it as a psychotherapist
How biological, psychological, and social factors shape our mental, emotional, and physical well-being
A real-world example of how these factors interact (hello, perimenopause!)
Why healing requires more than symptom management—it requires a whole-person lens
My hope?
That this model helps you view your health through a more compassionate, empowering lens—and gives you tools to make small, meaningful shifts in any area that feels within reach.
Stay tuned for the next three posts where we’ll dive deeper into each element—biological, psychological, and social—and explore how they connect and impact your path to thriving.
Onward in thriving,
Gillian
PS. Next up, we’ll zoom in on the biological layer—things like hormones, sleep, movement, nutrition, and neurodiversity—and how these often-overlooked factors influence our mood, stress, and sense of vitality. My hope is to offer some practical insights (and maybe even some “aha” moments) that help you reconnect with what your body might be asking for.