The wheel started to pull left, moving the car toward the highway’s center divider.

A vibration through the vehicle was growing more violent. The driver and passenger heard a “whomp, whomp” sound emanating from the left front wheel well.

The driver, thinking quickly, heart racing, flipped on the blinker, turned the wheel to the right, and carefully and efficiently drove the ailing vehicle across four lanes of traffic to the shoulder.

The driver exited the car and saw the expected: the tire was flat.

The passenger then got out of the car and offered to keep watch and direct traffic away from the inside lane, allowing the driver to change the tire in relative safety.

Like the four wheels on a car, the mind, heart, body, and relationships need to work together for life to be its best. The word many healthcare professionals and researchers use to describe this interaction is biopsychosocial. To see humankind through a biopsychosocial lens is to recognize the interconnectedness of biological, psychological, and social systems.

Mutual Influence

Imagine a life with even one of the mind, heart, body, or relationships being unhealthy or broken and it becomes clear why it is important to think about life through a biopsychosocial lens.

A biopsychosocial perspective keeps us focused on the big picture without losing sight of the finer details. Focusing on biology gets us to prioritize sleep, diet, exercise, and other physical health habits that support a well functioning body. Studying our thoughts and using logic and reason to sort through them helps our mind thrive and gives us direction in life. Identifying our emotions and expressing them in productive ways contributes to our ability to connect with others, work through hard times, and create more enjoyable, interesting, curious, and beautiful experiences. It enriches our life to develop deeply meaningful and supportive relationships with others where differences are tolerated in conflict and negative interactions are far outweighed by positive interactions. The biopsychosocial perspective gives more clarity and structure to our complex lives.

A quick scholarly search of “predictors of life satisfaction” reveals numerous studies going back decades that show that life satisfaction is strongly connected to the health of our physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of the self as well as with the quality of our relationships with others. Factors like education level (i.e., mind), positive affect (i.e., heart), health status (i.e., body), and social support (i.e., relationships) are consistent predictors of life satisfaction. Be a lifelong learner. Create positive emotional experiences daily. Take care of your body (i.e., sleep, diet, exercise, hygiene). Treat people with kindness and give and receive social support. When we do these things we tend to live long, happy lives.

Biopsychosocial Decision Making

Being familiar with the term biopsychosocial can make it easier to consistently make decisions that support a satisfying life.

Weighing the Pros and Cons.

A biopsychosocial decision making process that works for many is to make informed, decisive decisions by identifying reasonable decision options, weighing the pros and cons of each option, choosing one of the reasonable options, focusing more on the pros than on the cons that come with the chosen option, and redirecting excessive thoughts of "What could have been?" related to unchosen options.

Determining the pros and cons of a decision from a biopsychosocial perspective is often accomplished by asking yourself the following before taking action:

Have I considered the health benefits and risks?
How will I feel about it before, during, and after?
How might it impact my goals and relationships?
What happens when others find out about it?

Finding answers to these questions may require us to gather new information (e.g., regarding health benefits and risks). Additionally, not all decisions we make will have significant consequences in each of the areas covered by these questions. Using a biopsychosocial decision making process provides confidence that we have made a best effort to make an informed decision, no matter how “big” or “small” the decision may be.

Short- and Long-Term.

When using a biopsychosocial approach to decision making, both short- and long-term goals and effects are considered. Thinking about the short- and long-term keeps us from choosing to do things that may feel good temporarily but have negative long term consequences (e.g., substance abuse).

Multiple Good Options.

Oftentimes, we are given more than one life choice that fits our overarching goals and priorities. It may make sense to put off an expensive night out with friends to help reach a long-term financial goal. Inversely, it may also make sense to have an expensive night out with friends to strengthen bonds and have fun in ways that are worth delaying a long-term financial goal. Using a biopsychosocial approach to decision making helps us make informed decisions, it doesn’t always result in a single “best” choice.

Managing Regret.

Everyone makes regrettable decisions from time to time. The best case scenario is that our regrettable decisions are rare and that they come only after we have gone through a biopsychosocial decision making process. It is not a good idea to judge our past selves based on information we obtained later. We are wise to learn from our mistakes without beating ourselves up for them. We cannot change what has happened. Forgiving ourselves is essential. Forgiveness does not spare us from the consequences of regrettable decisions but it does give us a doorway out of shame and pathway to a better present and future.

Example: Informed Sexual Decisions

My colleague, Dr. Cezanne Elias, and I developed a model for informed sexual decision making that we presented at the 2020 spring conference for The Society for Sex Therapy and Research. The Elias and Briggs (2020) model provides example questions that people answer to help them make informed sexual decisions from a biopsychosocial perspective. These questions highlight the connections between the mind, heart, body, and relationships.

Do we know our STD statuses? Are my partner and I willing to talk about them?
Am I prepared for pregnancy (if applicable)?
How does my partner feel about contraceptive use and STD prevention?
Do my partner and I have similar sexual likes and dislikes?
Do my partner and I know how to talk to each other about sex?
Do my partner and I know how to have enjoyable sex with one another?
Are we prepared to feel more attached to each other after sex?
Are we ready for one of us, and not the other, to feel more attached after sex?
Are my partner and I okay having a sexual relationship if we don’t feel attached to one another?
How likely is it that others will find out that my partner and I had sex?
Would I have sex with my partner if I knew other people would find out about it?
Do I know who my partner would be likely to tell about our sexual relationship?
(For more information and resources, check out www.sexlifescience.com)

Consciously Biopsychosocial

The decisions we make have impacts on our mind, heart, body, and relationships regardless of how aware we are of the biopsychosocial perspective. Being conscious of the biopsychosocial perspective helps us see the big picture, understand our options, and move through life with greater clarity and inner peace.