BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL

 A counselor conducts a biopsychosocial assessment during intake to try to fully understand the client’s presenting issues and their subjective viewpoint. It assesses clients on 3 dimensions: biological, social, and psychological. As a result, biopsychosocial assessments provide vital information to aid counselors in the treatment and diagnosis of clients. From the information gathered, the counselor can begin to formulate a case conceptualization. A case conceptualization is a cognitive map used to understand and explain a client’s presenting issues and to guide the counseling process. Case conceptualizations provide counselors with a clear plan for focusing treatment interventions to increase the likelihood of the client achieving their treatment goals.