The 3 levels of psychiatric treatment: biological, psychosocial, moral
An excerpt from Essential Psychopathology & Its Treatment. Copyright © 2026 by Mark D. Kilgus and Nicolas Badre. Used with permission from W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
One can consider that psychiatric treatment occurs on three levels: biological, then psychosocial, and then moral-existential. First, if needed, the psychiatrist prescribes medication to rectify biological abnormalities. Second, the therapist facilitates psychotherapy to address psychosocial problems. Third, the therapist uses the clinician-patient …
The 3 levels of psychiatric treatment: biological, psychosocial, moral
