In fact, many research studies have found psychological treatment to be superior to drug therapy, and without the dangers present in all drug treatments. The word diagnosis refers to the process of determining the cause of a disease, malfunction or problem. A disorder is a mental or physical disturbance, or a disease. A problem is a difficult matter to be settled, or a question set forth for solution or discussion. Some psychological problems might fit the medical model to some extent, but many do not.
Most psychologists prefer to use the problem model to describe and explain psychological issues.
However, in order to consider whether the remediation of psychological problems should be covered by medical health insurance, insurance companies require a medical diagnosis. As a result, the medical model will probably always be a part of psychological services. The term mental illness is very strongly medical, implying a biological or biochemical problem that may only require medical treatment. As a result of professionals using this term, two artificial groups of consumers of psychological services have been created, those that are mentally ill and those that have psychological problems . As a consequence, some people may contact counselors, with much less training than a licensed psychologist, when they need help to resolve a psychological problem.