The medical model misses the entire picture

A father recently came to me for a consultation in regards to his seven year old son. He began to tell me of the child's oppositionality and decline at school and left things pretty much at that. Let's say (as seems to be common practice under a medicalized model) that I left things at that and identified the child as the 'problem'. Instead, I met individually with the child who told me of his sadness that his parents fought daily and dad had destroyed objects in fits of rage. Fortunately, the father was willing to acknowledge concerns and asked for help for his entire family. But what if we chose to ignore this child's experience and the social context, only looking at the child's behavior, and this behavior as reported by one source. What outcome would be derived? What 'treatment' would be delineated?
-Dan L.Edmunds,Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com