Definition of health, illness and disease - Essay Example

Health and Illness Solution Introduction: Defining health is difficult since different individuals have different perceptions towards the concept of health. The meaning of the term could involve the mere technical aspect of health and diseases as well as the manner in which human beings might consider their conditions of health to be. While it can be considered as a state of condition where one is normal and fit, on the other hand, it might be a state where an individual is not in a diseased condition (Smith, 2004, pp.120-121). The following study thus focuses on the complications involved in defining health, illness, and disease. Defining Health, Illness, and Disease: Health, illness and disease can be defined quite in relation to each other. When an individual is not ill or is not suffering from any disease, it can be said that the individual is healthy. However, illness and disease have not been defined properly as yet (Hamilton-West, 2011, p.2). People tend to have their own perceptions and instead of defining these terms separately and significantly, they are associated with one another and defined as per the personal understandings of individuals. Different authors and health organizations like the WHO (World Health Organization) have tried to provide with definitions for health, illness and disease that this essay would reflect on. Smith tried to explain that the terms disease, illness or ill-health are not same. Rather their presentations with respect to the condition of one’s health are different. Disease, according to Smith, refers to the presence of some form of abnormality in the human body that can be detected and treated. Illness on the other hand represents the condition where an individual suffers from the different symptoms of any disease and does not experience the normal being of the health (Smith, 2004, p.121). Thus as far as Smith’s studies reflect it can be understood that there is a slight difference in the meanings of disease and illness. This in turn presents the fact that health is a concept that is broad in nature and involves different meanings related to the conditions of the health and the ill-health. Defining the illness or disease terms becomes more difficult since a disease or an illness do not necessary lead to a condition where an individual is unable to lead a normal life. Then it creates confusion whether to consider the human body to be in healthy state or diseased state (Hamilton-West, 2011, p.3). Disease on one hand reflects the presence of abnormality affecting the human health. On the other hand, the health also remains in a condition where it might perform normal activities with fewer difficulties. Thus while defining these terms, the different factors, the severity of the diseases or the illnesses, the effect that it has on the health, need to be realized and taken into consideration reflecting on the broad concept of health. Few models have also been designed for the understanding of the concept of health. These include the biological model, the social model and the social constructionism. The biological model is focused on the concept of defining diseases being a primary reason of affecting the normal condition of the health of a human body (Ananth, 2008, pp.208-209). The social theory relates to the mental condition of a human body while defining the illness and disease terms. Thus in this regard, the social values of human beings also are considered. Also, the social constructionism arises in this context where the biological factors are given lesser significance and the social issues are considered relevant in understanding the normal functioning health of a human and the diseases or illnesses that affect the normality of the body. The social models are thus away from the reality of the human body, the health and the illness (Pilgrim, 2009, pp.172-173). The studies based on the different models and the definitions tried to be determined reveals the fact that defining health, illnesses and ill health is difficult since different situations, different health conditions as well as different views and opinions of human beings reflect different meanings to the medical state of the human bodies. Thus, the term health presents a wide range of ideas that reflects different meanings to the concept of health. Conclusion: The study has focused on the fact that the concept of health has significantly different ideas and values. It reflects different meanings in association with the concepts of health and diseases. Health can be considered as a state of normality or functioning for the human body. The disease or illness affects this normality or normal functioning of the health as can be understood from the studies. However different authors have tried to deliver their best to determine and let the human beings understand the differences that lie between the illness and the disease. The different models as mentioned in the essay also reflect on the differences that social and biological models present for the concept of health. Thus it can be concluded from the study that health is a broad concept and owing to the different understanding of individuals, the concept results in different meanings of health, illness. Solution 2: Introduction: There are certain diseases or illnesses that are not accepted by the society in normal terms. Particularly in cases of diseases that are infectious, the society tends to treat the victim or the patient on a negative outlook (Chong, 2002, pp.179-180). This negativity on the part of the society often creates fear in the minds of the affected individuals. In such situations, the effect of the health condition proves to be less harmful than the fear that the social stigma causes among such patients. The essay focuses on how the social stigma affects the health when socially stigmatized diseases occur. Health Diseases and the Impact of the Social Stigma: When diseases become socially stigmatized, it affects the health condition of the victim severely, bringing impacts on the society as well. In order to hide the disease from the society, individuals tend to keep their illnesses or sufferings secret unless they become visible. People fear that they might be treated badly if others come to know of their diseases. Fear of losing jobs, or even relationships also become evident in such cases where individuals might be suffering from diseases like epilepsy, AIDS or other socially stigmatized diseases (Patel, Woodward & Feigin, 2010, p.426). Social stigma raises the fear in the minds of the affected individuals that if their diseases are known to the world, they would be treated in different manners and would not be accepted in the usual ways, as normal human beings are otherwise accepted in the society. Such feelings not only let the patients hide their pains and sufferings, but also lead to a condition where the fear becomes more essential for the individual than the suffering. Studies have obtained that diagnosis of such socially stigmatized diseases like the epilepsy caused mental misery among the victims. The individuals fear to encounter the society if their diseases get diagnosed. The fear occurs more if the individual suffers from any kind of discriminatory or humiliating incident with his/her self. When the society tags and gives a label to the individual of being a patient of a socially stigmatized disease, the individuals feel more ashamed. Such cases tend to prevent the diagnosis of the diseases in many individuals who are too much scared of the stigma (Walsh, 2004, p.109). Thus the social stigma has been found to create such fear in the minds of the individuals that often people tend to avoid the diagnosis and treatment only to ignore and avoid the society’s discrimination and insult. The model of hidden distress reflects on the felt and enacted stigma that cause fears in the minds of the individuals. When an individual suffers from discriminatory behavior in the public, it is considered to be an act of enacted stigma. Felt stigma arises if the individual is labeled with the disease that he/she is suffering from (Walsh, 2004, p.109). Thus in these cases the individual suffers more mentally than physically that ultimately leads to the fear. This focuses on the fact that the sociological idea that people who are diagnosed or are going to be diagnosed with a socially stigmatized illness, are more feared of the stigma than the effect of the condition, proves to be true in most of the cases. However the impact of the social stigma not only affects the suffered victim, but it has impacts on the society as well. In cases of infectious diseases, it is highly necessary that along with the treatment of the affected individual, the disease is also controlled such that it does not spread in the society. If the fear prevents the individuals from getting their diseases diagnosed, it might prove to be perilous for the society as a whole. Moreover, owing to the discrimination that society creates as a result of some of the diseases, the treatment becomes unequal and presents a negative side of the societal values (Patel, Woodward & Feigin, 2010, p.426). Thus the behavior of the society and the fear that it creates in the minds of the health affected individuals prove to be truly severe and more influencing on the patients than the condition of the health. Conclusion: From the study it can be clearly reflected that the society behaves unethically and implements inequality in the treatment for individuals suffering from different infectious diseases. When the diseases are infectious or are more harmful for the human beings, they need better and immediate treatments but owing to the fear of discrimination, humiliation and insult, mostly individuals tend to hide the diseases that the society presents to be as socially stigmatized conditions. The fear truly becomes more effective on the individual than the suffering of the disease. However, the issue seems to be more severe since such fear among the human beings not only affects their health, but spreads the disease in the society impacting the health of others as well. Thus as a conclusion, it can be said that a change is required in this kind of a sociological idea such that harmful and infectious diseases can be controlled. Solution 3: Introduction: The occurrence of any disease can often be associated with some reason(s) or cause(s) that might involve the environment in which the human beings tend to suffer from any particular disease. If a causal relationship can be established between the factor affecting the individual and the disease, then control measures might be available for the treatment of the individual (Merrill, 2010, pp.225-226). However, there are social factors as well that affect the occurrence of ill health among individuals to a great extent. The study focuses on the difficulty in proving the causal relationship between social factors and illnesses. Causal Relationship between Social Factors and Occurrence of Illnesses: Social factors have a significant influence on the occurrence of diseases, particularly in the families of poor people. Poverty and unemployment are certain factors leading to mental disorders. Such mental illnesses are caused due to the stress that such individuals encounter as a result of the social problems related to poverty. Several studies have focused on the fact that social factors are highly responsible for the mental diseases (Avison, McLeod & Pescosolido, 2007, p.191). Thus there is a need to understand the causal relationship between the social factors and illnesses as well. However it is mostly obtained that poverty and other social factors like unemployment are not considered to be significantly associated with the occurrence of diseases. Rather more emphasis can be found to the environmental factors that are responsible in causing different diseases. This is probably since the social factors are mostly associated with one particular section of people who are poor and are more depressed from the difficulties of their lives. This being not a usual case does not necessarily create the significance for the causal relationship. Moreover since there are several issues related to the social factors that include “low socioeconomic status, experiences of disempowerment and violence, stigma associated with low socioeconomic status, marginalization, hopelessness, helplessness, income security and reduced access to health services”, it is difficult to create the causal relationship between the social factors and diseases in human health (Blas & Kurup, 2010, p.119). Epidemiology that looks into the population as a whole in the determination of the causal relationship of social factors with the illnesses reflects that the socioeconomic position or status of individuals is highly significant in causing illnesses and diseases. However the issue arises when the relationship cannot be established for the social factors and the occurrence of disease. Depression and other mental disturbances are the most significant illnesses that are associated with the social factors (Blas & Kurup, 2010, p.119). From the above mentioned issues, it can be understood that the causal relationship between social factors and diseases is equally significant like the effects of environmental factors. However, the difficulty in establishing this relationship tends to create lesser significance for the social issues. The causal relationship between social factors and diseases are also important since the social position created risks for the individuals particularly the poor people who suffer from poverty as well as unemployment. Too much of stress is involved in their lives that result in illnesses and ill health of such individuals. They encounter difficulty in securing food for themselves, and they often remain in stages of hunger, as well as lacking shelter. Diseases can be realized to have a direct relation to such individuals (Blas & Kurup, 2010, p.119). Thus in order to understand the difficulty in establishing the causal relationship between the social factors and the occurrence of diseases, the status of the individuals particularly those having lower economic status presents an understanding. The lower socioeconomic classes of people are mostly the people who suffer from diseases occurring as a result of social factors like the poverty or unemployment. They encounter difficulties in leading their lives as well as in serving the sufferers of different diseases. In the cases of the poor people, their stressful lives mainly lead to mental disorders and depression. Since such diseases are not associated with the environmental factors and the normal occurrences of diseases, but are the results of the sufferings from lives, the causal relationship is difficult to establish between the social factors and the diseases. Conclusion: The study reflected on the social factors that result in mental disorders like depression. This is primarily because the social factors like poverty or unemployment affects those sections of human beings who are poor and are part of a lower socioeconomic status. Thus their stressful life leads to mental disturbances resulting in mental disorders or illnesses. However since the lives of the poor people are significantly difficult in terms of their food, shelter, and other security measures, the causal relationship between social factors and diseases is also difficult to be established, as realized from the study. Moreover it can be concluded from the study that the environmental factors are mostly associated with the occurrence of diseases that are considered as normal. The social factors being the results of the social lives and their effects on the poor people, they are not considered to form the causal relationship with the diseases. References 1) Ananth, M. (2008), In defense of an evolutionary concept of health: nature, norms and human biology, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 2) Avison, W.R., McLeod, J.D. & B.A. Pescosolido (2007), Mental health, social mirror, New York: Springer 3) Blas, E. & A.S. Kurup (2010), Equity, social determinants and public health programmes, Switzerland: World Health Organization 4) Chong, N. (2002), The Latino patient: a cultural guide for health care providers, Maine: Intercultural Press 5) Hamilton-West, K. (2011), Psychobiological Processes in Health and Illness, London: SAGE Publications Ltd 6) Merrill, R.M. (2010), Introduction to epidemiology, Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers 7) Patel, V., Woodward, A. & V. Feigin (2010), Mental and Neurological Public Health: A Global Perspective, Massachusetts: Academic Press 8) Pilgrim, D. (2009), Key Concepts in Mental Health, London: SAGE Publications Ltd 9) Smith, G. (2004), Get Set for Nursing, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press 10) Walsh, M. (2004), Introduction to sociology for health carers, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Read More