Theories of health and illness

Joanne Barton

Health is difficult to define and there are many different theories of health, in this assignment I will be trying to describe and explain these theories and the benefit of epidemiological studies in identifying illness.

So what is the definition of health, is it just the absence of illness and disease or living a healthy life style and being in a good state of mind. The world health organisation is formed by the members of the United Nations they believe that ‘‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (and a socially and economically productive life)’’ (WHO, constitution of the world health organisation, Geneva, 1946).

This definition is saying that it’s not just the absence of disease or illness that is good health, but its being mentally healthy and socially comfortable as well. which I agree with, as leading a healthy life isn’t just not getting ill, its being mentally well, happy, secure, stress free (most of the time) and living in a safe, sheltered and comfortable environment, also getting sleep, eating well, having access to medical and dental care, good hygiene and just having a good self well-being. This definition is very useful because it shows that that you need good health in the body and mind and the environment you live in can affect your health in many ways. It helps you understand health a bit more. The who’s polices have a huge impact on international health there objective is to attain the highest standards of health worldwide. The limitation for this definition is that it states that an individual needs to be in a state of complete self-well being which would be impossible most of the time.

Another definition is the medical definition it believes that ‘‘health is the condition of an organism or one of its parts in which it performs its vital functions normally or properly, the state of being sound in the body and mind, with freedom from physical disease and pain.’’ (The Merriam-Webster medical dictionary 2002)

This definition is saying that a human is an organism and it must be free from physical disease and pain and perform properly to be healthy. The medical definition focuses more on biological abnormalities then how the patient actually feels.

This definition is quite different from the WHO definition as it focuses more on getting a disease or being in pain then having a healthy life style and a good state of mind.

Theories of health

There are different theories of health and mental health they include the multi causal theory this is the biological theory, and ...

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This definition is quite different from the WHO definition as it focuses more on getting a disease or being in pain then having a healthy life style and a good state of mind.

Theories of health

There are different theories of health and mental health they include the multi causal theory this is the biological theory, and a scientific way of diagnosing illness and disease, there is a physical cause or the body might be invaded by disease or infection. This is the cause of ill health people understand and tend to follow more as there is scientific evidence for the illness or disease.

Before the 1900 scientific reasons where unknown Diseases and their causes were thought to be supernatural or possession by an evil spirit, some people where seen as witches and burned or stoned to death and others killed because they were ‘possessed by the devil’ scientific evidence and epidemiology have been a major effect on today’s diagnosing and treating of illnesses and mental health.

Hippocrates’4 humors defined disease by the appearance of blood, black bile, yellow and green phlegm. The bodily fluids where then linked to seasons, parts of the body affected and then personality.

The Social-economic causes are the effects of poor living conditions like damp, overcrowded and unsanitary conditions and can aid the spread of disease. Now that there are better living conditions and better health care (vaccinations and drug treatment) some diseases have almost been eradicated i.e. small pox and polio.

Social depravation effects health, the lack of food, warmth and shelter. Also you have to take into account social and environmental factors an example is young people smoking, drinking, taking drugs and having unsafe sex this can be due to peer pressure, people behave the same as there friends as they want to fit in and be seen as cool.

There are lots of ways in which a persons emotional state can effect there health if people are depressed or stressed they are more likely to smoke, drink, eat unhealthily and have more accidents through not concentrating. The biological theory doesn’t take into account the psychological affects that trauma, stress or depression can have on a person’s health, unlike the emotional theory which does look at the individual’s circumstances and emotional state.

There are quite a few theories on mental health most are subjective and all are not measurable there have been many arguments about the causes and effects of mental illnesses but none have been proved.

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of disease in populations, it shows how disease occurs in different groups of people and it looks back on when and where the disease first started and the people who are at risk. Epidemiology is very beneficial in understanding the causes of illnesses as the information is used to plan strategies for delivering healthcare and evaluate ways to prevent the illness, epidemiology also develops best practice in managing existing disease this prevents the spread of disease which could cause a pandemic (worldwide spread). An example of this is cholera in 1854 an outbreak of cholera hit south London and killed many people it was believed that the cholera was spread by miasma in the atmosphere. Dr john snow was one of the first people to use epidemiology, he disagreed with this and did an epidemiological study, first he mapped the locations of the homes of those who had died in this outbreak, he found that most of them lived by the water pump on broad street, a few lived further away but liked the taste of the water and had it delivered to them, there were reports of the water being cloudy a few days before the outbreak. A week after the outbreak occurred john snow got the authorities to remove the water pumps handle, so the water couldn’t be drunk and the infections and death feel rapidly. If it wasn’t for john snows study a lot more people would have died and it would have taken a lot longer to find the cause of the outbreak, thanks to john snow London sanitation improved including the new sewage system constructed in the 1880’s. (Human health and disease 1997)

This shows that without epidemiology we wouldn’t understand the spread of disease and be able to understand, minimise or prevent it from happening, this could cause pandemics and lots of deaths worldwide, due to epidemiology we are less at risk from disease.

There are three types of data that provide information on the spread of disease, the first is incidence this is the number of new cases in a population occurring over a certain time, the second is prevalence, this show the number of people in a population with a disease within a certain amount of time and thirdly mortality, this is the number of people who have died of a disease in a certain amount of time. When all this data is collected it provides a good indication of the nation’s health.

without epidemiology we would have never known that smoking causes lung cancer, in the 1950’s a study was taken place on 150 patients with lung cancer, nearly all of them smoked or have smoked in there lifetime, further studies where done including scientific studies, which came to the conclusion that smoking cigarettes can have a major effect on health and can cause lung cancer and death. This information is then passed on to the public which can then show them the effects of smoking and they can make a decision for themselves. At the moment passive smoking is a major issue and non smoking pubs, restaurants, hospitals and other buildings have been put into place, the aim is to make most buildings free from smoke.

One of the most well known epidemiology study would be the HIV epidemic in Africa, 2.5 million people died in 2005 through contracting HIV, research has found that its contracted by contaminated blood from needles and unsterile medical equipment, Parental contamination and unprotected sex. sexual transmission of HIV is the most common form of contracting it, epidemiology has shown that medical procedures, the introduction of widespread drug treatment and continued stress on 'safe sex' will be needed in Africa to stop the spread of HIV.(Rothman 2002)

Conclusion

Health is hard to define but the World health organisation has really helped people understand what health is by health promotion. I agree with there definition they take into account illness and disease and also you mental and social health, which I think should be taken into account when viewing someone’s health. There are many different factors effecting health including environmental, biological and sociological factors which can all contribute to ill health. Epidemiology is a major part of health and health prevention, this assignment shows that without it we wouldn’t understand how disease is spread and be able to prevent epidemics and pandemics and even cure some diseases. Theories of health can be proved with epidemiological studies. Epidemiology, health promotion and health theories all link together to prevent, change and provide education for health and disease. Epidemiology helps us research and understand health and disease, which induces health promotion, which then can minimises risks because more people become aware, theories of health and epidemiology work together to minimise incidence.