Health and Medicine in Social Organization

Health and Medicine in Social Organization

• Health and medicine are integral parts of social organization, requiring significant resources and manpower to manage and promote health systems.
• There is an emphasis on Western scientific medicine, but non-Western systems of belief need to be incorporated.

Defining Health

• Health is often defined as a normality, with illness as deviance, but normality differs for everyone, and there is no single test to prove a body is "normal".
• There is a range of normal variability, and whatever falls outside of that can be considered ill health, but the range is difficult to determine.

Health as Absence of Illness

• Historically, those who are healthy are seen as not being biologically disadvantaged, with a focus on length of life and fertility.
• Categorizing mental health as a disease has been challenging, as it doesn't fit into the reduced lifespan or fertility framework.

Normal Illness

• Health can be viewed as a subjective experience, defined by personal perception of symptoms and feelings of illness.
• Experiencing no symptoms of ill health ever is abnormal, as there is always some symptom of illness present.
• The perception of health and illness varies between individuals and depends on the circumstances.

Health as Balance or Homeostasis

• The concept of health relies on the idea of homeostasis, where the body is actively involved in developing ill health.
• Restoring normality requires internal equilibrium, which when disturbed, causes illness.
• Disease is seen as a state of discord and disturbance of function.

Health as Function

• Health can be defined as the ability to function freely, with incapacity seen as ill health.
• This definition is tricky, as it depends on individual and situational requirements, and can lead to categorizing people into fit and unfit categories.

Health as State or Status

• Health can be seen as a temporary or permanent longer-term state, but all ill health cannot be forced into dichotomous categories.
• Health is not a stock or capital that can increase or decrease.

The Biomedical Model

• The biomedical model views health as opposed to disease or illness, with an emphasis on individual habits, diet, etc.
• This model is institutionalized and embodied through law and administration.
• The biomedical model prioritizes scientific observation over subjective symptoms and relies on principles like the doctrine of specific etiology.