Concept of Man - Learning Material PDF

CONCEPT OF MAN: BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL and SPIRITUAL BEING Definition of Terms: - The overt response of an individual toward stimuli in his environment. 1. Behavior 2. CommuniV - An aggregate of families living in a specific tocality bound together by common interests and goals, 3. Cul...

CONCEPT OF MAN: BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL and SPIRITUAL BEING Definition of Terms: - The overt response of an individual toward stimuli in his environment. 1. Behavior 2. CommuniV - An aggregate of families living in a specific tocality bound together by common interests and goals, 3. Culture - The total pattern of human behavior and its products embodied in thought, speech, action and aftifacts transmitted to succeeding generations through the use of tools, language and abstract thought. 4. Disease - The interruption of health due to invasion of the body by microorganisms, to trauma, or to mal- or dysfunctions of the body pafts due to age, nutritional deficiency, or metabolic disorder. 5. Familv - A basic unit of society composed of biological or sociological parents and children born of or adopted by them. 6. Health - Optimum level of wellness in an individual which allows him to function adequately in daily life activities. 7. Personalitv - The complex characteristics that distinguishes a pafticular individual from another or characterizes him in his relationship with others. 8. Religion - A personal awareness or conviction of the existence of a Supreme Being or of Supernatural Powers, as expressed in feelings of reverence, worship and faith. 9. Societv - An enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationship through interaction with one another. I. The Study of Man Man has always been a fascinating organism. How he came to being, how each part of his body works, and how it is related to other parts, what makes him grow and acquire mechanisms which allow him to recognize and overcome threats in his environment, how he communicates with others of his kind are some of the questions which have been carefully studied over the years. A. The Atomistic Approach in order to understand how man functions, one needs to know first the structure of the human body. The basic unit of the human body is the cell. The anatomist studies the structure of the cell and the component parts while the physiologist determines how the cell functions. If a more detailed study of the cell is required, more specialists such as the immunologists and hematologists to mention two, pool their knowledge and expertise to explain what's and where forces of the cell components. Byrne and Thompson calls such detailed study of man the atomists approach. Although the term atomistic connotes something which is infinitely small such as the atom, one is asked to refrain from being too literal in the meaning. It actually means studying the parts of man's body singly or independently. The atomistic study of man, therefore, views him as an organism composed of different organ system. Each system composed of organs and each organ made up of cells. B. The Holistic Approach However, complete this atomistic data might be, it still leaves one feeling that something has been omitted. There are still unanswered questions and areas of man's study untouched. One may know the form and function of each cetl, yet the question remains - what is man really liked? What makes him fall or succeed? How does he cope with stresses in his environment? There is a need, therefore, to study man in all aspects of his behavior and his relationship with others in his environment. Stimuli in the environment provide the necessary forces to enable man to demonstrate, consciously or unconsciously, the nature of his response and the subsequent quality of his relationship with his environment. Byrne and Thompsons call this approach holistic or total. It provides a fundamental framework on which one can base his perception or observation of the total behavior of man in relation to society. The holistic view, therefore, traces the patterns of man's relationships with other beings in the suprasystem of society. Given varying situations, how man acts and how he reacts [o situational stimuli provide clues in understanding the nature of his responses and the reason for them. Unlike the atomistic study of man, the holistic approach views man as a whole organism with interrelated and interdependent parts functioning to produce behavior unacceptable or acceptable to him or to society. The knowledge of the atomistic and holistic approaches of studying man is useful in planning his care during illness or preventing it. When the nurse takes the patient's temperature, pulse and respiration, she is gathering data to determine the internal condition of or changes in his body cells, organs and organ system. The urine specimen she collects and sends to the laboratory will show the normal and/or abnormal constituents in his body fluid which can help greatly the doctor's management of the patient's disease condition. The holistic approach supplements the data collected by means of the atomistic study. The nurse observes the nature and extent of relationships existing within the patient's famiiy and between the patient and other family members. She can also predetermine the kind of relationships which the patient's family have with other families in the community. In this way, all aspects affecting the patient before, during and possibly after hospitalization are considered in his plan of care. A. Organismic Behavior Our understanding of organismic behavior is based on two beliefs proposed by Byrne and Thompson. The first belief is that man nermellllresponds as a unfred_\ryhele, not as a series of interrelated parts. His mind and body operates as a whole and his body structure conform to the purpose for which each paft was made. Since the mind operate in conjunction with the body, what atfects one affects the other. Neither one stands alone. To illustrate this type of interdependenry of the various organ system of man, let us study what bodily changes occur within a girl who has just been frightened. Her heart beats faster and her blood pressure rises, her breathing becomes heavier, and her senses becomes more alert. As hormones flow into her blood, she feels strength surging into the muscles of her feet to prepare her for flight if necessary. The temperature of the whole body also changes. The skin feels cool to touch in the face of danger although waves of heat may alternate with those of cold until the perceived threat disappears. In her flight to safety, all the cells of her body participate in removing her from site of danger. Figure 1 shows how man's various organ system assist him to act as a unified whole. The second belief on which organismic behavior is based is that man as a whole is different from and more than the sum of his component parts. The analogy of water and its component pafts may help to illustrate this. Byrne and Thompson explain, "Water not the samil as its parts. Its elements, hydrogen and oxygen, have different sets of characteristics and predictable responses... Each element alone will support combustion but combined as water they are commonly used to extinguish fire." Similarly, man/ as a human organism composed of various system is something more than just addition of his parts; Given any set of stimuli he responds as predicted, or becomes unpredictable because of other extraneous variables. His responses are varied and numerous. Man utilizes food as nutrients for his body in the maintenance and repair of his cells and for the maintenance and regulation of his vital processes. If he takes in food which is contaminated during its preparation or in its storage, or if food is inadequate in amount or is deficient in vitamins and minerals, man will become ill if failed to develop normally. Organismic behavior, therefore, refers to those observable features and actions that reflect man's functioning as a unified whole within the environment in which he exists. It reflects the dynarnic changes that occur in him as a result of alterations he has made or has met in his internal and external environments. Behavioral features point out to the observable characteristics of the physical and external shell of man. This shell gives us clues to the internal state of the individual. For example, a hot, flushed skin indicates a disturbance in the heat-regulating center of the body; yet, one feels "hot" and flushed when embarrassed or angry. Voice response, posture and color of the skin are tell-tale sign of what goes in a person's body. Whether praised or censured, man reacts. B. Man as a System Byrne and Thomson uses Buckley's definition of a system which describes it as a "whole which function as a whole by virtue of the interdependence of its parts. A system has common or unifying boundaries with interrelated and interdependent parts. A system may be composed of subsystems. Each is designed to carry out an activity, which in turn is necessary for achieving the general purpose of the system. There are two types of system: the closed system and the open system. 1. Closed system: A closed system is one that is self-sufficient and totally isolated from other system. It does not allow outside stimuli in any form: verbal, non-verbal. Life -threatening or suppoftive, positive or negative-- to penetrate its boundaries, nor does it allow anything from within it to go beyond its boundaries. In this way, life- sustaining elements, either in the form of energy, matter or information. cannot enter the system to nourish it. This system uses up its reserues for energy. In doing so, it eventually fails to function and disintegrates. To unders[and how a closed system works, image placing a lighted candle inside a glass jar and then covering it tightly. When the oxygen in the jar is all used up, the flame dies. The unyielding glass does not allow orygen from the atmosphere to penetrate its boundaries and nourish the flame. E  Figure 2 shows how a closed system works. Note how the energy is only locked within the boundaries of the organism which does not show observable behavioral change in response to a stressor. resprratort' circulatoru musculo skeletal There may be some wherein the stimuli received from the environment may penetrate the boundary of the organism. They may produce changes in the sub-system of that organism but any response or change in any form to the stimuli is not observed externally, The stimuli, unable to reinforce itself within the organism disintegrates and fades away. 2. Open system: An open system is one which exchanges matter, energy, or information with the environment surrounding it. It is directly affected by events or changes in other systems. This type of system views the person as a living behavioral system. The metabolism, the growth, and the total processes of living are involved in the interchange of energy, matter or information among parts of the living organism, and between the living organism and its environment. In order to carry on processes which, the organisms need for its daily life activities, a continuous flow of energy, matter or information in and out of the organism through its boundaries is necessary. This way, the organisrn takes in new energyr nourishing matter and fresh information into its system at the same time giving us to the environment the waste or by products or obsolete information which the organism no longer needs or wants. 3. The Energy-Matter Exchange of Man: Man, as a unified whole interacts constantly with his environment, while at the same time the different subsystems within him continuously interact with each other. This on-going interaction within man, as well as between man and his environment, enables him to grow, to overcome environmental threats, and, as a result, to make adjustments within his body. As an energy unit, man's energy is not limitless, but must be continuously replenished as soon as it is utilized. All life processes, such as eating, breathing and working utilize energy. When this energy supply is exhausted, man dies. In order to function optimally he maintains a steady state of energy balance. What he uses, he must replace, while keeping some reserues in case of an emergency, emergencies may come in the form of increased volume of work, disease, or any bodily threat.  The interrelatedness and interdependence of man's subsystem facilitate the energy- matter exchange. Food taken in is digested in the elementary tract (digestive system), is observed and carried by the blood (circulatory system) to the body cells (muscular system). Waste products of metabolism are excreted by the lungs (respiratory system), skin (integumentary system) urinary bladder (urinary system) and the bowels (digestive system). An input of matter results in an output of matter. In this instance, man has exchanged matter with his environment, utilizing energy in the process. An input of energy need not result in an output of matter, and then the input be always energy. This input - output relationship may result in any of the following exchanges: energy-energy/ matter-matter, matter-energy and matter-matter. The examples below demonstrate these various fypes of energy-matter exchange in patient care system: a quarrel at bedtime may result in sleepless night (energy-energy exchange), fear in anticipation of a test results in frequent loose stools (energy-matter exchange), inhalation of pathogenic microorganisms produces fever (matter-matter exchange), and ingestion of histamine rich- food produces hives (matter-matter exchange). Figure 3 Illustrates the nature of such exchange. Figure 3: An open system which shows observable Behavior Change in Response to a Stressor Energy, matter or information which is taken in by a system is called input; that which passes from the organism into the environment is called output. An energy input may be in any form such as a scolding r or a blow and a matter input may either be food or microorganisms while an information input may be in the form of news and health teaching. On the other hand, an energy output may either be fever or dyspnea, a matter output can be loose stools or vomitus and an information output can be validating what one has learned is correct through feedback. Since man is an open system, acting as a unified whole and composed of subsystems what affects one subsystem easily affects the other subsystem or subsystems within the set. This is how the subsystem work interdependently. Food is taken by mouth which is part of the digestive system. This food provides energy for doing work which an output of the skeletomuscular system. II. Man as a Biological Being The two approaches of studying man just-discussed all too clearly point out that man is not only a composite of isolated components, each part independent of the other but also a total being with parts interrelated and interdependent upon one another. Man is a living organism who from birth is destined to die. Until he does, he has to content continually with forces in his environment; some of them friendly, others hostile. In the micro and macrocosms of life, man responds to environmental stimuli as a pafticular unit - be it a solitary cell, a component organism or a member of a conglomerate of individuals. Figure I below illustration how man enlarges these behavioral responses from a single family unit to the suprasystem of society and how these different systems and subsystems all refer back to man as an individual. Figure 4 Man's subordinate & super ordinate systems influence his behavior as an individual Because the cells, organs and organ systems are found within the individual, they comprise the subordinate system of man while the family, community and society which consists of bigger units of man are called his super ordinate system. The subordinate system of man is important in carrying out daily life activities which are vital tosurvival. Man's feeling of well-being each day depends on the condition of the various organ systems in his body. The super-ordinate system, on the other hand, provides man with the necessary framework of relationships which links to the family, the community and society. Together with others in his family and comrnunity, he comes with elements in his environment; his behavior greatly influenced by his response to others in his environment. The network of relationships, therefore, are just as important as the form and function of the different organ systems which comprise the biological nature of man. In life, cellular behavior is perhaps the simplest functional unit. The cell is the basic unit or building block of structure of all forms of plant and animal life. Within the human body, there are approximately 60,000 billion cells. Each of these cells carry out precise and highly specialized functions that interweave harmoniously with the actiVities and functions of other cells in the body. As. a result of coordinated cellular activities, the grows and develops into an integrated whole. As man enlarges his interaction with his environment his behavioral responses become more complex and variables. Studying these different responses often requires the specialized services of other man; for example, the microbiologist for cellular behavior, the physiologist for the organ and organs system behavior and the psychologist and sociologist for his relationship with his family, community, or society. Behavior at the societal level is discussed by the social scientists and the anthropologists in the light of mores/ value systems, taboos, and social intercourse. Characteristic behavioral patterns toward current or potential health crisis are identified by public health workers while deviant or anti-social behavior become the concern of law-enforcing agencies. r] HI. Man as a Psycho-Social Being To discuss man as a psychosocial being, it is necessary for purpose of this module to borrow from Travelbee words she used to aptly describe the utter uniqueness of every human being, each of whom is different from any other person. Man, Travelbee says, "a unique, irreplaceable individual, a one-time being in this world." To be irreplaceable means that an entity cannot be exchanged for another. In this era of transplants, most parts of the human being can be replaced by organs taken from human or animal donors and are known as transplants or by plastic or steel pafts which are called prosthesis. Although making these transplants survive in their new location is still the unresolved problem of surgeons, perhaps, when this dilemma will be solved, man will become replaceable. Because man is a one-time being in this world, when he dies, he ceases to exist. There is not a reason chance for living. What may be left of him to indicate his temporal presence will be a few mementoes which some thoughtful person remembered to collect in his memory, unlike a plant, he cannot wither away in times of drought only to sprout a new shoot when conditions later become more favorable. It is strange to think of man so alike yet totally unlike any person who has ever live or ever will live but Travelbee makes us aware of this aspect. He may be like the next person in his choice of residence, dress, recreation or friends but for sure, he will not fail to put his own stamp of individuality on these. Families living in one of those identical houses in a subdivision will try to add something to their houses or yards to make them look different from tlre others. Take the jeepney for example, all were of the same model when purchased by their respective owners. Yet, given a renovation job, each jeepney emerges the embodiment of its owner's creativis, resourcefulness and idiosyncrasies complete with bizarre painting, ear splitting electronics and crazy gadgets on its hood, Travelbee points out how man is imprisoned within himself by his limited nature and how he enjoys freedom which other animals can never enjoy. In spite of this, he is often at odds with his own self whether to give to others or to take from them instead. His unlimited nature requires him to share what he has however, he is aware that to do so at all times and to any person may not be good at alll His limited nature tells him not to be so generous otherwise he may have little left to him. It is, therefore,not surprising to find man always at the crossroads of indecision. Whether he has to do or not do something, he is forced to make a choice and he finds it difficult. The higher the position or responsibility, the greater the burden of making choices and bearing the consequences of these choices. He becomes aware although reluchantly that to be human, one cannot make a choice of an act without being responsible for the consequences that such an act may entail whether to himself, to his friends or to total strangers. Man, the psychosocial being that he is Travelbee, says, is a thinking being who is very capable of rational, logical thinking most of the time but who becomes irrational and illogical when provoked. His rational side makes him merciful, kind and compassionate while his irrational nature may make him commit criminal acts against another man. Repofts of crimes of passion are common in newspapers. Families and friends of the criminal can never understand how an individual they have known all their lives to be even-tempered good and kind suddenly becomes berserk and kills people. They can never have understood what made this person commit the ultimate ast of irrationality. One may never admit to any degree of immaturity but Travelbee points that man retains a certain amount of immaturity well within an outer shell of maturity. In some persons, this care may be very small so that their immaturity is hard to detect but in others, the core is big and the degree of immaturity is easy to detect in the person's manner, speech or thought. Thus, adult who play children's games need not be afraid of ridicule for they are only expressing their core of immaturity. A father playing with his sont electric train or an old lady sporting knee-high dresses, and affecting childish speech, may be expressing a core of immaturity bigger than others. Although man possesses the ability to know others, he will never be completely able to understand another human being. If mothers who have carried their children in their wombs for nine months throw up their hands in despair because they cannot understand their children, who can understand another adult? born vocal and suspicious, man communicates with another not so much for the consolation that words can give but more for the comfort of sharing one's troubles with another human being. Therefore, even in his deepest soul-searching sessionr man still retains that elusive quality of incommunicability that neither trusted confidents. priest-confessor nor psychiatrist can ever hope to fathom. Travelbee describes man as a social being who is capable of relating with others. From bifth, he is endowed with the capacity to know, to like, to love and to respond to and appreciate the uniqueness of others. He is able to evoke opposite responses when circumstances within the environment or within himself are just right but he can also easily change from social amiability to social hostility, disliking, mistrusting and hating others when circumstances are adverse. Steeped in this feeling of hostility, he alienates himself. In doing so, he loses friends. In conclusion, Travelbee declares that what is wonderful with man is his capacity to cope with stressful stimuli. Depending on his inherent qualities, in the environment he grew up in, the experiences he has - he will manage to rise above the limitations of his human conditions. He tries all actions which can resolve conflict knowing that if he does not, he becornes a mafir of his core of incommunicable loneliness. If man does not strive to strengthen his relationship with other fellow humans, he becomes restless and lonely, an embittered individual without friends until the day he dies. IV. Man as a Spiritual Being The Unity of Man in Body, Mind and Spirit. Man is a being with complexities. Collingwood describes him as a biological organism composed of sixty billion cells, each functioning together to make man a unified whole. He further says that man also a member of a group of special animals with interests common to his group. This member may be capable of sharing a common language, the same set of tools, ldentical ways of doing things and of ways of thinking. Yet, in spite of his biologic origin and social associations, man as a complex organism has special abilities to transcend the limits of his animal nature. This ability to overcome the physical and social needs through transcendence is descriptive of man's spiritual nature. It would be amiss to discuss man's spiritual nature without discussing in Layman's terms, the intellect and the will, for these two components assist him in the power of transcendence. The intellect, Collingwood explains, allows man to look for the truth. It gives him the ability to perceive his surroundings or the forces within our outside him or to understand the meaning of events as they relate to him and to his loved ones. They will, on the other hands, expresses man's own wishes, desire or longing to do what he has set his mind to do. It gives him the power of conscious and deliberate action or self-control in initiating, sustaining or terminating human activity. Through a firm resolution of mind, man accomplishes what he likes or fails to accomplish what he dislikes. This demonstrates only too clearly that the mind and the body perform as one. Therefore, man the spiritual being, needs the essential freedom of the human spirit. To achieve this freedom, he continuously for it and the struggle is made doubly difficult when he is ill. Illness deprives the patient of his much-needed freedom. He becomes lost in medical jargon that defies comprehension. He no longer has the freedom to choose the food he wants to eat, the clothes to wear, the time to get up or even the time to go to bed. It seems to him that his whole life is taken over by strangers. He no longer has any say over his own body. I Man asks the perpetual question, "What have done to deserve this?" as he hopes to understand the circumstances he finds himself in. The intellect helps him to understand that illness is a natural phenomenon that befalls anyone when he is exposed to an unhealthful environment, or when his body resistance is low or when his body organs decline in function due to old age or to some disorder. It is the intellect that helps him find the truth of his illness and accept the fact that it is not God's "punishment for his sins". The will provides man the energy to overcome the forces working against him. Medical histories no end have come up with baffling cases who lost all "will to live "and died when they could have been saved while equally fascinate cases have started the medical team because of the patient's miraculous recovery which they attributed to their strong determination to live in spite of the odds against them, Belief in a Superior Force. Man, no matter what his religion is, believes that his life is governed by a great power greater than he. He pays obeisnce to this Supreme Power regularly or infrequently, the frequency dependent on man's whims, caprices or feelings of despair whenever it by adversity. The need to obey or worship this Superhuman Power may come from within the person or from his environment. He may set for himself certain standards to follow violations of which may stir up in his feelings of remorse.  Religions differ in their beliefs as to the nature of this Power, Force, or Being. To maintain a few- the Christians believe that the Power exists in a realm outside of their own selves and that it wields an Omnipotent Power over their lives. They call this Supreme Being God. Likewise, the Muslims also recognize an outside all powedul force and worship Allah in complicated religious rituals and in special places of worship called mosques. On the other hand, the Buddhist believe in the Enlightment of the Self as the embodiment of divine worship and viftue and not in any outside Force or Power. They follow the teaching of Buddha to release the human body from earthly and bodily parn. Motivation to Overcome Hardship. What makes man able to withstand hardship may at times be difficult to understand. Motivation may come either from natural or supernatural forces. One reasons that it comes naturally to man to suffer for those whom he loves and wishes to protect from pain and suffering. This could be seen in the love that parents have for their children. Rather than deprive their offspring of education, parents scrimp and save to be able to send money for their children's school fees and monthly allowance. The other type of motivation may be supernatural wherein one transcends pain and suffering to a higher place in the hope of non-material reward. As previously discussed, the intellect assists him in achieving this higher type of motivation. Stoic patients may mask their true feelings in order to satisfy inner feelings of mortification to atone for real or imagined mistakes. Spiritual Virtues. Even if human reason makes man skeptical and faithless his spiritual nature makes him overcome skepticism and sets him back to the right oaths of thinking. Faith is the unquestioning belief in someone or in something or the complete trust and confidence or eliance one places in a person or thing. Patients come to the hospital or seek medical treatment because they believe that to do so will prolong their lives even if temporarily. When they agree that a surgeon remove a diseased part from their body, they do so because of absolute faith in the surgeon's skills, People attribute to the ministration of faith healers "recovery" from terminal illness in spite of discouragement or adverse comments from their own family. One even asks, "was there really recovery?" Closely related to faith is hope. While faith is the foundation on which hope rests, hope nourishes faith. It is a vital factor in the health care setting. Its presence or absence often play a paft in determining the patienfs prognosis or illness, state of well-being and acceptance of the dying process, Patients who might otherwise have recovered dies simply because they lacked hope. Charity means love of man for his fellowman. It enables him to overcome frustration because of love for anothEr. This love makes one do things for another without complaint. Examples of this are plenty in the clinical area. The nurse makes the patient comfortable in bed before leaving him for the night; she stays for a few minutes longer with an anxious patient on the eye of the surgery; she holds the baby who needs the warmth of its mother; she visits the adolescent who is crying for someone to stay with him. Charity allows the nurse to assist the patient in overcoming one crisis after another. Charity allows one to give up his own pleasures while serving another without even thinking of the sacrifice it entails. In conclusion, man's spiritual nature forges with his physical and psychological nature to make him a being different from the sum of his individual parts.  SUMMARY As a biological organism, man is like all other men. He needs the same vital processes to support life and uses identical biological form and functions to carry out these processes. Like all others, he is affected by heredity, environment, culture and all societal experiences that he meets, copes of stays away from. He believes like others in a Supreme Power that guides his destiny. It does not matter how he expresses this belief, what matters most is that in times of need, he is sure of the knowledge that he has someone to run to for solace. Like some other men, man shows different patterns of dress, speech, sleeping, eating. Over the years, he acquires unique ways of doing things. People who live in close proximlty with each other develop identical ways which distinguish them from other people who are separated from them geographically. Thus, differences arise depending on one's culture. Through culture, man borrows and assimilates different thought, speech and behavior patterns of other countries. Psychologically, man is like no other man. Every individual has his own personality make-up. Siblings raised by the same set of parents under the same circumstances show different individual responses to environmental stimuli. There are two ways of studying man. One is the atomistic approach which studies the parts of man's body stafting from the cell and moving towards the different organ systems each part analyzed as individual entities. Although the atomistic approach provides basic knowledge concerning man's structure and function, it gives a quite limited view of him. In the second approach which is called holistic, man's relationships with others in the family, community and society are studied, each relationship taken within the context of the other or bigger systems surrounding man. Man, the bio-psycho-social-spiritual being is a marvel of complexities. His biological nature arises from the form and function of the individual cells in each organ of his different organ systems. How he behaves to stresses within and within his environment is determined by his psycho-social nature. His intellect and will which comprise his spiritual nature allows him freedom of the human spirit to undersband himself and his needs and the needs of others when human reasons fails. It also enables him to overcome feelings of despair and hopelessness when adversity such as illness strikes. In the final analysis, man's ability to react to stimuli in his environment is greatly influenced by or dependent on his bio-psycho-social and spiritual nature.