...Evaluate biomedical model of health Current medical models assume that all illness is secondary to disease. Revision is needed to explain illnesses without disease and improve organisation of health care. Cultural and professional models of illness influence decisions on individual patients and delivery of health care. The biomedical model of illness, which has dominated health care for the past century, cannot fully explain many forms of illness. This failure stems partly from three assumptions: all illness has a single underlying cause, disease (pathology) is always the single cause, and removal or attenuation of the disease will result in a return to health. Currently, most models of illness assume a causal relation between disease and illness—the perceived condition of poor health felt by an individual. Cultural health beliefs and models of illness help determine the perceived importance of symptoms and the subsequent use of medical resources.4 The assumption that a specific disease underlies all illness has led to medicalisation of commonly experienced anomalous sensations and often disbelief of patients who present with illness without any demonstrable disease process. Finally, most biomedical models also seem strongly linked to primitive forms of intuitive mind-body dualism. Health commissioners, budgetary systems, healthcare professionals, and the public all act as if there is some clear, inescapable separation between physical and mental health problems, ignoring evidence...
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...a society serve a function and are necessary for the survival of that society. This links to This links to health as you are responsible for your own health and wellbeing and it is your responsibility to get better This links to ill health as they often fail to recognise a mental health problem, because of this it could get progressively worse and they could become very unwell and have a low self-esteem. Marxism – Society structure that is based on economic power and how wealthy you are. This has two social classes, the rich and the poor. This links to This links to health as rich people get cared for quicker. This is because they have the money to be able to get private health care. For example a poor person would have to go to a standard hospital and will have to wait hours to be seen to where as a rich person with private health care will be seen to straight away as there are less people waiting. This links to ill health as the believe that if the doctors do not find an illness then there is not one there, this means that they could have a serious health problem which a doctor may not have spotted and because they believe that there is not one there they could develop a serious illness and become unwell. Feminism – Believe that society is structured in a way that leaves women at a disadvantage and argues that women deserve equal rights and opportunities to men. This links to This links to health as Interactionism – This is about shared meanings in social...
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...Biomedical and Socio medical model of health Biomedical and Socio medical model of health The main purpose of the biomedical model of health is to cure diseases in which health professionals will use scientifically tested methods to address a diagnosed illness. The biomedical model of health focuses on purely biological factors, and excludes psychological, environmental, and social influences. This model relates to the functionalist approach of health as it specifies that health is the absences of disease and it’s regarded as dysfunctional for the society as individuals cannot make a positive contribution to the running of society. According to the perspective of Marxists, he argued that doctors encourage the production rate of the society by explaining health as the potential to work, he also disseminated that "working is better than idleness"(Waitzkin, 1989).It was emphasized that the health professionals are blamed of medicalization if they consider the societal influence of patient and if they ignore, the accusation still holds (Nettleton, 1995). On the other hand, the socio medical model focuses on the social factors that contribute to health and wellbeing in our society. From analysing the functionalist theory it shows that the socio medical model would explain and discuss the high rates of ill health and the short life expectancy among those who are poor relating to the inequalities in society and life circumstances of those whom may be disadvantaged. Secondly, Relating...
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...psychology will be discussed in length. The origins of abnormal psychology will be discussed, including the challenges to defining and classifying normal and abnormal behavior. There will also be a brief overview of how abnormal psychology has evolved into a scientific discipline. Finally the biopsychosocial, biological/medical, and sociocultural theoretical models, will also be analyzed in relation to the development of abnormal psychology. Historical Perspectives of Abnormal Psychology Abnormal psychology, also known as psychopathology, is the subfield of psychology devoted to the study of mental disorders (Hansell & Damour, 2008). The subfield also aims to understand the nature, causes, and treatment of these mental disorders (Pearson Higher Education, 2010). Abnormal psychology has come a long way in regard to how it is defined, viewed, and even treated. There are many challenges when it comes to defining and classifying normal and abnormal behavior. Over time, abnormal psychology has evolved into a scientific discipline. When it comes to the development of abnormal psychology, there are many theoretical models in which we can study as well. Origins of Abnormal Psychology It is difficult to define abnormality, and the scientific characterization of abnormality depends on five criteria: help seeking, irrationality/dangerousness, deviance, emotional distress, and significant impairment (Hansell & Damour, 2008). Help seeking, irrationality/dangerousness, and deviance...
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...influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill and how they respond when they do get ill? It focuses on health promotion and maintenance, prevention and treatment of illness and the understanding of the biopsychosocial aspects of physical and mental illness, improvement of the health care system and the formulation of health policy (S.E, Taylor, 1995). The main areas of health psychology are stress and coping, health behaviours and issues in health. Health psychologists study such issues and develop interventions to help people stay well or get over illness. For exampleexample, a health psychology researcher might be interested in why adolescents continue to binge drink even though they know that binge drinking increases their risk of cancer and heart disease. Understanding this poor health habit leads to interventions to help adolescents stop binge drinking. The waysways, in which health psychologists try to change the behaviours, the influence of behaviourist such as Skinner and Watson will become apparent. Applying basic behaviourist theories (example classical and operant conditioning) can help adolescents to stop binge drinking and encourage them to eat healthily and live healthy. (Stephen, N. 2015) Heath psychology aims to understand, explainexplain, and ideally predict health and illness behaviour in order that...
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...Scheff, Szasz and Goffman argue that mental illness is a social construction. Discuss how this approach differs from the biomedical approach to mental illness. Mental illness has been well-defined severally by some sociologists, professionals in the medical field, politicians and other good academia. Mental illness can be define as ‘a state of one’s mind that affects the thinking, emotions and judgement to the extent that the individual need a medical attention for his/her personal safety and that of the society’. The definition of mental illness by other academia has been termed as behavioural and emotional disorder. They perceive this disorder as disease that affects the mind. In a particular society, mental illness is a behaviour which is classified as disturbed or abnormal and people found of that behaviour are branded deviant. Acceptable behaviour in one society can be unacceptable behaviour in other society. From the biomedical approach point of view, mental illness deals with the state of mind and is the duty of the trained professionals to diagnose patients and by the use drugs and surgery treat them in medical way in order to improve the patient mental disorder, living condition and poor self-care. This model places more emphasis on the causes of mental illness as biological so it was criticized thereby making the social condition play a significant role. ‘’There is the need to recognize both the outer and inner worlds of a person as well as the society’’ (Duggan...
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...Essential Concepts Allopathic –cure based – the biomedical approach takes this approach via surgery, drugs etc. Alternative medicine – see complementary medicine Altruism – the idea that some medical professionals are motivated by the need to put society first rather than financial reward – functionalists such as Barber often argue this. Artefact approach – an approach that believes that the statistics about class and health exaggerate the real situation. Bio-medical model of health – the conventional Western model of health which sees the body as a machine under attack from germs etc and which insists on diagnosis of symptoms by medical professionals. Birth rate – the number live births per 1000 of the population each year. Clinical iceberg – the idea that most illness never comes to the attention of doctors because it is self-medicated. Complementary medicine – alternative forms of health therapy, usually disapproved of by the medical profession, e.g. homeopathy, acupuncture etc. Cultural explanations of health – blame the victims (or their culture) for engaging in unhealthy behaviour and lifestyles, e.g. smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise etc. Cultural relativity of health and illness – the idea that different cultures explain and react differently to illness, e.g. some take a holistic approach, some blame witchcraft or magic, Hindus refer to chest pains as a ‘sinking heart’ etc. Disability – a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term...
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...interests but they differ in their approaches. The primary focus of medicine is the diagnosis, treatment and cure of illness. The focus of health psychology goes beyond that of medicine to stress the prevention and enhancement of health. It expands the biological framework of medicine to also include psychological and social factors. The scope of health psychology is very broad because many theories and methods of psychology can be applied to health-related issues. Maes & van Elderen (1998) (cited in Gross, 2009) defines health psychology as “…a sub-discipline of psychology which addresses the relationship between psychological processes and behaviour on the one hand and health and illness on the other...”. Health psychology aims to understand, explain, develop and test theories by evaluating the role of psychology and its perspectives as factors affecting illness, predicting unhealthy behaviours and understanding and evaluating the role of psychology in the experience and treatment of illness. It also aims to put theory into practice by promoting healthy behaviour, preventing illness and thereby improving the health care system and health policy. For example, from programmes developed to help people reduce risk factors to their health, such as obesity and smoking, to understanding how people respond to the onset of illness, how they deal with their illness, how they cope with pain and how they respond to treatments. Therefore, health psychology is an important discipline...
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...This brief abstract is a concept note on the subject of sociology of health and illness. It is going to give a brief sketch background of medical sociology, highlight various definitions of what is health, illness and how the production, distribution and patterns of diseases are influenced by the context in which they occur. The biomedical understanding of health and illness was entirely in the context of bacteriology and immunology dominated the subject of heath care systems for centuries. The history of medical sociology began in the 1800 with extensive contributions of Virchow to social medicine (Virchow, 1864). The resurgence of medical sociology and its institutionalization emerged in the 1960s and 1970s following the deficiencies of biomedicine to account various diseases which came about on the eve of industrialization and urbanization. Some diseases have their roots in the economic, social, cultural, political and environmental context. It is in these backdrops among other reasons that the sociology of health and illness gained recognition and institutionalization. Medical sociology did not discredit biomedical explanations and practice but have attributed that production, patterns, distribution and reproduction of health and illness is socially constructed (Waitzkin et al., 2001; Foucault, 1977; White, 2006). Sociology of health and Illness uses sociological perspectives such as the Sick role (Parsons, 1951), historical materialist approaches (Engels, 1844/1973), interactionist...
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...Organisation (WHO) in 1974 defines positive health as a state of complete physical mental, social, spiritual and well-being not merely the absence of disease. The holistic approach is based on addressing the individual’s physical, social, emotional and spiritual health needs. The functionalist approach to health and ill health In the functionalist model, Parsons argued that illness is a form of deviance that disturbs the social function of a society; within the functionalist approach to health it studies the relationship between a sick individual and the society as a whole. Parsons stated that for the society to function efficiently the members of the society must be free from illness and must be of well health. Functionalists argued that stability and cooperation are very crucial for a society to function efficiently; functionalists explain that through the process of socialisation we learn our society’s general norms, values and social roles. An example of this is, saying “thank you or please” these are some of the values that are treasured within societies, and an example of a social role would be a grandmother fulfilling the role as a grandmother. For the grandmother to fulfil her role, the individual has to look after the grandchildren so that the parents of the children can go work, therefore allowing them to fulfil their role within the society as a doctor, nurse or teacher. Parsons, explain that illness prevents a person from fulfilling their role within the society, and this...
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...the world thought if one with illness, physical, sensory or mental impairment were thought of as under the spell of witchcraft, possessed by demons or big sinners, being punished by god for wrong doing by themselves or their parents (Medical model vs social model, 2007). These ideas still remain some power, in different cultures. Before the development of medical science, quasi – religious views of health and illness were dominant, whereby illness was connected with sin, penance and evil spirits. This dominant view had conceived the body and soul as a sacred entity beyond the power of human intervention. The influence of scientific disconnect, linked diseased organs with symptoms observed before death. Pasteur’s germ theory, eventually endorsed a belief in the separation of body and soul. This view came to be known as mind/body dualism, referred to a Cartesian dualism after the philosopher Rene Descartes 1590-1650 which refers to a belief that the mind and body are separate entities, which ignores the psychological and subjective aspects of illness. Descartes suggest that although the mind and body interacted with one another with the say of “I think therefore I am”. He identifies that the brain was part of the physical body, whereas the mind existed in the spiritual realm. Therefore medicine could rightly practise on the body while religion could focus on the soul (Capra, 1982; Porter, 1997). This created their intervention of the biomedical model, as disease was then seen as...
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...THE RELIABILITY OF PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that recognizes and treats mental illness. This science follows a medical model that is considered successful in classifying abnormal behavior. Psychiatrists need medical training in order to diagnose and treat mental disorders following the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, for more than two centuries, there has been an anti-psychiatry movement that questions the reliability and helpfulness of psychiatric treatments. Many psychiatrists such as Maurice Temerlin(1968) and David Rosenhan(1973) supported some of the objections and criticisms of the anti-psychiatry movement. Rosenhan questioned the reliability of psychiatric diagnoses and accused diagnostic labels of impairing medical judgement. David Rosenhan carried out the study “On Being Sane In Insane Places” through which he wanted to prove that psychiatric diagnoses are not reliable (Rosenhan, 1973). For the first part of the study, eight sane participants (pseudo-patients) pretended to have auditory hallucinations in order to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals in different states across the United States. Participants for the experiment included three psychologists, one psychiatrist, a graduate student, a housewife, a pediatrician, and a painter. The only false information given for admission was their name, job, and the claim of recent auditory hallucinations. All other details regarding their relationships...
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...social origins of health and illness, emergence of bio-medical and social model of health and limitations of bio-medical model which has been explained as follows: The emergence of the biomedical model In 1878, Louis Pasteur (1822–96) was the first person who came up with the idea of ‘germ theory of disease’. This theory stressed the role of germs as the causative agents for the development of disease in the human beings. Robert Koch (1843–1910) refined the idea of germ theory and came up with a term ‘Specific Aaetiology’ (meaning specific cause of disease) in which he stated that every disease is caused by a specific kind of bacteria. The central idea was that...
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...Sociology Health and Illness The medical definition of health is: the state of being whole and free from physical and mental disease or pain, so that all the parts of the body carry on their proper function". This is a negative definition where health is defined as to be free from pain and discomfort. (Critchley, 1978, p.784). The World Health Organisation (WHO) definition of health (1947), states that “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This is a positive definition which defines health as being fit and able to undertake reasonable task. The criticisms are that the definition deals with “a state rather than a process” and puts no boundaries on what is considered as ‘health’. (Macionis J. et al 2012 p. 741) The conditions recognised as illnesses differ quite significantly from one society to another. Illness is thought to be any obvious departure from a sickness that is subject to medical treatment. There is difference of opinion in most people mind between who think they are ill or and those who are really ill. In modern society doctors have the role of deciding who is truly ill. If the doctor decides that a person is ill then a series of benefits will follow either formal or informal. Formal help is where the doctor will give medical help such as treatment or time off work or college. Whereas informal help is like giving sympathy or release the ill person from household duties...
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...Unit 7: Sociological perspectives for Health and Social Care Explain the principle sociological perspectives In this section of my assignment I will be discussing some sociological perspectives, which are: * Marxism * Functionalist * Internationalism * Postmodernism But firstly, what is social structure? Social structure is split into different institutions. Social institutions Social institutions Work Work The political system The political system The economy The economy The education system The education system Religious instruction Religious instruction Socialisation is a key sociological perspective. Primary socialisation is from what your parents learn you, we also learn our behaviours from others. Socialisation refers to learning the norms, values beliefs, roles, stats and more. Marxism perspective: Marxists believe that society is based on conflict between the upper class (bourgeoisie) and the working class (proletariat). Marxists also believe that to end this in society you need a revolution. We live in a capitalist society. A capitalist society is a society that is built upon a quest for maximum amount of money; people who have a lot of money will have the most power. Marxists sees this as an evil society and it must come to an end. Karl Marx’s perspective could be argued that his idea is outdated and was writing when workers had no power or right but nowadays workers have a lot of different legal rights and have more...
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