A Multifaceted Approach

Exploring concepts of health as represented from two different perspectives in art and media.

Health is referred to as a state of complete mental, physical as well as social well-being and not merely the lack of existence of infirmity or disease (www.who.int, 2018). From the perspective of the medical field, illness or unhealthy state of a patient is seen as a problem by the doctors and nurses. However, according to the perspective of artists, the person who is unhealthy is seen as an opportunity for new work because the artist can implement as well as test new therapeutic ways to resolve illness of the patient (Swiatek et al. 2016). In the media, health is regarded as a serious issue and they by using various forms of information technology have developed the concept that all the individuals require to have effective knowledge regarding the impact of illness that have on their everyday health (Mano, 2014). According to my experience, I have developed the concept regarding health that it is a balance between an individual and their environment and the rise of the disease is maladjustment between the human and its environment.

There are different cultural perspective regarding health and illness among different communities. For instance, in the western culture, which is my cultural background, mental illness is considered as a form of disease that requires medical treatment and assistance from the doctors and nurses (Angermeyer and Schomerus, 2017). However, in many countries who abide by the Asian cultural perspectives thinks that mental illness is cause of the past sins of the individuals and is regarded as a shameful aspect for the family to have mentally ill patients (Nadimpalli et al. 2016). Thus, the Asian culture has various stigma and discrimination towards mental illness. As commented by Lorenzoni et al. (2014), currently high amount of money is required for treatment of complex diseases. The individuals who belong to the higher social class has efficient amount of money to get any form of treatment to resolve the complex disease and live a healthy life. However, the individuals of the lower social class have lack of financial help to effectively access treatment of any complex disease. Thus, they often face health disorder and lower quality of health conditions in comparison to the higher social class.

The biomedical model of health focuses mainly on biological factors and avoids relating any social influences and physiological environment for the cause of illness among individuals (Deacon and McKay, 2015). The model has influenced to create high-end technology and research to treat and diagnose illness in an efficient and cost-effective way. Moreover, it has influenced to increase the life expectancy of the individuals irrespective of their social class as well as lead to them to live better quality of life with less hindrance to be faced due to illness (Pincus et al. 2016). The biopsychological model of health states that interact between social, psychological and biological factors determines the manifestation, cause as well as outcome of disease and wellness (Wade and Halligan, 2017). The biopsychological model has influenced the concept that being healthy and to overcome illness is not only in the hands of the doctors and health professionals but it is also in the hands of the patients. This is evident as many patients are found to avoid taking full course of medication for diseases by excluding the doctor’s advice resulted in experiencing negative effects on health.

Thus, the above discussion informs that the higher social class have healthy life than the lower social class of individuals. Moreover, the biomedical perspective has influenced to get better treatment and diagnosis of diseases and the biopsychological perspective has influenced the thought that it is equal responsibility of the patient and the doctors to achieve effective cure or treatment for a disease.

Take a deeper dive into A Legal Perspective and Case Analysis in Light of Blyth with our additional resources.

References

• Angermeyer, M.C. and Schomerus, G., 2017. State of the art of population-based attitude research on mental health: a systematic review. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 26(3), pp.252-264.
• Deacon, B.J. and McKay, D., 2015. The biomedical model of psychological problems: A call for critical dialogue. Lancet, 16, pp.2-3.
• Lorenzoni, L., Belloni, A. and Sassi, F., 2014. Health-care expenditure and health policy in the USA versus other high-spending OECD countries. The Lancet, 384(9937), pp.83-92.
• Mano, R.S., 2014. Social media and online health services: A health empowerment perspective to online health information. Computers in Human Behavior, 39, pp.404-412.
• Nadimpalli, S.B., Kanaya, A.M., McDade, T.W. and Kandula, N.R., 2016. Self-reported discrimination and mental health among Asian Indians: Cultural beliefs and coping style as moderators. Asian American journal of psychology, 7(3), p.185.
• Pincus, T., Chua, J.R. and Gibson, K.A., 2016. Evidence from a Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire (MDHAQ) of the value of a biopsychosocial model to complement a traditional biomedical model in care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Journal of Rheumatic Diseases, 23(4), pp.212-233.
• Swiatek, P., Rizzi, A. and Hortsch, M., 2016. Artists’ statement: A patient’s perspective. Academic Medicine, 91(4), p.490.
• Wade, D.T. and Halligan, P.W., 2017. The biopsychosocial model of illness: a model whose time has come. 2(1), pp.995-1004.
• www.who.int 2018, Constitution of WHO: principles, Available at: