The 21st century health system has been marked by rapid developments in medical technology, availability of treatments, and advancements in the field of medicine. These changes have tremendously contributed to better prevention, management, and control of chronic illnesses like heart disease, asthma, diabetes and arthritis. However, the reality of chronic illness is intertwined with continued dwindle in quality of life, of dependency, of medication and limits. In this condition of diminishing health, the patient starkly experiences the dichotomy between the mind and the body. As P1 shares, “My mind is ok, but my body is simply weak. It has its own ways.”
In this regard, the paper will be bridging the mind-body divide and explain the relation of the body, by ascertaining that the body of the patient that is suffering from chronic illness is communicating both to the person and the world that
1. The body of chronically ill person is a nexus of living meanings made manifest by the patients articulations of pain and health, of sufferings and joy.
2. The body as a subject is evincing humanity beyond cultural construction and linguistic formulation.
3. The relation between the chronically ill patient and the body is of intertwined subjectivity, of one human dignity and human strength. This is made manifest through the patient’s continued struggle for life despite awareness of dwindling quality of health and diminishing quality of life.
Chronic Illness: The Condition
Chronic diseases, unlike acute illnesses that are episodic and treatable with the hope of returning to normalcy, are a continuing multivariate process necessitating persistent management . In addition, the management is not limited only to care but to enable the p...
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...ience. Yet, what can be deduced is that it is there prior to our awareness of that which is there. It is both internal and external. The body on its own provide as the access with which the world is known. This connection of the body with the world is anchored on the reality that the body is there with and in the world. The experiences of the body is not something that you extract or signify, it is there simply because the body is there.
Works Cited
Holman, 2009
Murray et al., 2005
Ibid, p 1008.
Gastmans et al, 1998; Cronquest et al. 2004; Tuckett, 1999 & 2005; Patistea, 1999; van Hooft 1999; Covington 20
Ricoeur 1992, p 191)
(Boykin & Schoenhofer, 1990, p 150)
(Gastmans et al, 1998, p 46)
” (Gastmans et al 1998).
Naef, 2006, 49)
(van Hooft 1999, p 190)
(Gastmans et al 1998, Gastmans 1999).
(Schantz 2007, Gallagher 2007
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One aspect of life that most individuals take for granted is physical health. Most people assume that an individual cannot lose physical health or if somebody becomes sick the health care system will be able to recover one’s health with the new medical advances that are always happening around the world. However, this is not always the case some individuals have to face a chronic loss of health and deal with the implications of this on their life. The loss of health I will be talking about today is not a direct loss of personal health, but a loss of health that my father experiences and how different components of this loss affected my family and I’s life.
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We can see that the hospice concept is a bio-psychosocial approach to the dying process, concerned with biological, psychological, and social health. Because of its proponents, Hospice is considered a more humane and sensible approach to terminal illness, combining care, comfort, and support of family and friends as the individual faces death. Their concern for dignity and fo...
Thus it enables a state of being that is in the moment (it is present). The aesthetical (in terms of material aspects) of the body are also something that is a definite variable. When the body undergoes ‘embodiment’ it is the process of the locus, culture, traditions, biological traits of the body (sex, race) that plays a role in the construction of this experience (which happens on a daily basis) and at the same time simultaneously confines it (2009:3). ‘Embodiment’ is forever shifting and growing; as one’s experiences are continuously happening and thus making it a highly subjective experience as well (2009: 4). This process then allows the body to become something that is more than just a biological construct; it allows the body to become something that is able to express itself unto other beings in both words (the patterns developed when one is speaking and the language styles that one has been influenced to use) and non-verbal communication (the shape and form the body takes when moving in space or even sitting or standing still in a space drawn from experienced emotions and the person’s historical, social and political background). Therefore it is suggested that ‘embodiment’ is something that is a network of interlinked signs showing past experiences and continuously reshaping and forming to show new signs based on new experience (Thapan 2009:
Introduction: For this essay I am going to critically discuss the biomedical model as well as the social model of health and how they both relate to the lay perspectives on health and illness.
‘Being Mortal’ was a fascinating read about a young man who grows in the understanding of death and dying and what matters most in the end. We all have constraints and no matter how well we take care of ourselves and live our life, death comes to us all; and how we meet that end can be very different depending on how we want to spend the last moments of our journey. Medical science has its power and pushes the boundaries of life and death, but it can’t always save you, it won’t always work out the way that you hope it does. Doctors like Atul Gawande struggle to fix everyone’s problem and cure the patients who come into the hospital; but as the book progresses Atul finds that there are ways to handle patients’ lives and it doesn’t always involve
Patient with chronic illness has to suffer from physical responses like chronic pain, aches, loss of appetite, sleeping disorder, weakness, disability and other physical problems which may result in psychological problems. Additionally, there are various factors that can cause burden to the patient and family which includes ethnic background, economic status, culture, sex, support of family and society, age and many more. Also, these all factors plays vital role in coping with the disease for and individual and family. Patient with chronic illness are facing many challenges to survive their life but if the person is concerned about their daily activities and habits which may also reduce the burden and make their life easier to survive. Person with chronic disease also can live quality of life if they are supported and accepted by the family and society as the normal
RECALL: The writer makes several important points in “Body and Mind” from “Problems from Philosophy”. The writer discusses the idea of the body being a material entity and the mind as an immaterial entity. The mind and body problems arise due to the different types of facts and their relation with each other. The concept of mind body dualism is an attempt to solve this conflict between these two entities and the main points discussed in the chapter are: 1) According to the ‘Conceivability Argument for Dualism’, presented by Descartes, the mind and the body cannot exist without each other and if they were to do so, they would not be the same thing; 2) Physical facts are proven through observations but mental states are private and cannot be
Falvo, D. R. (2009). Medical and Psychosocial Aspects of Chronic Illness and Disability (4th ed). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
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