Theories of disease( Unified theories)

From known theorists

1. Claude Bernard
Nineteenth century French physiologist who laid concept on modern
concept of disease causation
The following are his concepts
1) He has a unique view of man, whom he described as a
piece of constancy moving in a world of variables.
2) He described the internal milieu ( The internal
environment in the body)
3) Illness according to him is
o due to the imbalances within the internal environment
within the body
o due to a break in the vital communication that must exist
between the internal milieu and the external
environment
4) According to him disease is not only a disturbance but it
is an attempt of the body to restore balance
2. Walter Cannon- ( the first physician to expand Bernards Hypothesis)
He coined homeostasis ( The bodys self regulating processes)
He explored the fight or flight reaction of the body to emergency
situations and the nervous and adrenal apparatus involved in this
situation
3. Harold Wolf- A New York psychiatrist
He focused on the response of people, physically and psychologically
to chronic stressors
Hypothesized that individuals attempt to adapt or to correct situations
that are experienced by them as deviant or abnormal. In their attempt
to adapt, organ functions are often used inappropriately and to the
detriment of the individual
4. Stewart Wolf
Concentrates on the action on the brain and the nervous system in
upsetting the bodys balance and in mitigating balances

The Experience of Illness

Pathophysiological Process of illness

The Sick Role

o Stage I The Experience of Symptom
o Stage II The Dependent Role
o Stage III Recovery and Rehabilitation
Cell injury and Inflamation

Inflammation is the reaction of tissues to injury, manifested by pain, heat,

swelling, and redness.
Tissue response, any reaction or change in living cell tissue when it is acted on by disease,
toxin, or other outer stimulus.
o Some kinds of tissue responses are
immune response
inflammation,

necrosis.

i. Pathophysiological Process of Illness

1. Cell injury and inflammation
2. Cell adaptation to injury
3. Body defenses against injury
4. Monocular phagocyte system
5. Inflammatory response
Altered immune response