Disease, Sickness & Illness

We may distinguish 3 levels that describe what a patient

experiences :
Disease
(underlying pathology;
biologically defined.
Illness recast in terms of
a theory of disorder: the
practitioner’s perspective)

Illness
(the person’s Sickness
subjective (social & cultural conceptions of
experience the condition. These include
of symptoms. reactions such as fear or
What the patient brings rejection, which influence how
to the doctor) the patient reacts)