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Sociological Concepts of Cure, Healing, Diseases, Illness

University of the People

HS 2712: Preventive Medicine and Social Determinants of Health

Dr. Juliana Bayowa

April 12, 2023

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Introduction

Throughout the history of humankind, the approaches to the concept of health have

shifted in a disparate pattern of understanding, from health as a mere absence of disease to the

subjective perception of being physically and mentally healthy. Over time, the economic burdens

and sociological impacts have been issued to public health, determining a model that includes

several factors. The biopsychosocial model of health, a widely accepted notion of health,

represents that biological causes, psychological factors, and social interactions contribute to

health and illness. In this regard, in a continuous spectrum, physical discourse is inextricably

linked to the sociological paradigm shifts. Consequently, cure (bodily intercourse) is

continuously associated with healing (social perception), disease, and illness. The complicated

concepts of cure, healing, disease, and condition concerning sociological thinking are critical to

highlight different approaches. Hence, in this assignment paper, the sociological concepts of

diseases, illness cures, and healing will be discussed in light of the objective and subjective

perception of health.

Sociological Foundation and Approaches

Sociology, the study of society, is a vast area of knowledge with disparate ideologies and

angles to examine an issue. Sociological thinking is divided into two hemispheres: macro-level

objective and micro-level subjective thinking (Crinson & Martino, 2017a). Among them,

objective thinking emphasizes social structures and processes, while personal review focuses on

social actors and interactions. In other words, the objective point of view sees the realm of health

science built from the non-human world, while the subjective understanding realizes the health

science sector as the intercourse between humans. In this regard, structural functionalism and

Marxism include the former, while symbolic interactionism and social constructivism comprise
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the latter. Nevertheless, these concepts complement each other in determining social perspectives

on health.

Cure and Healing

Cure and healing are often interchangeable words describing how we are treated. Even in

layperson terms, the meaning of each word differs. For instance, when we say we have been

cured, it primarily refers to our body’s biological and medical treatment, especially our diseases

and symptoms. Thus, it is a physically centered treatment. However, when we say we have been

healed, it refers exclusively to the mental healing of ourselves, free from our previously stated

burdens in our life. Thus, it is a more psychologically and socially centered treatment. In this

regard, they are different, even in nonmedical terms. The cure is aligned with the objective

understanding of health, while healing is linked to the subjective perception of health.

Cure and healing can be looked up from the biopsychosocial model of health,

encompassing the patterns of treatment from biomedical intercourse, psychological impacts, and

socioeconomic factors. The cure is eliminating a disease that a physician diagnosed us with. The

drug involved medication, surgery, and medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation

therapy. There are all doctored-centric treatments, in which how to treat a disease is ultimately

decided by the physician without any cooperation from the patient.

On the other hand, healing is the physical and mental restoration of the health status of

individual feelings and perceptions. Thus, healing is targeted more at the psychological and

social integration of a person’s health. Therefore, healing included meditation, positive energetic

thinking, rest, water therapy, psychological discussions, and further delicate treatment processes.

The patient decides and directs all of the strategies based on the severity of their illness. Thus, it
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can be identified as the patient-centric approach, in which patients’ cooperation becomes vital to

the treatment.

Disease and Illness

Disease and illness are often interchangeable words describing when we feel sick. Even

in layperson terms, the depth of the meaning of each word varies. For example, when we say we

have a disease, it mainly refers to infectious diseases like cholera, viral infection, and other

bacterial infection, or non-communicable diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, and

cardiovascular diseases. In other words, it is intense. However, when we say we have some

illness, it primarily refers to the temporary feeling of being unwell, like fever, headache, or pain.

Thus, it is less intense compared to the disease. In this regard, they are different in

understanding, even for nonmedical persons.

Disease and illness, according to medical understanding, are also different. Diseases are

the objective anomalies of body systems, which are physically perceived diagnostic signs

(Crinson & Martino, 2017b). On the other hand, illness is the subjective perception of the human

body via personal feelings and thoughts (Crinson & Martino, 2017b). Moreover, illness is highly

linked to social class (Crinson & Martino, 2017c). Thus, disease and illness existed in the

sickness paradigm, one at the biomedical and the other at the sociological end. In this regard, to

understand the concepts of disease and illness, we should look at the objective and subjective

perceptions of health. The objective understanding encompasses the social structures and

processes, and the subjective perception covers the social actions and interactions (Crinson &

Martino, 2017a).
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The concept of disease is the realization of physical or mental defects in our body,

followed by a medical diagnosis by a physician. In other words, we have been enlisted to the

entitled disease, which we have not perceived psychologically or socially. It is just a biological

identification of us based on specific disease criteria. In this whole process of diseases, just our

body is included, not our souls, our socioeconomic situation, and our understanding of that

special status of health. This process can only be explained by the biomedical model of health,

which treats only our disease. Suppose you have tuberculosis according to the sputum test. In

that case, it means that your lungs need to be medically cured by a medical professional to

become healthy (which means the absence of that disease). Linking to the concept of cure and

healing, it is the cure to the disease. Thus, it goes more to the doctor centric approaches and

coercive treatment to the patient (Crinson & Martino, 2017a).

Illness, on the other hand, is the recognition of feeling unwell by ourselves through an

intrinsic and subjective understanding of that particular feeling of health. In other words, we

have chosen to entitle ourselves to a category of socially perceived sickness. It is more than the

biological identification of diseases and is a psychological and social realization. Moreover, our

bodies and souls are involved in the process, from the recognition to how to handle this illness.

Linking to the concept of cure and healing, it is a healing process. For instance, if you feel

dizziness and confusedness in decision making and thinking processes, you could probably refer

to these symptoms as headache by yourself based on your experience and knowledge throughout

your life. Then, you can manage how to treat your problems, including going to a physician or

taking some rest or having a nap. All of them are up to you, and you manage your illness and

how to cure them. Thus, illness is more inclusively explained by the biopsychosocial model of

health, which encompasses all three realms of health. Besides, the process is analyzed by the
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patient centric approaches, in which concordance (therapeutic sharing) and coproduction

(cooperated decision making) are applied in the treatment (Crinson & Martino, 2017a).

Conclusion

The biopsychosocial model of health covers the biological causes of diseases,

psychological perception of illness, and socioeconomic factors the health status. From these vast

approaches, treatment for a particular kind of sickness varies, cure or biomedical treatment and

healing or psychosocial treatment. In this regard, disease and cure are on the biological side, and

illness and healing are on the sociological side, despite being involved in the sick role and

treatment management patterns. The social perspective can also be divided into the objective

understanding of social structures and processes and the subjective perception of social actors

and interaction. From the sociological point of view, disease and cure are objective ways of

sickness and treatment, while illness and healing are subjective counterparts. Therefore, these

concepts of health, cure, healing, disease, and illness can be portrayed in health science.

Word Count – 1325

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References

Crinson, I., & Martino, L. (2017a). Section 1: The theoretical perspectives and methods of

enquiry of the sciences concerned with human behavior. In Concepts of Health,

Wellbeing, and Illness, and the Aetiology of Illness. Accessed at:

http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-

economics/4a-concepts-health-illness/section1

Crinson, I., & Martino, L. (2017b). Section 2: Illness as a social role. In Concepts of Health,

Wellbeing, and Illness, and the Aetiology of Illness. Accessed at:

http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-

economics/4a-concepts-health-illness/section2

Crinson, I., & Martino, L. (2017c). Section 6: Impairment, disability, and handicap. In Concepts

of Health, Wellbeing, and Illness, and the Aetiology of Illness. Accessed at:

http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-

economics/4a-concepts-health-illness/section4