The normally Mediterranean-style climate of La Habana took a turn with the arrival of a cold front, a frente frio, from the North, The temperature dropped to 21C, the change was sudden and the rains and drizzles soon joined the fray.
I was at home, listening to some Persian Music and playing around with the computer, enjoying the wifi at home, when a friend of mine from Linz, sent a message: a language related question, what is the difference between Disease, Illness and sickness and when do I use them?
I was quite excited to answer the question. Brought me to two memories, when my friend and mentor, Medical Anthropologist, Dr Cecil Hellman was explaining the difference at the course in Brunel University and the second, trying to translate these concepts into Spanish when I taught a month long course in Medical Anthropology at the University of Havana. As there were not the exact translations, we had to settle for. Enfermedades, Sufrimiento y Padacimiento. More important than the words, the concepts were important.
Most English speakers or Doctors will not be able to distinctly define these three states. Arthur Kleinman, a professor of Psychiatry and Anthropology was the leader in defining in context what ILLNESS DISEASE meant.
“Illness refers to how the sick person and the members of the family or wider social network perceive, live with, and respond to symptoms and disability. Illness is the lived experience of monitoring bodily processes such as respiratory wheezes, abdominal cramps, stuffed sinuses, or painful joints. Illness involves the appraisal of those processes as expectable, serious, or requiring treatment.”
Illness is thus the lived experience of the person, who may be a sufferer at this point and not yet a patient.
He has not yet presented to the doctor and the society he is part of, recognizes his sickness.
He then presents to the doctor who diagnoses the symptoms of his suffering, and objectifies them into a diagnosis, a DISEASE. In the western model, this objectification pries the person who is now a patient away from the society he is part of. He becomes a patient with a DIsease, thus set apart. He is to be CURED which emphasizes the body as a machine metaphor, excluding the social relationships and Healing is not considered at all.
In the indigenous communities that I work, the dichotomy of BODY-SOCIETY does not exist. The Lakota word for healing is WAPIYAH the concept is very similar to the word YOGA.. bringing or joining together, bring the patient back to being the person in the society he was in before.
In the island of Cuba, the curing part is done by the doctors, the healing part which includes emotional and spiritual aspects are done by psychologists, as well as the People working in the syncretic spirit religion of Cuba.
Only when the person receives the medical, psychological and spiritual counselling, then he or she can be considered healed. Medications, procedures and Nutritional advice belong to the CURING mould, whereas Nutritional advice given in conjunction with emotional and spiritual counselling becomes a part of the Healing process
In spanish, both Disease and Illness are translated as Enfermedad, but we decided to explain the concepts using anthropology rather than biomedicine:
enfermedad DISEASE
sufrimiento Suffering or Sickness
Padacimiento. Illness
Nice to get that message from Linz in Austrla..
I was at home, listening to some Persian Music and playing around with the computer, enjoying the wifi at home, when a friend of mine from Linz, sent a message: a language related question, what is the difference between Disease, Illness and sickness and when do I use them?
I was quite excited to answer the question. Brought me to two memories, when my friend and mentor, Medical Anthropologist, Dr Cecil Hellman was explaining the difference at the course in Brunel University and the second, trying to translate these concepts into Spanish when I taught a month long course in Medical Anthropology at the University of Havana. As there were not the exact translations, we had to settle for. Enfermedades, Sufrimiento y Padacimiento. More important than the words, the concepts were important.
Most English speakers or Doctors will not be able to distinctly define these three states. Arthur Kleinman, a professor of Psychiatry and Anthropology was the leader in defining in context what ILLNESS DISEASE meant.
“Illness refers to how the sick person and the members of the family or wider social network perceive, live with, and respond to symptoms and disability. Illness is the lived experience of monitoring bodily processes such as respiratory wheezes, abdominal cramps, stuffed sinuses, or painful joints. Illness involves the appraisal of those processes as expectable, serious, or requiring treatment.”
Illness is thus the lived experience of the person, who may be a sufferer at this point and not yet a patient.
He has not yet presented to the doctor and the society he is part of, recognizes his sickness.
He then presents to the doctor who diagnoses the symptoms of his suffering, and objectifies them into a diagnosis, a DISEASE. In the western model, this objectification pries the person who is now a patient away from the society he is part of. He becomes a patient with a DIsease, thus set apart. He is to be CURED which emphasizes the body as a machine metaphor, excluding the social relationships and Healing is not considered at all.
In the indigenous communities that I work, the dichotomy of BODY-SOCIETY does not exist. The Lakota word for healing is WAPIYAH the concept is very similar to the word YOGA.. bringing or joining together, bring the patient back to being the person in the society he was in before.
In the island of Cuba, the curing part is done by the doctors, the healing part which includes emotional and spiritual aspects are done by psychologists, as well as the People working in the syncretic spirit religion of Cuba.
In spanish, both Disease and Illness are translated as Enfermedad, but we decided to explain the concepts using anthropology rather than biomedicine:
enfermedad DISEASE
sufrimiento Suffering or Sickness
Padacimiento. Illness
Nice to get that message from Linz in Austrla..
