The crap they made us read ..

*yawn*. Finally finished my AIR (Assigned Independent Reading) topic. Took me almost 4 hours to read the article and filter related crap from pure bullcrap and stuff-so-crap-i-wasted-half-an-hour-of-my-life- reading-it (FYI, less than a third of the whole article is relevant). Just for my own reference (and anyone else who's still procrastinating), i'm posting it here.

"Illness" and "disease" do not mean the same thing. Illness is as perceived by the patient himself, based on his experience, and may mean pain, loss of or change in specific physiologic functions, or decrease in performance level. An illness can also be non-physical, and may mean an impact on his social life, varying degrees of vulnerability, feelings of isolation, regression or fear.

However, different individuals have different threshold for acknowledging the presence of illness. This variation is largely influenced by family background, economics, culture, education and previous illness experience. An individual is more likely to take on the 'sick role' if he stands to gain from it.

Besides that, symptom recognition is not standardized in every individual, and depends on personal factors, context and culture. A typical symptom may be considered being "ill" to an individual but not another.

On the other hand, disease is as seen from the doctor’s perspective. Usually, a person is said to suffer from a disease after objective measurements such as physical exams, laboratory data, x-rays, endoscopy, histology and methods of molecular biology have been made. By comparing the data obtained and the disease model carried from medical training, a doctor will then infer the presence of a disease.

Considering the difference between "illness" and "disease", a person can be ill without the presence of disease. He may perceive himself to be ill based on his experience, although medical examinations’ results did not establish the presence of disease. The said "illness" is based on the patient’s own perceptions and experience.

A person can also have a disease but not self-define as ill. He might show the typical symptoms of a disease but does not consider himself to be suffering from an illness. This might be due to different threshold or symptom recognition among individuals.

Unrelated news: Signed up for SPCA Club and Photography Club today. That makes it 11 clubs i'm in? O.o