what qualifies something as a disease

Full Answer

What is a disease?

A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not due to any immediate external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that are associated with specific symptoms and signs. A disease may be caused by external factors such as pathogens ...

How do you define health?

It is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. The definition of health appears to be broad and inclusive, but defining disease appears to be more challenging than defining its opposite.

What is considered chronic illness?

Another academic study on chronic disease, authored by a geriatrician, classifies chronic illness as “conditions that last a year or more and require ongoing medical attention and/or limit activities of daily living” (7).

What are the aspects of illness?

Such aspects of illness can include lethargy, depression, loss of appetite, sleepiness, hyperalgesia, and inability to concentrate. A disorder is a functional abnormality or disturbance. Medical disorders can be categorized into mental disorders, physical disorders, genetic disorders, emotional and behavioral disorders, and functional disorders.

What is the definition of a disease?

A simple definition of disease is an “illness or sickness characterised by specific signs or symptoms”. But it is interesting that some dictionaries suggest that diseases are caused by “bacteria or infections”, seemingly dismissing psychological and noncommunicable conditions as diseases, which is odd given that noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, make up most ill health in the world today.

What is the ICD-10 classification of diseases?

This catalogue, the International Classification of Disease, is now in its tenth revision ( ICD-10 ). Despite its name, the classification doesn’t stop at diseases but includes related health problems, which may be linked to a particular disease, or may be a symptom as part of a syndrome or even a consequence of a medical procedure. For example, even dehydration appears in ICD-10, where it is also called “volume depletion”. So perhaps there is not even agreement on what is meant by disease. And what is classified as disease is essentially down to expert consensus.

Is osteoporosis a natural part of ageing?

For example, osteoporosis was considered a normal part of ageing until 1994 when the WHO officially recognised it as a disease. Given osteoporosis’s link with an increased risk of fractures and the devastating impact broken bones can have on the elderly, this seems like a change in definition that is justified.

Is homosexuality a mental illness?

The development of psychology as a science potentially led some perceived “sins” to be translated into mental health disorders. Perhaps the best example of this is homosexuality. Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1968. This was later challenged by a vote among APA members in 1973, where a majority of 58% chose to remove it from the diagnostic manual. Homosexuality was not fully removed from the diagnostic manual for another decade and is now considered to be a normal characteristic within the diversity of human nature.

Is obesity a disease?

There is an ongoing lively debate among healthcare professionals about whether or not obesity is a disease. Differences between those who argue that it’s a disease and those who argue that it’s just a risk factor for conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease are unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

Is it easy to decide what is or isn't a disease?

All of the above goes to show that deciding what is or isn’t a disease is not easy, but hopefully you’ll be better equipped to ask some critical questions such as, who benefits from this new definition? And do they have my best interests at heart? The answer to the latter question is usually yes – but not always.

Is there agreement on what is meant by "disease"?

So perhaps there is not even agreement on what is meant by disease. And what is classified as disease is essentially down to expert consensus. While the WHO doesn’t seem to have a clear definition of disease, it does at least have a definition of health.

What does it mean when a community of people treats a phenomenon as a disease?

If we put on our anthropologist’s hat, we could say anyone community of people treats a phenomenon as a disease when a condition meets three criteria; it’s an abnormal form, function or behaviour; it compromises our ability to fulfill an expectation or meet a responsibility; and it’s not our fault.

Who put together a book that encodes long lists of diseases of the body and the mind?

There are two answers to this question. The simpler, and maybe more trite answer is the World Health Organisation and the American Psychiatric Association, who each put together a book that encodes long lists of diseases of the body and the mind. Catalogues like those are the closest we have to a global consensus on how to distinguish and treat illness, and are based largely on literature reviews, petitions, and discussions with the medical community.

What is the best thing you can do for your health?

The single best thing any of us could do for our health is to develop a long-term, trusting relationship with an expert well versed in evidence-based medicine, such as an empathetic general practitioner . In an ideal world they would act as an advocate for your health and wellbeing, and would know how to talk with you because they understand the personal details of your life.

Is disease a dichotomy?

In the meantime we need to understand that disease isn’t a strict dichotomy of blame versus absolution. Our bodies can cause us to suffer in a bunch of ways, and often we just don’t know why.

What are the dualities of medicine?

Dualities like disease and health; illness and wellness; normal and deviant; and natural and unnatural suggest that medicine's use of the power to name is often imperfect and, therefore, always ethically relevant.

What is the power of a physician?

While the physician’s power to name seems prima facie beyond the scope of everyday practice, it is , in fact, central to much of what a physician does every day—from diagnosing conditions to battling insurance companies for coverage to balancing the risks and benefits of treatment.

Is infertility a disease?

The World Health Organization defines infertility as a disease, and infertility has multiple billing codes in use, but prohibitively expensive treatment and the lack of universal insurance coverage mandates combine to cause health care inequity, particularly along racial and socioeconomic lines. Listen and learn.

What is disease and illness?

Disease is something that needs to be cured. Illness is something that needs to be managed.

What is the difference between a disease and a disease?

Disease s are to be cured (think traditional medicine) and illnesses are to be managed (think alternative treatments and lifestyle changes).

Why is cardiac disease called the silent killer?

For example, cardiac disease has been called the silent killer because you can have it without knowing it . If you do not know you have it, there will be no effects of illness, but you might die of the disease. Also, one can have an illness without having a diagnosed disease.

What is a medical doctor trained in?

Traditionally trained medical doctors are trained to treat diseases. They are trained basically in surgery and medicine which is aimed at curing some abnormal condition in a bodily organ or tissue. In the best of worlds, if/when the disease is cured, the illness remits. This, however, is not always what happens.

Who said disease is something an organ has, illness is something a man has?

The distinction hearkens back to a differentiation made by Eric Cassell in the late 1970’s: “Disease, then, is something an organ has, illness is something a man has.”.

Can you go back to the doctor if you have a cured illness?

If the disease is cured, but aspects of the illness remain, going back to the traditional physician to address your illness is apt to frustrate the physician and unlikely to not benefit you. Also, if an illness has caused your disease, getting the disease cured, but not addressing the illness, is apt to result in your developing the disease again.

Is illness a mutually exclusive thing?

Illness is something that needs to be managed such as feelings of pain, discomfort, distress, weakness, fatigue, etc. Obviously, these two things are not mutually exclusive, and they often occur together.

What is chronic disease?

Highlighted prominently in the information from the Australian government on chronic disease is the disease burden of mental illness and oral disease.

What are the characteristics of chronic disease?

The variation in meaning is amplified when viewed in an international context. For example, the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare includes the following as common features of chronic disease (11): 1 complex causality, with multiple factors leading to their onset 2 a long development period, for which there may be no symptoms 3 a prolonged course of illness, perhaps leading to other health complications 4 associated functional impairment or disability.

What are the different types of chronic diseases?

For example, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) classify the following as chronic diseases: heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and arthritis (5). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have a more extensive list of 19 chronic conditions that includes Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and HIV, to name a few. This difference, within the Department of Health and Human Services alone, although not surprising to those in the field, has the potential to create confusion and misunderstanding when speaking in generalities about the impact of chronic disease, the cost of chronic disease, and overall measures to reduce chronic disease.

What are the four main types of diseases?

are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally slow progression. The four main types … are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes (10) .

How long does chronic disease last?

The term chronicis often applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months.

Is cancer a chronic disease?

For example, the CDC lists “cancer” as a chronic disease when, in fact, only certain types of cancers (i.e., multiple myeloma) can be viewed in terms of a chronic illness . Other types of cancers have little treatment options and prove fatal in the near term. Diseases Can Transition from Fatal to Chronic.

Can a disease transition from fatal to chronic?

Diseases Can Transition from Fatal to Chronic

Examples of Occupational Disease

Some of the more common diseases or conditions that may be caused by someone’s job include:

Call Us to Learn More About What Qualifies as an Occupational Disease

Many factors are considered when determining whether an injury or condition is qualifies for workers’ compensation benefits. If you have been hurt at work, have an attorney review your case immediately.

Why is it important to know what a disease or disability is?

Why is it important to know what a disease or disability is? One reason is practical: because today's medicine has an unprecedented ability to actually do things, it matters a great deal what we decide to tackle. The ability to make powerful, effective interventions into people's health brings with it new ethical responsibilities. If we want to ensure that limited healthcare resources are appropriately distributed, for example, we must have a reasonably clear idea, first what a disease is, and second, which diseases are most worth the investment of time and money.

Why are new clinical diagnoses welcomed?

As the business literature shows, new clinical diagnoses are often welcomed primarily as opportunities for market growth

What causes disability after birth?

Most disability is caused by events that occur after birth: ageing, illness and trauma, including war, in which genetic factors may have little or no role.

What is the social model of disability?

Increasing dissatisfaction with the limitations of a purely medical perspective for comprehending the whole experience of disability has generated several alternatives based on the social model (Oliver, 1996; Shakespeare & Watson, 2002). The social model's fundamental criticism of the medical model is that it wrongly locates 'the problem' of disability in biological constraints, considering it only from the point of view of the individual and neglecting the social and systemic frameworks that contribute to it. The social model distinguishes between impairment (the biological substrate, such as impaired hearing) and the disabled experience. In this view the presence of impaired hearing is one thing, while the absence of subtitling on TV is quite another, and it is the refusal of society to make the necessary accommodations that is the real site of disability. A social model does not ignore biology, but contends that societal, economic and environmental factors are at least as important in producing disability.

Why is PGD used in Australia?

Because the use of PGD in Australia is restricted to preventing the transmission of disease, the local regulatory Infertility Treatment Authority was involved because “we have to ask if deafness is a disease ... Some people would say deafness is a disease. Others would say it was an unfortunate condition” (Riley, 2002).

Is disability a personal experience?

On top of this, the personal experience of disability is not always predictable, and it can be very different from the experience of disease. Most sociological models of acute and chronic disease see it as a disruption to an ongoing personal identity (Bury, 1982). In part this was confirmed by a study that I carried out together with Christoph Rehmannsutter and Christine Rippberger in Switzerland between 1998 and 2001, in which we compared the attitudes of potential providers and potential consumers of future somatic gene therapy (Scully et al, 2004). People with multiple sclerosis clearly identified their illness as a disruption, “something that has happened to me.” Many forms of disability are also experienced as disruptions, especially those that occur in the course of a person's life as a result of ageing, trauma or illness.

Is disability worse than disease?

If defining disease is difficult, disability is worse. There are problems even with deciding where to look. Does disability lie in the person? Or somewhere else? Where does the cut-off point between physical variation and disability lie? Is there in fact a cut-off point? Until recently the only coherent model for thinking about disability was a medical one, in which disability is seen as a nominative pathology: a disease, degeneration, defect or deficit located in an individual. Exactly what constitutes disease, degeneration, defect or deficit here is decided by reference to a biomedical norm. It is therefore helpful to have a biomedical norm available, which might explain why the idea of 'disability' as a category arose in parallel with medical standardization.

What is mental disorder?

This is readily apparent in the DSM-5’s proposed definition, which says that a mental disorder is “a behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occur s in an individual.”.

What is a psychological disorder?

A behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual. The consequences of which are clinically significant distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning)

Why is the DSM 5 not a complete definition of mental disorders?

Why the DSM 5 Isn’t A Complete Definition of Mental Disorder. This is why the DSM’s reach exceeds its grasp. It wants to define mental disorders as having underlying psychobiological dysfunctions, but very few of the disorders it contains can be diagnosed biologically.

Why is the DSM atheoretical?

In order to avoid alienating any particular constituency of mental health professionals, the DSM has strategically adopted an atheoretical stance on the etiology or causes of mental disorders in its definitions.

What are the factors of mental illness?

The American Psychiatric Association kept this question in mind while preparing their latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Definitions of mental disorders in the DSM-5 consider these 5 factors: 1 A behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual 2 Reflects an underlying psychobiological dysfunction 3 The consequences of which are clinically significant distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) 4 Must not be merely an expected response to common stressors and losses (ex. the loss of a loved one) or a culturally sanctioned response to a particular event (ex. trance states in religious rituals) 5 Primarily a result of social deviance or conflicts with society

Is mental illness biological?

As such, the proposed new definition of mental disorders contends that all DSM disorders have biological causes. The goal of being atheoretical goes out the window if the DSM explicitly defines mental disorders as biological. The second point is that by moving so explicitly in a biological direction, the DSM’s reach exceeds its grasp.

Official Catalogue of Disease

Sin as A Source of Disease

on The Spectrum

• Sometimes, risk factors for a disease – such as high blood pressure – eventually get defined as a disease in their own right. And once these risk factors are reclassified as a disease, their targets or ranges tend to shift over time, increasing the number of people who have the disease. For example, high blood pressure used to be anything over 140/...

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