But this concept of health and disease is incomplete, because:
1. Many diseases are asymptomatic in the early stage, and it is not easy to find them by general routine examination. Before finding out the evidence of the disease, we can't say that the patient has no disease, nor can we say that he is healthy for a certain period of time. On the contrary, most people have dental caries, that is, they have pathological signs, but they are rarely considered as sick people.
2. The occurrence of diseases in social groups is influenced by race, age, economic status and living conditions. Different social groups and living standards have different standards for judging individual health and diseases.
3. The standards of health and disease are also influenced by the cultural background, social ethics and political and economic systems of various countries. Some special behaviors have different evaluations in different historical stages. In some states in the United States, homosexuality is regarded as a mental patient and needs to be treated by a psychiatrist. It is considered a mental illness and abnormal behavior to commit crimes such as alcoholism, child abuse and loss of morality. Some countries regard dissidents as mental illness; In the 1920s, British women were considered to be mentally ill when they fought for the right to vote and participate in the political power. In some religions, it is considered normal and even respected for devout people to hear God or his voice.
It can be seen that it is not enough to define health simply from the perspective of biomedicine. There are three different words in English to mark the concept of disease. One is disease, which is used to indicate that the patient's body organs have organic lesions or abnormal functions. This disorder can be observed and measured. This is precisely from the biological point of view. Secondly, it is obviously from a psychological point of view to use illness to indicate that patients have subjective discomfort, such as headache, nausea and anxiety. The third kind is morbid, which means that a sick person can't work, study and daily activities normally, and has lost the behavior that a healthy person should have. This is the third party's point of view, which is also accepted by patients. It is the result of the above two situations. This is a sociological perspective.
Therefore, in addition to the medical point of view, we should also consider a person's health from the perspective of psychology and sociology. So the definition of health should be:
1. No organ or functional abnormality;
2. No subjective discomfort;
3. There is no unhealthy behavior recognized by society (third party).
These three articles show that health includes both physical health and mental health, which is the understanding of health by medical psychology. The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) once defined health as: "Health is not only the absence of disease, but also a state of physical, psychological and social integrity or complete health". This is similar to the view of medical psychology.
Medical psychology also believes that health and disease are not opposing concepts, but the unity of interdependence and mutual transformation. From the most serious state of disease to the peak state of health is a continuous life process, which is constantly changing rather than absolutely static, and presents different degrees of adaptation. If the individual keeps normal adaptation to the environment, it means normal health, and good adaptation means good health; On the other hand, if you are maladjusted and fall into a state of illness, it means that you are in poor health.