nursingforsocialjustice

A disease and a disease process are terms used to describe physiological things that happens in one’s body. Illness is a subjective experience. The world is nursing is about subjective illness experiences. We care about disease processes as they live in people but the world of nursing does not end there because we care about all things health. And, these notions of health and unhealthy, in many ways, from some theoretical perspectives of nursing don’t actually matter in the sense they there is no opposite of health. Health just is. What a concept.

The words that are used when talking about being sick are indicative of something more than personal meaning of illness and wellness, they provide insight into collective understanding of of the social construction of disease. Common statements like “beating cancer” position the disease process as a battle, as a fight. This also highlights issues of equity and the resource mobilization that is available, the troops that can be recruited to fight this battle.

Curiously, certain illnesses, certain mental illnesses are not conceptualized as something that can be beaten. And this leads to me to a few questions. What is the relapse rate of cancer? Do we beat diseases like diabetes? Language is curious, powerful, and insightful into understanding of how health is conceptualized at different points in time.

In this moment, I think it would be interesting to research how mental illness is described over time and how this demonstrates changing understanding over time. When the words we used to describe addiction include demon, abuse, rock bottom and the like, what does that mean about how we understand it? Is it a battle to be won or a character flaw? Similarly, when we describe something like depression as a chronic and progressive disease what does that mean about how we understand it? To decontextualize it and turn it into something purely clinical what does that mean and how does that shape collective understanding of these things we call mental illness?

Are the terms we use stigma laden, and rooted in this understanding of disease process and illness living in individuals such that there is not adequate room to broaden the frame to understand the social context? And, is this happening to the point that it perpetuates value judgements that are more harmful than helpful? Stop me if you think I’m overthinking this.

Love,

Michelle D.