Assess the Biomedical and Socio-Medical

This essay will assess how usable the biomedical and socio-medical lays of wellness atomic number 18 and what contributions they assimilate made to health and companionable c atomic number 18. The biomedical amaze of health is an approach which eliminates mental and kindly factors (environment) but to a greater extent(prenominal)over comprises biologic issues in trying to recognise or understand an individuals average illness/dis coif. In the Western world, the biomedical role stupefy has dominated all a nonher(prenominal) flummoxs of health since the 19th atomic number 6.This put is the poser of health or so used by health c atomic number 18 professionals and is the foundation of most medical science. As a result, it is the remedy that doctors focus on. Their approach is based on what is perceived as normal or abnormal in terms of material functions. The biomedical mold is most stiff with short-term or acute illnesses, where a cause is identified and th e relevant treatment is administered. It is least effective when dealing with continuing illnesses those which persist over long periods of succession and are managed rather than cured.The biomedical model of health fits in sound with the functionalist post to sociology as it sees ill-health as being impaired to society. For functionalists, if throng adopt the sick constituent they are exempt from their usual roles and responsibilities. The biomedical model withal cares a curative approach, meaning that it focusses on the cure of an illness. way on physical aspects of illnesses style they faeces be scientifically tested, which thereof allows maturation of treatments. A disadvantage of the biomedical model of health is that it is not a long-run strategy.By not looking at a patients medical history, petition them how they feel and too not petition fully detailed questions about an illness, means that the same illness could re-occur in the future. Marxists comment t he biomedical model of health because this model ignores an individuals living conditions and Marxists also argue that doctors only benefit the blue by getting poor mass suffer to good health in order to enable them to go back to work. Further criticisms of this theory are focused principally on the suggestion that it has over-simplified the biological processes now kn profess to be very intricate.For many diseases, there are quintuple and interacting causes. Moreover, such a theory looks only to the agent of disease, and ignores the host and the possibilities of biological adaptation. As provinced, this theory is much more than soft applicable to acute conditions then to continuing ill-health and is difficult to apply to mental disorders. The biomedical model also cannot explain why some illnesses are more vulgar in some cordial or ethnic groups, for example, schizophrenia in Afro-Caribbean people.Diseases are differently correctd in different cultures and medical def initions of disease use up all the way changed over succession. Generally, it can be seen that what is viewed as illness in any ill-tempered society and at any historic time depends on ethnical norms and affable values (Naidoo & Wills, 2004). McKeown (1979) argues that the biomedical model is slight effective than other models because health started to correct before the NHS came into place. The socio-medical model argues that health is a complex mix of behavioural, structural, material and cultural factors. All together these impact on health.The social model emphasises the need to quotation the origins of ill-health, for example, instead of treating a child with asthma attack treating the damp conditions that the child is living in. The social model came about in the mid-twentieth century when there was an increasing dissatisfaction with the dominant model of health offered by biomedicine. The emphasis on health as being simply the absence of disease encouraged thought about only two categories the health and the disease. The social model of health imbibes social constructs and relativity in its approach to health.It tends to define and redefine health in a continuous manner, and views health differently in the midst of individuals, groups, times and cultures. Some supporters of the social model have written extensively about sickness having a role to coquette in miscellaneous societies (Parsons, 1951) as this helps to find out the structure of and functionality of the society. The social model is constituent(a) and holistic rather than a reductionist, automatic method. A mechanical system acts concord to its programming, its instructions or natural laws.The social model allows for mental as well as physical health. This model also allows for more subtle discrimination of individuals who keep an eye on in leading productive lives in spite of a physical impairment. another(prenominal) disadvantage of this model is that the conception runs t he peril of excessive breadth and of incorporating all of life. Thus, it does not distinguish clearly between the state of being levelheaded and the consequences of being healthy nor does it distinguish between health and the determinants of health (Ewles and Simnett, 2010).The development of this social model has been attended among the public, by a growing warmth for alternative therapies, which tend to rest on holistic theories. Gradually, these too have been co-ordinated to some extent into the mainstream model. In order to have a comprehensive intellect of health, it is vital to look at various premises of health definition, as erect one aspect may not provide a complete answer to the enquiry about our health at a particular given time.It is therefore important to consider the various aspects of health when making a judgement and finale about the health status of an individual. The socio-medical model fits in with the Marxist perspective to sociology, as it focusses on social and environmental factors. Poorer people are more apparent to have poorer living conditions. Marxists argue that there are higher levels of illness in more impoverished areas. This model also fits in with current health policies, for example, Change for Life, which encourages individuals to take more responsibility over their own health.The functionalist perspective also supports this model by stating that if people are taking more responsibility over their health, they will be able to contribute more to society. Finally, feminists such as Lesley Doyal (1995) support the socio-medical model by arguing that women are more believably to become ill because they have more roles in society than men. Doyal argues that women are likely to have a full time job and then still do the majority of the house work/ childcare when they get home. A more stressful environment is likely to lead to a higher chance of illness.In conclusion, the biomedical model of health is obviously most we ll defined by the absence of disease, though the model is also compatible with more positive definitions in terms of residue of normal functioning. In the socio-medical model health is a positive state of ace and well-being associated with, but not only when explained, by the absence of disease, illness or physical and mental impairment. The concepts of health and ill-health are unbalances. The absence of disease may be part of health but health is more than just the absence of disease.