Models of Health Behavior and the Medical Health and Illness

MODELS OF HEALTH BEHAVIOR
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Models of Health Behavior
The case study involves Hannah, a divorced 35-year woman with four children. She lives with her aged mother and works in a bakery full-time. Hannah suffers from Diabetes and Bulimia nervosa. Her stressful job makes her opt for sedatives, and this affects her bulimia nervosa. She tried committing suicide when she was young and makes psychologist visitations monthly. Furthermore, she is overweight but does not exercise, as she is depressed.
Definitions of Medical Health and Illness
There are several definitions of health and models, depending on illnesses. Therefore, based on where research has started, the Oxford dictionary defines health as a condition of being free from illnesses or injuries (Dictionary 2012). However, this definition misses the holistic approach to health since it does not consider the social, physical, and mental considerations put up by WHO in 1948 that, 'health is a condition of total mental, social and mental wellbeing and not merely the absence of illness or infirmity' (Misselbrook 2014). According to Shilton et al (2014), health is supposed to be perceived by the holder; in their view and understanding, illness defines health. On the other hand, people's capabilities vary depending on what they need to do (Braveman et al., 2011). Therefore, a standard basis for defining health is hard to be established.
According to Merriam Webster medical dictionary, ill-health is explained as a 'state of inferior health, whereby a disease or impairment is present and not typically as severe regarding curtailing activity as an illness (Webster 2018). Therefore, when people talk of ill health, they refer to a mental disease mostly instead of a physical condition. For instance, during the 19th century, Freud depicted that it was normal for women to be diagnosed with hysteria. In contrast, in the 21st century, it was unfathomable to categorize any gender with a general title like hysteria.
Biomedical model
The biomedical model of health is responsible for specifically treating illnesses or injuries and believes that it is possible to cure ill health. This is due to the existence of scientific knowledge that is required to treat disease. Therefore, a physician possesses more control of the situation compared to the patient. This can lead to conflicts, which occur when patients are given informed choices. Many at times, biomedical explanations of health are accused of only caring for the medical challenges of a patient, instead of their entire being which Barry and Yuill (2011) define the biomedical model as being limiting since other models include all elements of patients such as th...