What is an illness? What is a disease? What is the difference? What is a cure? This is an image I am working on to illustrate an updated paper on Theory of Cure. What do you think?
An elementary illness is a hole in a single healthiness. At first, our perception of the illness can be very weak, very fuzzy. As healthiness falls, we gradually become aware of a discomfort – and might immediately move to address it before any illness occurs. But sometimes, healthiness shrinks, unhealthiness grows, and we perceive an illness. When healthiness rises, the illness disappears, cured.
The illness has two components, the cause and the consequences. The illness is cured when the cause, either the drop in healthiness or the cause of the drop in healthiness is successfully addressed.
A disease is a hole in healthiness that is deep enough, well enough defined to be perceived and diagnosed by a medical professional. Doctors intentionally avoid diagnosing minor illness, often sending patient’s home with advice like “take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” Most cases of elementary illness cannot be diagnosed until they become severe enough to cause damage, to create additional elementary illnesses.
Is this image trivial? That’s what I’m looking for – clear, easily understandable views of healthiness, illness, and disease.
to your health, tracy
Author: A New Theory of Cure