Social PsycologyHow are health and identity related
How are health and identity related? In 1948 the World Health Organization described health as, ‘a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. Health is not just the absence of the negative but also the inclusion of the positive and that health is not only your physical condition but it is related to the other areas of life as well. However well-being in mental and social spheres of your life is very difficult to interpret. Identity must be included in considerations of health, the way you see yourself, feel about yourself and feel you believe others perceive you have been seen to play an important role in health - physically, mentally and socially. Identity is both characteristics i. ... It can be related to health, in why people become unhealthy, which illnesses they are more susceptible to, and how they deal with and adapt to health problems. ... The relationship between health and identity was not always clear. ... During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries advances in technique, technology and understanding of anatomy, with the discovery of bacteria led to a biomedical model of disease, and the assumption that biological processes are separate from psychological and social ones. ... (Coolican, 1996) The changing nature of disease, from acute (tuberculosis, pneumonia and other infectious disease) to chronic systemic disorders (heart disease, cancer, diabetes) also led to the greater consideration of psychological and social factors, resulting in the discovery that these factors can play a large part in the development of such diseases and that these factors may be effectively used in the treatment of such diseases. ... All individuals react differently to change, we must therefore consider how people deal with and interpret stress along with personality traits that can increase or decrease anxiety levels, while also considering the important role that control over our own lives plays in health and social aspects, such as culture.