Embodiment is the process in which the body as an object is actively experienced, transformed, sustained and finally developed into a subjective body (Waskul, D & Vannini, P. 2006). The body is not merely a vessel to exist in, and the objective-body cannot be separated from the subjective-body. The body may thus be experienced from a multitude of angles, for example, socially, culturally, psychologically, physiologically, clinically, phenomenologically and even religiously, allowing both patients and Healthcare Practitioners (HCPs) to understand illnesses and manage them holistically.
Holistic management of patients is concerned not only with their medical conditions, but also the recognition that they are lived bodies with psycho-socio-environmental components (Nettleton, S. 2008. In: Gilbert, L, Selikow, T & Walker, L. 2009, pg 40). These all shape the way in which patients experience illness, and how HCPs may approach the patient-illness unit as a whole.
One such theoretical holistic approach uses the concept of embodiment from the perspective of four interlinked bodies: the physiological body, which is the physical, anatomical body; the phenomenological body, which is the subjective, lived experience of the person; the social body, which is the societal/environmental/political make-up of the body; and the clinical body, described as the medical body as perceived by HCPs. The clinical body may integrate any or all of the first three bodies, depending on the education and area of specialisation of the HCP (Lectures 1-3, SOCL1016. 2014).
An alternative theory to integration of bodies is that of Cartesian Dualism, an idea that divides the body into a ‘palpable body’ and a ‘tangible mind’ (Scheper‐Hughes, N., & Lock, M. 1987, ...
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...ing the four-body theory as a perspective of the embodiment-disembodiment-re-embodiment process is that the process is assumed to be similar for all patients, but different women may experience the disembodiment and re-embodiment in entirely different ways, for example, breast implants may not have as positive an impact as a woman may have hoped, or a patient may suffer complications such as unequal breasts as a result of surgery.
The four-body theory and the process of embodiment-disembodiment-re-embodiment in the case of breast cancer effectively demonstrate how patients normalise through the decomposition and subsequent recomposition of the bodies, and resume ‘bodied’ lives after their illnesses. Furthermore, HCPs with an understanding of the theory and processes are better equipped to provide not just medical treatment, but a holistic experience for the patient.
The changes in embodiment result in a loss. An integral affect of active embodiment is personal identity and agency.
Richard Taylor explained why the body and the mind are one, and why they are not two separate substances. In the article “The Mind as a Function of the Body”, Taylor divides his article in a number of sections and explains clearly why dualism, or the theory that the mind and the body are separate is not conceivable. In one of these sections it is explained in detail the origin of why some philosophers and people believe in dualist metaphysics. As stated by Taylor “when we form an idea of a body or a physical object, what is most likely to come to mind is not some person or animal but something much simpler, such as a stone or a marble”(133). The human has the tendency to believe a physical object as simple, and not containing anything complex. A problem with believing this is that unlike a stone or a marble a human (or an animal) has a brain and the body is composed of living cells (excluding dead skin cells, hair, and nails which are dead cells). The f...
The 21st century health system has been marked by rapid developments in medical technology, availability of treatments, and advancements in the field of medicine. These changes have tremendously contributed to better prevention, management, and control of chronic illnesses like heart disease, asthma, diabetes and arthritis. However, the reality of chronic illness is intertwined with continued dwindle in quality of life, of dependency, of medication and limits. In this condition of diminishing health, the patient starkly experiences the dichotomy between the mind and the body. As P1 shares, “My mind is ok, but my body is simply weak. It has its own ways.”
Body image refers to a person’s unique perception of his/her body. It is how we perceive ourselves, how we think we appear to others, and how we feel about our looks from “our own internal view” (cash, 1990b, p. 51).This internal view is associated with a person’s feelings, thought, and evaluations (positive or negative). (Cultivation and social comparison, p. 3).
The human was once whole in days before, but somewhere in his journey to the present, he lost himself. His mind and body have become separate identities that are unaware of each other's existence. Modern society reflects and encourages those thoughts very well, in my opinion. If a person believes his body is broken, ill, or in need of upgrading, he will seek out a medical professional specialized in the area of distress. Arriving to the specialist, the patient demands quick and efficient treatments that will cure/fix/upgrade the weakness in his body; unaware of the effects this may cause him mentally. Once cured of his weakness, the patient is in full working order and is sent back out into the world. That man's procedure for curing his weakness is the same road taken as someone who wishes to fix a toaster, for example. Would it then be safe to say that the man, subconsciously or consciously, considers his body to be more closely related to a tool rather than a part of himself? Unfortunately, I believe this man is only one person out of an entire society that shares the same dissociation of body and mind. Why do people of modern society not associate themselves with their physical being, and where is this leading us? Moreover, how did this alienation of self come about? I will try to explain the latter of the two questions first, because I believe the answer can be explained through the evolution of medical technology.
Holistic health is based on the law of nature, which is; a whole is made up of interdependent parts. The earth is made up of systems, such as air, land, water, plants and animals. If life is to be sustained the systems cannot be separated, for what is happening to one is also felt by all of the other systems. In the same way, an individual is a whole made up of interdependent parts, which are the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. When one part is not working at its best, it impacts all of the other parts of that person. Furthermore, this whole person, including all of the parts, is constantly interacting with everything in the surrounding environment. For example, when an individual is anxious about a school exam or a job interview, his or her nervousness may result in a physical reaction, such as a headache or a stomachache. When people suppress anger over a long period of time, they often develop a serious illness, such as migraine headaches, emphysema, or even arthritis. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention report that the key factors influencing an individual’s state of health have not changed significa...
The desire to avoid dualism has been the driving motive behind much contemporary work on the mind-body problem. Gilbert Ryle made fun of it as the theory of 'the ghost in the machine', and various forms of behaviorism and materialism are designed to show that a place can be found for thoughts, sensations, feelings, and other mental phenomena in a purely physical world. But these theories have trouble accounting for consciousness and its subjective qualia. As the science develops and we discover facts, dualism does not seems likely to be true.
Fried, Marlene Gerber, et.el. Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
An out of body experience (OBEs) is described as by someone either standing above or floating above their own body. Some also describe it as the soul leaving the body and viewing from...
...of the body, and no problem arises of how soul and body can be united into a substantial whole: ‘there is no need to investigate whether the soul and the body are one, any more than the wax and the shape, or in general the matter of each thing and that of which it is the matter; for while “one” and “being” are said in many ways, the primary [sense] is actuality’ (De anima 2.1, 12B6–9).Many twentieth-century philosophers have been looking for just such a via media between materialism and dualism, at least for the case of the human mind; and much scholarly attention has gone into asking whether Aristotle’s view can be aligned with one of the modern alternatives, or whether it offers something preferable to any of the modern alternatives, or whether it is so bound up with a falsified Aristotelian science that it must regretfully be dismissed as no longer a live option.
A patient is not entirely “healthy” or “sick;” a patient may be healthy in some ways but sick in others. “Health” is subjective in that what works for one patient might harm another. Health is not just related to the state of the body but also is influenced by emotions and the environment.
Thus it enables a state of being that is in the moment (it is present). The aesthetical (in terms of material aspects) of the body are also something that is a definite variable. When the body undergoes ‘embodiment’ it is the process of the locus, culture, traditions, biological traits of the body (sex, race) that plays a role in the construction of this experience (which happens on a daily basis) and at the same time simultaneously confines it (2009:3). ‘Embodiment’ is forever shifting and growing; as one’s experiences are continuously happening and thus making it a highly subjective experience as well (2009: 4). This process then allows the body to become something that is more than just a biological construct; it allows the body to become something that is able to express itself unto other beings in both words (the patterns developed when one is speaking and the language styles that one has been influenced to use) and non-verbal communication (the shape and form the body takes when moving in space or even sitting or standing still in a space drawn from experienced emotions and the person’s historical, social and political background). Therefore it is suggested that ‘embodiment’ is something that is a network of interlinked signs showing past experiences and continuously reshaping and forming to show new signs based on new experience (Thapan 2009:
Introduction: For this essay I am going to critically discuss the biomedical model as well as the social model of health and how they both relate to the lay perspectives on health and illness.
It is apparent that we are personified entities, but also, that we embrace “more” than just our bodies. “Human persons are physical, embodied beings and an important feature of God’s intended design for human life” (Cortez, 70). But, “human persons have an ‘inner’ dimension that is just as important as the ‘outer’ embodiment” (Cortez, 71). The “inner” element cannot be wholly explained by the “outer” embodiment, but it does give rise to inimitable facets of the human mental life such as human dignity and personal identity.
I visited the Body Exhibition, which is located in Buena Park, California. This exhibit allows a person to get a deeper look the inside the systems of a human body and it anatomy. It includes the skeletal system, muscular system, nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, productive system and fetal development, circulatory system, and lastly the threatened body. This exhibit contains more than 200 actual human bodies that have been dissected and preserved. During my visit I saw many things that changed my perspective. While visiting bodies I observed the exhibit itself, observed the people around me and asked the tour guide questions regarding the bodies.