Lay Concept Essay

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Lay concepts (or folk concepts) of health and illness are conceptual models used by individuals, communities, or cultures in attempting to explain how to maintain health and to provide an explanation for illness. Lay concepts of health and illness often have theoretical underpinnings that arise from the wider theories of illness (e.g., humoral, Ayurvedic, biomedical), but also include locally developed concepts about the body in health and illness that may not directly relate to the major theories of illness. Lay concepts of health and illness include particular ideas about the way the body functions, and they also highlight particular symptoms as being of special significance. For example, in the Western world, the body is often thought of as an intricate machine which must be kept "tuned-up," and illness is viewed as a breakdown of the machine. This contrasts with the Ayurvedic concept of the body, a concept prevalent in India and South Asia, in which health is seen as a state of balance between the physical, social, and super-natural environment and illness can result from disturbances in many different spheres. In the Western world, a symptom such as chest pain has a particular cultural significance and tends to be regarded with alarm. In Ayurvedic medicine, chest pain is also regarded with concern but as a symptom of emotional upset and not as the organic breakdown of bodily function. In South Asia, the symptom of "semen loss," a symptom generally regarded as innocuous in the Western world, is regarded with alarm. Cultural differences in the meaning of symptoms can lead at times to a delayed diagnosis of potentially serious conditions. For example, abdominal pain associated with appendicitis may not be interpreted to be serious, or a lump in the breast may be attributed to injury rather than to a potentially malignant process. Lay concepts of illness usually

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