THE BIOMEDICINE APPROACH OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS BETWEEN BOTH TRADITIONAL AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES AND HEALTH SOCIOLOGY

Abstract

This paper treats the paradoxes posed by biomedicine’s view of health and illness. Biomedicine defines illness as a deviation that strikes the human body, causing an imbalance in physiological function of the body’s members. Whereas the Biopsychosocial approach takes in consideration the psychosocial factors of health, it transcends the orthodox medicine model. In this context the importance of both traditional and alternative medicines appeared. They share a holistic understanding of the causes of poor and good health, focusing on the unity of the mind and body. Thus biomedicine is criticized by sociologists because it ignores the human dimension at diagnostic and treatment