Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India

Srnivasalu Sumathi; Selladurai Manjubarkavi; Debasree Roy

doi:doi:10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11

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Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India

Srnivasalu Sumathi, Selladurai Manjubarkavi, Debasree Roy

Published in Science Research (Volume 10, Issue 3)

Received: 26 November 2021 Accepted: 22 December 2021 Published: 7 May 2022

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Abstract

The concept of ‘culture’ could be traced back to Greco-Roman civilization and emerged as scientific product during 18^th century. The discipline of anthropology identified culture as its subject matter, propounded the concept like ethnocentrism and validated holistic perspective. The human socio-cultural process came to be viewed as an extension of the biological process. Thus, the complex whole definition of culture justifies heath as inclusive capabilities acquired by human as a member of a society and progress continued with diversity and change. In the postmodern era, the existing ‘culture in health care’ is striving for integration and holism. Health care cultures have simultaneously evolved along with the advancement of human civilizations with an aim of relieving human suffering from diseases and illness. The biomedical establishment and healing evolved as a subculture with cognitive worldview of the patients’ disease that results from scientifically identifiable pathogens. The evolution of cultures from ancient to modern times has necessitated these cultures to face each other due to increasing communication and thus conflict arose between the traditional and modern. The present paper substantiates with empirical case analysis of cancer patients in India, establishing that cultural diversity should be a primary concern for health care professionals caring for patients who suffers with pain as their cognitive perception towards health, illness, disease and wellness are culturally oriented. The paper also explores the concept of ‘Pain Culture’ and justifying that it was not only a physiological response but is also a bio-psychosocial phenomenon which emerges at ‘intersection of body, mind and culture and critically evaluates the relevance of inclusive palliative policy in a pluralistic society and justify cross culturally. The paper suggests that the palliative care necessarily be understood as pain management through medicine.

Published in	Science Research (Volume 10, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11
Page(s)	52-63
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cultural Construction, Holistic Wellness, Pain Culture, Pain Management

References

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APA Style

Srnivasalu Sumathi, Selladurai Manjubarkavi, Debasree Roy. (2022). Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India. Science Research, 10(3), 52-63. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11

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ACS Style

Srnivasalu Sumathi; Selladurai Manjubarkavi; Debasree Roy. Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India. Sci. Res. 2022, 10(3), 52-63. doi: 10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11

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AMA Style

Srnivasalu Sumathi, Selladurai Manjubarkavi, Debasree Roy. Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India. Sci Res. 2022;10(3):52-63. doi: 10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11

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@article{10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11,
  author = {Srnivasalu Sumathi and Selladurai Manjubarkavi and Debasree Roy},
  title = {Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India},
  journal = {Science Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {3},
  pages = {52-63},
  doi = {10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sr.20221003.11},
  abstract = {The concept of ‘culture’ could be traced back to Greco-Roman civilization and emerged as scientific product during 18th century. The discipline of anthropology identified culture as its subject matter, propounded the concept like ethnocentrism and validated holistic perspective. The human socio-cultural process came to be viewed as an extension of the biological process. Thus, the complex whole definition of culture justifies heath as inclusive capabilities acquired by human as a member of a society and progress continued with diversity and change. In the postmodern era, the existing ‘culture in health care’ is striving for integration and holism. Health care cultures have simultaneously evolved along with the advancement of human civilizations with an aim of relieving human suffering from diseases and illness. The biomedical establishment and healing evolved as a subculture with cognitive worldview of the patients’ disease that results from scientifically identifiable pathogens. The evolution of cultures from ancient to modern times has necessitated these cultures to face each other due to increasing communication and thus conflict arose between the traditional and modern. The present paper substantiates with empirical case analysis of cancer patients in India, establishing that cultural diversity should be a primary concern for health care professionals caring for patients who suffers with pain as their cognitive perception towards health, illness, disease and wellness are culturally oriented. The paper also explores the concept of ‘Pain Culture’ and justifying that it was not only a physiological response but is also a bio-psychosocial phenomenon which emerges at ‘intersection of body, mind and culture and critically evaluates the relevance of inclusive palliative policy in a pluralistic society and justify cross culturally. The paper suggests that the palliative care necessarily be understood as pain management through medicine.},
 year = {2022}
}

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T1  - Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India
AU  - Srnivasalu Sumathi
AU  - Selladurai Manjubarkavi
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AB  - The concept of ‘culture’ could be traced back to Greco-Roman civilization and emerged as scientific product during 18th century. The discipline of anthropology identified culture as its subject matter, propounded the concept like ethnocentrism and validated holistic perspective. The human socio-cultural process came to be viewed as an extension of the biological process. Thus, the complex whole definition of culture justifies heath as inclusive capabilities acquired by human as a member of a society and progress continued with diversity and change. In the postmodern era, the existing ‘culture in health care’ is striving for integration and holism. Health care cultures have simultaneously evolved along with the advancement of human civilizations with an aim of relieving human suffering from diseases and illness. The biomedical establishment and healing evolved as a subculture with cognitive worldview of the patients’ disease that results from scientifically identifiable pathogens. The evolution of cultures from ancient to modern times has necessitated these cultures to face each other due to increasing communication and thus conflict arose between the traditional and modern. The present paper substantiates with empirical case analysis of cancer patients in India, establishing that cultural diversity should be a primary concern for health care professionals caring for patients who suffers with pain as their cognitive perception towards health, illness, disease and wellness are culturally oriented. The paper also explores the concept of ‘Pain Culture’ and justifying that it was not only a physiological response but is also a bio-psychosocial phenomenon which emerges at ‘intersection of body, mind and culture and critically evaluates the relevance of inclusive palliative policy in a pluralistic society and justify cross culturally. The paper suggests that the palliative care necessarily be understood as pain management through medicine.
VL  - 10
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Author Information

Srnivasalu Sumathi

Department of Anthropology, University of Madras, Chennai, India
Selladurai Manjubarkavi

Department of Anthropology, University of Madras, Chennai, India
Debasree Roy

Department of Political Science, St. Xavier College, Kolkatta, India

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APA Style

Srnivasalu Sumathi, Selladurai Manjubarkavi, Debasree Roy. (2022). Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India. Science Research, 10(3), 52-63. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11

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ACS Style

Srnivasalu Sumathi; Selladurai Manjubarkavi; Debasree Roy. Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India. Sci. Res. 2022, 10(3), 52-63. doi: 10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11

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AMA Style

Srnivasalu Sumathi, Selladurai Manjubarkavi, Debasree Roy. Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India. Sci Res. 2022;10(3):52-63. doi: 10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11,
  author = {Srnivasalu Sumathi and Selladurai Manjubarkavi and Debasree Roy},
  title = {Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India},
  journal = {Science Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {3},
  pages = {52-63},
  doi = {10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sr.20221003.11},
  abstract = {The concept of ‘culture’ could be traced back to Greco-Roman civilization and emerged as scientific product during 18th century. The discipline of anthropology identified culture as its subject matter, propounded the concept like ethnocentrism and validated holistic perspective. The human socio-cultural process came to be viewed as an extension of the biological process. Thus, the complex whole definition of culture justifies heath as inclusive capabilities acquired by human as a member of a society and progress continued with diversity and change. In the postmodern era, the existing ‘culture in health care’ is striving for integration and holism. Health care cultures have simultaneously evolved along with the advancement of human civilizations with an aim of relieving human suffering from diseases and illness. The biomedical establishment and healing evolved as a subculture with cognitive worldview of the patients’ disease that results from scientifically identifiable pathogens. The evolution of cultures from ancient to modern times has necessitated these cultures to face each other due to increasing communication and thus conflict arose between the traditional and modern. The present paper substantiates with empirical case analysis of cancer patients in India, establishing that cultural diversity should be a primary concern for health care professionals caring for patients who suffers with pain as their cognitive perception towards health, illness, disease and wellness are culturally oriented. The paper also explores the concept of ‘Pain Culture’ and justifying that it was not only a physiological response but is also a bio-psychosocial phenomenon which emerges at ‘intersection of body, mind and culture and critically evaluates the relevance of inclusive palliative policy in a pluralistic society and justify cross culturally. The paper suggests that the palliative care necessarily be understood as pain management through medicine.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Cultural Construction of Health, Diseases, Illness, and Healing: An Empirical Understanding of “Pain Culture” in India
AU  - Srnivasalu Sumathi
AU  - Selladurai Manjubarkavi
AU  - Debasree Roy
Y1  - 2022/05/07
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11
T2  - Science Research
JF  - Science Research
JO  - Science Research
SP  - 52
EP  - 63
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2329-0927
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sr.20221003.11
AB  - The concept of ‘culture’ could be traced back to Greco-Roman civilization and emerged as scientific product during 18th century. The discipline of anthropology identified culture as its subject matter, propounded the concept like ethnocentrism and validated holistic perspective. The human socio-cultural process came to be viewed as an extension of the biological process. Thus, the complex whole definition of culture justifies heath as inclusive capabilities acquired by human as a member of a society and progress continued with diversity and change. In the postmodern era, the existing ‘culture in health care’ is striving for integration and holism. Health care cultures have simultaneously evolved along with the advancement of human civilizations with an aim of relieving human suffering from diseases and illness. The biomedical establishment and healing evolved as a subculture with cognitive worldview of the patients’ disease that results from scientifically identifiable pathogens. The evolution of cultures from ancient to modern times has necessitated these cultures to face each other due to increasing communication and thus conflict arose between the traditional and modern. The present paper substantiates with empirical case analysis of cancer patients in India, establishing that cultural diversity should be a primary concern for health care professionals caring for patients who suffers with pain as their cognitive perception towards health, illness, disease and wellness are culturally oriented. The paper also explores the concept of ‘Pain Culture’ and justifying that it was not only a physiological response but is also a bio-psychosocial phenomenon which emerges at ‘intersection of body, mind and culture and critically evaluates the relevance of inclusive palliative policy in a pluralistic society and justify cross culturally. The paper suggests that the palliative care necessarily be understood as pain management through medicine.
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
ER  -

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