Talk:Disease
From Academic Kids
Where does Diabetes Type II fit in our list of diseases? AxelBoldt 03:13 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)
- Most would call it a metabolic disease, which doesn't seem to be there. It could go under endocrine: I think most classifications have one category called endocrine/metabolic. -- Someone else 03:23 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)
Is an overdose of a nutrient (such as hypervitaminosis A) a nutritional disease or a toxic disease? -phma
Is diabetes a disease or a syndrome (i.e., a collection of symptoms which can have any of several ultimate causes)? 213.208.107.91 23:07, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Sure it's a disease, in the same sense liver failure, heart failure, respiratory failure, or shock are diseases. All can have multiple potential causes but for purposes of discussing manifestations and treatment, the specific reason for the organ failure may not be so important. alteripse 03:57, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I see that Illness redirects here. Is it common (medical) usage that illness and disease are actually different things? (illness being the effects that a disease has on someone), or have i just heard too much psychobabble?
- You are correct on your first point. Removed redirect at illness and started article. Petersam 20:32, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Disorder -> Disease? Huh?
Why, oh, why does "disorder" redirect to "disease" when the entry for "disease" does not sufficiently elaborate on various disorders like compulsive gambling and gaming, and kleptomania. The definitions of disorder and disease are similar at-first-glance, however, a disorder is a "condition that disturbs normal functioning" while a disease is "a condition of abnormal functioning." They're quite different, I think. User:Adraeus
Two paragraphs in the disease article mention the issue of abnormal/unwanted/deviant/harmful/atypical (pick your adjective) behaviors and how their definition and classification varies by culture, era, and even political perspective. This is true around the world, not just in the US. This is an important and challenging and really interesting topic. I listed some of the culture-specific (insert your preferred term) in the article:
- homosexuality
- oppositional-defiant disorder
- attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
- sociopathic personality disorder
- post-traumatic stress disorder
- repetitive motion injury
You mentioned some more:
Just to get the arguments going, here are a few more:
- drapetomania
- masturbation
- borderline personality disorder
- intersexuality
- possession
- sexual addiction
- pedophilia
- congenital or inherited criminality
- chronic candidiasis
- obesity
- bulimia
- satyriasis/nymphomania
- left-handedness
- neurasthenia
I tried to put something in the list that would offend everyone-- notice how socially controversial the categorizations become. The list of troublesome behaviors and human variations is perhaps as long as the list of diseases for which we can demonstrate an altered tissue or deranged metabolism. Notice that many involve sexual behaviors, in which society always takes a proprietary interest, and many straddle or challenge the line between free-will behaviors and "involuntary" "compulsions," or even sin or crime. Some shade into normal behavioral responses to social predicaments. Some are inextricable from what we call character or habit. Many cause no problems to the person affected but only to the people around; for many of the conditions the only potential harm comes from the social consequences of the behavior.
However, I don't recommend spending too much time trying to disentangle disease, disorder, illness, condition, etc. And don't make the mistake of assuming you can learn much about the condition by which term someone uses-- it might tell you more about the person using the term than about the condition. Although you can come up with distinctions and differences, the usage can vary with context and is not always consistent. In some contexts the words are used interchangeably and in other contexts the choice connotes a large difference in political perspective. Feel free to contribute.
Also, please sign your posts-- if you put ~ 4 times in a row it will automatically become your user name and a date stamp. Alteripse 14:06, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for responding and for the Wikipedia tip! You answered my question. Adraeus 00:49, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)
List of diseases
This entry gives a long but very incomplete list of disorders, which has been cobbled together with no real clear parameters. I would argue in favour of its removal - there are lists of this kind elsewhere on Wikipedia. JFW | T@lk 20:04, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
The following sentence doesn't actually seem to mean anything, so I have edited it: "To consider a collection of syndromes a considition is objectively verifiable, but often to consider them a disease is a social value judgement" 213.208.107.91 23:07, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Disorder, round 2
It has already been mentioned that disorder redirects to disease. Please introduce the term in the article and explain the difference in the usage. mikka (t) 17:29, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Your quesetion is answered above on this page. alteripse 00:22, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
