Health & Illness: Traditional Approaches, Principles, and Examples

This essay explores traditional approaches to health and illness, drawing upon Aggleton's (1990) framework and providing examples from Ayurvedic and Greek medicine. It discusses how definitions of health vary and how traditional approaches considered socioeconomic status and holism. The essay highlights the Ayurvedic system's focus on three humors (Vayu, Pitta, and Kapha) and the Greek approach's emphasis on four humors (Blood, Phlegm, Yellow bile, and black bile) and their impact on personality and health. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding traditional healthcare roots for promoting community wellbeing and its relevance to modern healthcare.

Running head: TRADITIONAL APPROACHES IN HEALTHCARE
TRADITIONAL APPROACHES IN HEALTHCARE
Name of the Student
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1TRADITIONAL APPROACHES IN HEALTHCARE
Definition of health is different for different individual. The meaning of physical and
mental health, the strength and ability to carry out a wide array of physical activities and ways to
cope up with psychological pressure differentiate every person (Aggleton 1990). There are
different beliefs about health and these beliefs varies from one place to another at different stages
of historical health (Cartwright 1977). This assignment will be pointing out different principles
of traditional health approach and will provide appropriate examples (Ayurveda and Greek
traditional healthcare) with respect to those approaches.
According to Aggleton (1990), there are different perspectives of being healthy or being
unhealthy. Level of social economic status and the background of the individual mattered in the
traditional approach of Health Care as the people who were able to carry out the activity of daily
life were considered, as healthy compared to those, who were unable to do that. The idea of
holism was also described by Aggleton (1990) and according to that the tradition idea of holism
was about integrity and fundamental as well as irreducible wholeness of each human, which
differs from the recent healthcare approaches. Focusing on the traditional approaches, there are
three prime traditional ideas to define overall health, disease and wellbeing and these are Greek,
Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine (Payyappallimana and Venkatasubramanian 2016). Ayurvedic
healthcare approach is one of the oldest medicinal approach in the history of healthcare and
using these approach digestive, reproductive as well as surgical issues were treated in early 500
B.C. the healthcare experts of that time were aware of the birth control treatment through
rhythmic method and surgeries related to nose and ear using fixation surgeries. According to the
Rig Veda, a science scripture that defines health and illness in an overall manner, determines that
Ayurvedic treatment depends on three humours of human. These are Vayu (Air), Pitta (gall) and
Kapha (mucus). Balance between these three humours helps the individual to attain overall

2TRADITIONAL APPROACHES IN HEALTHCARE
wellness otherwise the balance between the seven aspects of human body such as flesh, fat, food
juice, semen, bone, marrow and blood hampers (Payyappallimana and Venkatasubramanian
2016).
Another example is of Greek healthcare approach and the penetration of it in the modern
healthcare approach can be understood by the fact that most of the European healthcare
approaches were inspired by the Greek ideas from the 5th century B.C (Aggleton 1990). Unlike
Ayurvedic concepts, Greek physicians Hippocrates and Empedocles believed in four humours of
human body such as Blood, Phlegm, Yellow bile and black bile and the balance between these
four helped to attain wellbeing. The concept further determines that these humours were
associated in the development of four human personality the choleric, the phlegmatic, the
melancholic and the sanguine. Excessive trait of any of these in the personality can lead to
sickness (Aggleton 1990). For example, if the humor of black bile increases within the body, it
can lead to melancholia within human body. The healthcare experts used to treat the imbalance
of these humours with diet control, exercises and rest and therefore, modern healthcare is much
related to the Greek theory of healthcare (Lipnevich, MacCann and Roberts 2013).
Healthcare and its traditional approach bear tremendous importance in modern healthcare
as understanding the roots of healthcare within a community will help to understand the means
through which, the community will be able to achieve physical and mental wellbeing. Therefore,
in the assignment, the traditional approach of healthcare of three different regions was discussed
with examples and the impact of those approaches on the communities were mentioned.

3TRADITIONAL APPROACHES IN HEALTHCARE
References
Aggleton. P. 1990. Health. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, London and New York, pp. 51-129.
Cartwright, F.F., 1977. A social history of medicine, 1st edn, pp. 123-145, Themes in British
Social History, London.
Lipnevich, A.A., MacCann, C. and Roberts, R.D., 2013. Assessing non-cognitive constructs in
education: A review of traditional and innovative approaches. In The Oxford handbook of child
psychological assessment.
Payyappallimana, U. and Venkatasubramanian, P., 2016. Exploring Ayurvedic knowledge on
food and health for providing innovative solutions to contemporary healthcare. Frontiers in
public health, 4, p.57.
Porter, R., 1999. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (The Norton
History of Science). WW Norton & Company.