Concepts of Cure, Healing, Disease and Illness

Abstract or Introduction

According to WHO health is the complete state of physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely absence of disease or infirmity. (WHO 2010). When an individual is claimed to be healthy, it is considered the entire being is in a state of wellness and not merely absence of pathogens acting against one’s physical being. Cure and healing, although they may be interchanged have different meanings if taken in their rightful context. This misconception extend also to disease, sickness and illness.

When individuals experience disease, there is always a tendency to think in obsolete terms of being curable and incurable. When we talk of curing we talk of the restoration of health by eliminating the symptoms that characterise a disease. Healing on the other hand calls for the restoration of wholeness. Healing is an integrative process that go beyond the physical but also include mental, emotional and spiritual vitality and wellness. Whilst cure could be instant, healing usually takes time. Also one can be cured but without healing and the reverse is also true.