Discuss attitudes towards health and illness and the effect these Essay

Discuss attitudes towards health and illness and the effect these would have on your work as a practising nurse - Essay Example ealth and illness and use of a specific set of ideals has â€Å"important clinical implications.† An ideal is the motivational standard by which to evaluate our goals and our reasons for pursuing these goals. The â€Å"goal is the what; the ideal is the why.† (â€Å"The Edgar Cayce Primer,† Bantam Books, New York 1982.) The ideal attitude gives people a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life, making them look at illness as more of a challenge than a tragedy. Those bereft of such a lofty ideal are prone to depression and self-condemnation in the face of disease which provokes fear in them and a feeling of being victimized by something outside and beyond their control. This attitude of weakness and surrender stunts a person’s psychological initiative and weakens his/her will power to render healing more difficult and painful. Our thoughts, feelings, behavior and purpose in life contribute a great deal to health or illness, Edgar Cayce declares. To develop the ideal attitude for combating disease, we have to take some degree of responsibility for our situation by defining a course of action that takes all aspects of our experience – spiritual, mental and physical – into consideration. People who are able to make such an attitude adjustment feel more empowered to deal with their illness. (â€Å"Meditation and the Mind of Man,† H.B. Puryear & M.A. Thurston, A.R.E. Press, Virginia Beach 1987.) Functionalists believe that attitudes are â€Å"enduring systems.† Once attitude is acquired, it becomes virtually impervious to change. The reason is, attitudes serve a particular motivational function related to the ego and to change them you need to change what motivates the individual as well. This school of thought moreover holds the view that an attitude change is made more difficult by the fact that what lies behind motivation is usually unknown even to the individual as it often exists in the subconscious level. If attitudes toward health and