The Phenomenology of sickness and disease
Sickness and disease arise from our consciousness. The manner in which people think is reflected on their health and their physiological being. Sickness is sometimes not a biological phenomenon as many people may think. In the case of Ivan Ilyich, the latter is more disturbed by the thoughts in his mind than his sickness. He is bitter about his wife and daughter’s lack of concern, and scared about his impending death (Tolstoy, 1981). Ilyich believes that the cause for any sickness is the badness of an individual, and he believes he has lived a good life to have such a disease. He associates human evils with sicknesses. For him, sickness is a punishment for something evil that someone has committed, and since he has lived a good life, sickness and death are but senseless occurrences. In the healing environment, the authors maintain that the mind is a powerful organ in bringing about healing (Shelly & Miller, 2006). The mind has to think consistently of positive things and focus less on the illness for the healing to come along.
In my own experience, I have developed certain illnesses, which were as a result of the stresses in my life at the time. A particular illness was a gastrointestinal complication, which came as a result of a relationship strain I had in the past. The problem worsened when I focused more on my condition back then, and the doctors advised me to change the things, which I thought about. Adjusting my mindset to focus on the positive side of life most frequently cured me of my digestion problems (Davies, 2002). Similar to Ilyich, the rejection he felt from his family may have increased his pain and his illness. I believe that his peaceful death came as a result of him recognizing the important things in life and choosing to dwell on them instead.
References
Davies, P. (2002). Nursing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Shelly, J. & Miller, A. (2006). Called to care. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic/InterVarsity Press.
Tolstoy, L. (1981). The death of Ivan Ilyich. Toronto: Bantam Books.
