Language and Your Health Language and Your Health Human illness is not only a physical condition but a symbolic one as well. Human beings do all of these things. People frequently seek unnecessary treatment and avoid necessary health examinations. It is estimated that 25-50 percent of visits to a doctor are unnecessary and that about 15 percent of deaths are due to people avoiding seeking treatment. People suffer from the names of diseases, i.e. cancer, without knowing whether or not they have the disease.
Every health problem is in part a symbolic problem.
To an elderly person this can mean a severe inability to move about making them more dependent on others, or can be a sign of aging. Most people immediately start to feel worse than they did previously.