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I found this paper on Serendip that I think is very relevant to our conversations about the the medical scientific model of health and mental health.  Hope you all enjoy. 

"She Blinded Me With Science"

A Critical Analysis of the Scientific Model of Health

A senior thesis by Georgia Griffin submitted to the Bryn Mawr Philosophy Department

in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Arts Degree.

Thesis advisor Christine Koggel

April 18, 2005

Abstract

In this thesis I examine the predominant western theory of health, known as the scientific model, using the accounts of Christopher Boorse and Leon Kass. Together these two accounts provide a thorough representation of the salient points of the scientific model, which are in short: that health is a natural entity and is therefore objective, that it is opposed to disease, that health is not relative, that health is accordance with species design and that physical health is distinct from mental health. I argue contrary to Boorse and Kass that health is necessarily normative (value-laden), that it cannot be abstracted from the human experience of it, that perspective and power play an important role in the delineation of health standards, and that the scientific model of health leads to the discrimination of a large number of individuals. To support my arguments I examine the accounts of a number of theorists who take issue with the scientific model of health, including Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen, Michel Foucault, Ian Hacking and Shelley Tremain. I also use these accounts to outline what I believe to be a more appropriate theory of health. Such a theory begins from within human experience and therefore takes into consideration people's individual conceptions of the "good" in relation to health. This new theory of health also restores agency and "personhood" to the patient, thus circumventing many of the difficulties that arise within the scientific model regarding disability and mental health considerations.