When I am ill, my experience of reality changes. My subjective experience of illness rather than disease alters the way that I approach things.  As a consumer of health care and as someone who hopes to go into the health care profession, I found the article “The Social Construction of Diagnosis and Illness” very impactful.  At times in psychology courses, I have found that the focus is on treating the pathology or disease, rather than the illness that the patient experiences.  The theoretical shift to a focus and legitimation of the patient’s experience is an important one in many ways, especially when we look into aspects of treatment such as adherence.  The article highlights that some illness are stigmatized, some are contested, some considered disabilities and others not, illustrating some of the struggles that individuals can face in seeking treatment for their ailments.  When I am ill I know my experience of illness, but conveying that can be a challenge. This challenge is especially relevant to those suffering from diseases that cannot always be seen or that are not understood.  It is interesting to note that at times as patients we face both the challenges of having to battle to have a set of symptoms legitimized with a diagnosis of a contested illness and on the other hand having to be wary of doctors over-prescribing (sometimes) unnecessary drugs. When I am ill, I must now choose where to seek symptom relief, and there are some things that a call to my mom or cup of tea cannot fix.  Ben Goldacre reminds us of the importance of examining the research and taking the evidence into our own hands, to see for ourselves what the data say. We must choose between medicine, supplements, lifestyle changes, dietary changes, homeopathic treatments, and other alternative forms of medicines.  As a patient, I have chosen a combination of these approaches – I believe in medicine, I believe in the biological basis of disease, but I also understand that not everything needs to be treated by medication and that we do not always have a perfect treatment that comes without important side effects.  I am also wary that my doctors may be prescribing drugs because of the monetary benefit that that may provide rather than because I need them.