Diagnosis

Definition

The term – diagnosis, is derived from the Greek words: δια (dia) meaning between, and γνοσις (gnosis) meaning knowing. When used as a verb – to diagnose, it means to determine which of two or more possible causes of a complaint is actually the cause, e.g. “the doctor will diagnose the cause of your chest pain”. When used as an abstract noun, diagnosis means the act or process of determining the cause, e.g. “the patient was admitted to hospital for diagnosis of her chest pain”. When used as a common noun, diagnosis means what is found as a result of that process, and is a generic term for the name of the condition that is the cause of the complaint, e.g. “on the basis of the test results, the doctor provided a diagnosis of the patient’s chest pain”.

Classically, diagnosis requires establishing the pathology that is responsible for a patient’s symptoms, on the grounds that if the pathology is found, it can be rectified, and the patient’s symptoms thereby relieved. In Pain...