The personal nature of health

Substance Use & Misuse, 1998

Philosophy of Science, 1977

This paper argues that the medical conception of health as absence of disease is a value-free theoretical notion. Its main elements are biological function and statistical normality, in contrast to various other ideas prominent in the literature on health. Apart from universal environmental injuries, diseases are internal states that depress a functional ability below species-typical levels. Health as freedom from disease is then statistical normality of function, i.e., the ability to perform all typical physiological functions with at least typical efficiency. This conception of health is as value-free as statements of biological function. The view that health is essentially valueladen, held by most writers on the topic, seems to have one of two sources: an assumption that health judgments must be practical judgments about the treatment of patients, or a commitment to "positive" health beyond the absence of disease. I suggest that the assumption is mistaken, the commitment possibly misdescribed.

Despite criticisms of shortcomings, the World Health Organization s definition of health remains unamended since its adoption in 1948. Subsequent interpretations of the definition have sought to address some of the shortcomings. This paper argues about a new understanding of health. According to this understanding, health is perceived as the quality of being, emanating from satisfying the obligations and responsibilities toward self and others, in proportion with the shape, size and quality of a functioning life structure, as well as one s economic and social status, at a certain time and a given physical and social environment. Its source is cellular biologic potential energy, sufficiency and efficiency of which make us act, interact, cooperate or refrain, and adapt. Such an understanding has important implications. Individuals, communities and governments can improve their role in the assessment, preservation, protection, upholding, development, measurement and management of both individual and population health, which are fundamental to human wellbeing, progress and prosperity.

The Israel Medical Association journal : IMAJ, 2002

The notion of health used in medicine may have important implications, such as guiding the allocation of medical resources. This paper explores the notion of health through an overview and conceptual analysis of various notions of health found in modern medical and philosophical literature. It argues that health is characterized either positively or negatively (per exclusion), and either mechanistically (as the set of common or ideal states of a species) or holistically (as unimpaired self-organization of organisms). The paper concludes that a sound notion of health characterizes health negatively and holistically, assimilating mechanism as a good approximation in simple cases.

Anekaant: A Journal of Polysemic Thought, 2019

We generally take for granted the distinction between health and illness and we imagine the “sick” to be those individuals marked out by physiological impairment. I argue, however, that human health is an existential issue—it is a matter of how we embrace our freedom—and that therefore the illness and health of a person do not map neatly onto the distinction between those who have a physiological malady and those who do not. I use a range of case studies to illustrate more exactly what human health is, and how this relates to what we normally consider to be sickness.

Nursing Philosophy, 2014

F1000Research, 2016

Background: Current dilemmas of health care systems call for a new look at the nature of health. This is offered by the Meikirch model. We explore its hypothetical benefit for the future of medicine and public health.Meikirch model: It states: “Health is a dynamic state of wellbeing emergent from conducive interactions between individuals’ potentials, life’s demands, and social and environmental determinants.” “Throughout the life course health results when an individuals’ biologically given potential (BGP) and his or her personally acquired potential (PAP), interacting with social and environmental determinants, satisfactorily respond to the demands of life.”Methods: We explored the Meikirch model’s possible applications for personal and public health care.Results: The PAP of each individual is the most modifiable component of the model. It responds to constructive social interactions and to personal growth. If an individual’s PAP is nurtured to develop further, it likely will cont...

Pan African Medical Journal

For many years the definition of 'health' has remained unchanged as a narrow concept, encompassing physical wellbeing from a medical context. This somewhat focused definition has attracted criticism from individuals and professional bodies alike. Recent attempts have been made to redefine health, each offering an alternative viewpoint from sociological, environmental, societal and economic standpoints. We summarize and contextualize these definitions and provide an alternative, new, all-encompassing definition of health.

In 1948 The World Health Organization (WHO) elaborated a Concept of Health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." 1. Since that affirmation, there are social factors inserted into such a concept. Until then, health was considered under the ancient phrase of the Roman poet Juvenal mens sana in corpore sano 2 , with some other affirmations as that one of Leriche in the 1930s, "health is life lived in the silence of the organs." 3. By the way, the word 'silence' was appropriated to the context of totalitarian governments in those days. However, we are not sure of the correlation between the affirmation and the repressive condition. After World War II, it was necessary to promote a politics of 'welfare' to people who suffered more under that conflict. So did the countries that had more losings under the War. In this line, WHO elaborated a concept of health as a kind of 'well-being,' introducing the social factor in health. Before that, health was just individual. With the social condition, we can perceive that collectivity crosses over individuals, and individuals cross over collectivity. That social vision benefits several individuals and communities beyond selfish thinking about health. Following the WHO definition, we can see that physical well-being corresponds to an 'objective' process. On the other hand, mental well-being is related to a 'subjective' process. It is essential to understand the use of these two words, 'objective' and 'subjective.' In the last decades of the twentieth century, 'objective' was more and more valorized, and the opposite happened to 'subjective'. The word objective is related to 'object' and subjective to 'subject'. So, society became very pragmatic, and a kind of 'objectification' of human being occurred together with dehumanization in medicine. So, we intend to use those words, objective and subjective related to interobjective and intersubjective to better understand the amplified concept of health.

Human beings are susceptible to various degrees and kinds of maladies (real and metaphoric) which they dread and try to overcome. By engaging in a process of reflecting, researching upon and observing the psycho somatic tangle of illness and wellness, one may comfortably dwell in an illusion of being able to grapple with the complex phenomena of health, at least conceptually. Still, there are moments when health as a concept and as an experience teases and dodges us, so does illness.