Health is More Than the Absence of Disease
When I was applying to grad school, I opened my application essay with this quote from the Constitution of the World Health Organization: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Combating disease is a noble and important pursuit. Modern medicine has made incredible advances in fighting disease. For my part, I specialize in lifestyle medicine, the essence of which is preventing, arresting, and reversing disease through positive health behaviors. To know that we can largely avoid our leading causes of morbidity and premature mortality through our lifestyle choices is remarkable, and I’m proud to advance lifestyle medicine.
That said, let’s take a moment to examine the concept of pathogenesis versus salutogenesis. Pathogenesis looks for the origin of disease (“path” = disease; “genesis” = origination). The Western medicine model is generally built on this concept. We look for reasons why an illness develops, and then try to mitigate those reasons, whether by drugs, surgery, lifestyle changes, or some other method. The disease state is the point of reference. So even disciplines like preventive medicine are based on a pathogenic paradigm because their focus is preventing disease.
Contrast that model to salutogenesis (“salut” = “health”). This model, as its name suggests, looks for the origin of health. The paradigm shift is subtle but significant. Health is the point of reference, not disease.
We’ve become so accustomed to defining health in terms of the absence of illness, that we’re almost left scratching our heads when we seek to define it any other way. What else is there? Dr. John Travis addressed this concept in 1972 with a model he called The Illness-Wellness Continuum, pictured below.
As you can see, the typical treatment model addresses signs, symptoms, and disabilities, all on the left-hand, disease-focused side of the continuum. Successful treatment based on this model carries a person as far as the neutral point – no discernible illness or wellness. I’m not suggesting this aspect of the model is unnecessary or inferior. What I am suggesting, however, is that it is incomplete.
The right-hand side of the continuum, the salutogenic aspect of the model, enters into a world of wellness that goes beyond the neutral point. We embrace awareness, education, and growth. We can ask “What’s making me feel so good?” instead of “What’s making me feel so bad?” Developing a frame of mind that builds on the good, fosters health in a way that getting rid of the bad cannot.
It’s important to note that people with incurable illnesses can still experience high-level wellness. Many people have learned to operate in this salutogenic frame of mind despite their limitations.
One aspect of health coaching I love is that it draws from the concept of salutogenesis. I help clients to identify their strengths, examine how those strengths have helped them in the past, and consider how those strengths can help them in the future. I help clients to create a vision of themselves in their best health, so that we can use that vision as a means of motivation. Awareness, education, and growth are all part of the coaching process, as is helping clients to overcome various health conditions and risk factors.
See how health coaching can help you to experience the best of health. Schedule a free consult call here to learn more about how you can achieve your best health.