I think that recognizing the implications of mental and social aspects of health - especially that they are separate from and equally important as physical health - is progress. As described in the article, traditional views have focused on disease, both communicable and chronic. Since the third era of health implies achieving the maximum potential for living, I agree that the improvements in the health care system will require collaboration on the part of physicians and public health professionals in traditional settings, as well as teachers and counselors in school and workplace settings. These three aspects of health rely upon one another, which I think makes our efforts to define "health" so difficult; if health is dependent upon what we eat, how many friends we have, how safe our neighborhood is - just to name a few - then health permeates every aspects of our daily lives, and it's unreasonable to expect that health improvements will arise simply through a restructuring of the current health care system. While restructuring certainly is essential, I think that health-related expansions need to occur in sectors such as education, business, and urban planning and development. These efforts should be preventive in nature, with an emphasis on mental and social health - providing social support systems to schoolchildren and employees, and city development in which the focus lies on the improvement of people's well-being, rather than on budget restraints.
Health measurements will change as a result of such a collaborative effort. As others have mentioned, the development of valid scales for mental and social well-being will aid our efforts to improve these aspects of health. Screenings for depression and other mental illnesses exist, but these tend to vary more than measurements for blood pressure and blood glucose levels, which have been standardized. I think a greater emphasis on mental and social health will significantly improve measurements in these two aspects.
On another note, now that Scott Brown has won Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, I think Obama's plans for health care reform are about to hit a major roadblock.
I agree with Aparna that mental as well as social aspects of health are equally important as physical health, yet they are often neglected or completely overshadowed by physical ailments in the medical field. Though there are attempts to diagnose depression, anxiety, etc... I feel that there needs to be a greater desire in the realms of medicine and public health to seek where these mental and social contributors to health manifest themselves because they can be equally or even more crippling to someone's quality of life.
ReplyDeleteI understand that it is difficult to try to pinpoint how to measure someone so subjective as happiness, but perhaps a feasible way to increase social support would simply be spreading the word that we should all treat others nicely and be a source of happiness for one another. It sounds cheesy, but if attitudes are changed, moods can change and that is one step forwards towards providing increased social support and as a result perhaps increased emotional and mental support for one another.
Change begins from the top…NOT the bottom!
ReplyDeleteAmerica’s healthcare system must change its paradigm from only treating disease to balancing preventive and treatment plans for patients. This paradigm shift must include an acknowledgment that health is more than physical wellness, but also holds the dimensions of social, mental/emotional well-being. Now, because our healthcare system views physical ailments as ones bases for wellness, the other faucets (i.e mental and social) are either ignored or overlooked. Why you might question? Well, my answer is simple…I believe its because of money. Our healthcare system is like any other business, it needs money to survive and serve its communities. The physical body is less complicated to treat than the mental status of a patient, not to mention the differences of time it takes to treat the two. It pays to cure physical ailments but costs money to prevent or treat mental illness.
Here is my bottom line: America’s healthcare will never reach the 3rd era unless it discontinues being capitalistic. When you mix medicine and business, you will always run the risk of compromising the integrity of practicing medicine. However, if money is not the issue, I believe the possibilities could then become endless on how America views and treats health.