WELLNESS PHILOSOPHY
by Richard J. Kelliher, Psy.D
Wellness, a relative concept in and of itself and by most
enlightened definitions, has as much if not more to do with
one's state of mind or attitude towards one's state of well-being
than one's actual state of disease/illness/wellness. The
Integrated Model (below)
| THOUGHT |
| BIOLOGY |
SPIRITUALITY |
FEELING |
| BEHAVIOR |
attempts to look at and work with the whole person and assumes
that a change, shift, or transfromation in any one part effects
in some, as yet unquantifiable way(s), each of the other parts.
It can generally be assumed that the process and outcomes of
these summed changes can be at least partially quantified via
mental (attitudinal) or behavioral measurement indexes.
Additionally, the model assumes that it is not physical or
metaphysical reality but a person's perception and subsequent
interpretation of that "reality" that serve as determinants of a
person's process along the infinitely varied paths of life.
Thus, the marvelous richness in nature's physical and biological
world and the endless diversity of physical forms and forms of
life are recreated in the personality, perceptions, and motives
of each individual. This richness can be studied in the
phenomena of Wellness and Illness, in the endless forms of
individual adaptation by which people adapt and reconstruct
themselves when faced with the challenges and vicissitudes of
life. Successful adaptation and the maintainence of (or return
to) homeostasis at a different level require ongoing awareness
and acceptance of what is and some desire for change.
In the above sense, various disorders and diseases can play a
paradoxical role, by bringing out latent energies, developments,
evolutions, transformations, energies, motivations, and shifts in
perception that might never have been seen, or even be
imaginable, in their absence. It is the paradox and potential
gift of a disease that might evoke creative potential and in a
sense serve as the necessary foundation upon which a new life can
be conceived and actualized.
With regards to Wellness, it seems that the more one accepts
their physical/biological reality and begins to focus on their
intactness and well-being, they can achieve in other ways, by
another course, or by other means more than their premorbid or
present physical state suggests. By means of assimilation,
accommodation, compensation and adaptation, an active and dynamic
process can be initiated that can reconstruct a coherent sense of
self and the world. From this view evolves a different
conception of "health" and "disease" that define the person's
wellness as their capacity and ability to create new life, order,
meaning, purpose, and organization. The numerous examples of
people whose lives do not contract but are transformed by illness
and even jettisoned into wellness (e.g. alcoholic/addict, spinal
cord injuries) are evident in our everyday health system milieus.
This is often so not only despite a persons condition but often
because of and aided by their conditions.
In order to study and ascertain how deeply altered selves and
worlds are/can be recreated from a state of "disease", it is
suggested of course that all those parts of a person's
functioning be attended to as in the Integrated Model. It is
hypothesized that attention to any one aspect may be sufficient
and necessary for improved wellness but it also seems possible,
due to interaction effects, that change in any one component of
the system may produce profound changes in any or all of the
others. Therefore, it is at least hypothesized that a multimodal
approach to wellness may increase the probability of increased
psychoneurological changes and assist people in managing or
improving their psychoimmunological functioning.
Richard J. Kelliher, Psy.D is the director of
A Center For Cognitive Therapy of Santa Barbara and
a consulting Psychologist for Sanctuary Psychiatric Centers.
