Between Health and Illness

This essay explores the connections between health and illness, and the processes of salutogenesis, pathogenesis, and homeostasis. Written from an understanding of human embodiment and the consequences this has for our experiences of health and disease, this essay moves towards a positive definition of health, as an on-going outcome from the processes of a life lived well. "Well" here is measured in terms of wealth, relationships, coherence, fitness, and adaptability. Mencken's criticism that "Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality" is answered; the search for health is, in part, a moral as well as a biological enterprise. Both generative processes and remedial measures contribute to health. The patients in my consulting room usually need remedial medicine, but they would also like to flourish as human beings. Doctors should be able to provide a balance of measures towards this end.