What Is Wellness? The New Mental And Physical Well-being
It is well known that a problem cannot be conceived as such until the concepts have been created to define and limit it. That is why, among other things, our current conception of what well-being should be has been expanding to encompass aspects of human life that decades ago would have been unimportant or even disdained.
Today, however We talk not only about the importance of covering the basic needs of each of us, but about a realm of potentialities much broader than the possibility of feeling well physically This concept has been called wellness .
He wellness It is an idea that more and more therapists and psychologists are working with, but also spa hotel organizations and agencies that offer weekend experiences. What is wellness and why is it so popular?
What we understand today by wellness is derived from the ideas of Halbert L. Dunn an American statistician who is considered the father of Wellness Movement. In the 1950s, Dunn developed the idea of ​​wellness, understanding that human well-being had to go beyond what until then was included in the field of health. Thus, this concept had to include, in addition to the correct functioning of the organism, the ability to opt for various avenues of self realisation.
In this way, the wellness that Halbert L. Dunn talked about can be understood as the dynamics and lifestyle through which human potential is brought to its maximum in the physical, mental and spiritual spheres As the theorization of wellness includes the acceptance of the existence of a mental and spiritual world in addition to the physical one, this concept is used especially in the circles of influence of alternative medicine and non-experimental psychology.
Since the 50s, and especially with the momentum that culture took New Age In the 70s, this idea of ​​health has spread to spa centers, spas and wellness hotels, but also to travel programs and experiences that offer wellness weekends and long stays dedicated to improving the standard of living.
An eternally postponed issue
This new way of understanding well-being was not born in the mid-20th century by chance. There are reasons why there are many wellness centers today and a century ago this idea was not even considered. This is because Changes in social conditions have made it possible for the philosophy of wellness and comprehensive health to spread
It is curious that, although Western human societies have assumed for many centuries the existence of a separation between the body and the soul, all their efforts in the sense of improving the quality of life of people (that of the wealthy classes, in concrete) have focused only on the physical realm. He spiritual realmwhich is understood as linked to the divine and seems, therefore, much more important than the “simple carcass of flesh and bones”, takes center stage in the practice of creating ideal living conditions.
A select few
The soul feeding It was something that was reserved for very small elites and their environment, even though there was always some philosopher who, even having problems surviving, insisted on answering these types of questions.
Of course, until not so long ago, it was difficult to try to respond to a repertoire of needs as difficult to define as those that correspond to the spiritual realm, and even less so with the scarce resources and limited technologies available. How could the ancient Romans, for example, have talked about wellness, for example, who depended on the denial of the human character of their slaves to maintain an acceptable standard of living themselves and use their services with complete freedom?
Today, however, talking about wellness is now possible And it is, among other things, because we already have the resources and technology to not continue postponing indefinitely the fundamental question: What happens to the well-being of our mind?
Wellness in the wellness society
It is not surprising, therefore, that this notion of what wellness is practically coincides with the appearance of the welfare state, shortly after the Second World War. As the basic needs of more and more social strata were being met thanks to the redistribution of wealth, it was easier to extend the scope of all positive human values ​​further
It is at this moment when more people begin to talk about the freedom, the autonomy to be able to choose a lifestyle adapted to one’s own way of being and doing things. It is also at this time that the idea that well-being must address issues not addressed until now begins to spread. Many psychology professionals are beginning to focus their interventions towards the need not only to treat mental problems, but also to help lead patients towards happiness and self-realization. The needs of the spirit, reformulated as needs of the mind, become some of the main objectives.
In this way all ideas related to health and fitness have been imbued with the notion of wellness: from plans to lose fat, lose weight and maintain a flat stomach, to treatment plans for sick patients or to help maintain healthy diet plans
Science in speech
As always happens with concepts that appeal to a spiritual world that functions by logic different from the realm of the physical, Wellness in its original definition is not something that is taken into account much in scientific psychology or conventional medicine Research and intervention plans from these instances usually focus on the study of the subjective experience and the Placebo effectbut not in the consideration of areas of well-being detached from normal biological and physiological processes.
It is clear that weight loss plans could work better if the idea of ​​wellness is internalized and assumed by patients, and that hotels can improve their economic results if they include a wellness center in their services, but that does not tell us much about an area of ​​human needs separated from the rest of the areas of physical health
So, although many spas, hotels, travel agencies and alternative medicine organizations may find the idea of ​​wellness useful, this is not a universal truth.
Believing in wellness can open the doors to a new way of developing happiness and enjoying life, but not doing so does not make us people far from authentic well-being.
