Abstract
Prevention of disease always seems like a good idea. Who could argue against taking measures to prevent a heart attack or detecting cancer early (at a stage when it can be removed or effectively treated)? These disease-focused measures aimed at prevention make such good common sense that it is hard to argue against them and we would not do so because they really can work. And yet there are problems with these approaches that often elude common sense. We believe that these limitations need to be appreciated and the preventative measures aimed at disease need to be bolstered and adjusted by complementary measures based on the whole body and the whole person.
“Many things are true at a low level of being and become absurd at a higher level, and of course vice versa.”
E. F. Schumacher
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Reprinted from Hutchinson TA. (Ed.). Whole Person Care. A New Paradigm for the 21st Century. New York: Springer Science + Business Media, LLC; 2011.
References
Fletcher RH, Fletcher SW, Wagner EH. Chapter 8, Prevention. In:Clinical epidemiology. The essentials. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1996. p. 165–85.
Rose G. Strategy of prevention: lessons from cardiovascular disease [Occasional Review]. BMJ. 1981;282:1847–51.
Brophy JM, Costa V. Statin wars following coronary revascularization – evidence-based clinical practice? Can J Cardiol. 2006;22(1):54–8.
Black WC, Welch HG. Advances in diagnostic imaging and overestimations of disease prevalence and the benefits of therapy. N Engl J Med. 1993;328(17):1237–43.
Taylor WF, Fontana RS, Uhlenhopp MA, Davis CS. Some results of screening for early lung cancer. Cancer. 1981;47:1114–20.
Marcus PM, Bergstralh EJ, Fagerstrom RM, Williams DE, Fontana R, Taylor WF, et al. Lung cancer mortality in the Mayo Lung Project: impact of extended follow-up. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2000;92(16):1308–16.
Helgesen F, Holmeberg L, Johansson JE, et al. Trends in prostate cancer survival in Sweden, 1960 through 1988: evidence of increasing diagnosis of nonlethal tumors. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1996;88(7):1216–21.
Hakama M, Holli K, Visakorpi T, Pekola M, Kallioniemi O-P. Low biological aggressiveness of screen-detected lung cancers may indicate over-diagnosis. Int J Cancer. 1996;66:6–10.
Zahl PH, Maehlen J, Welch HG. The natural history of invasive breast cancers detected by screening mammography. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(21):2311–6.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for breast cancer: U.S. preventive services task force recommendation statement. Ann Intern Med. 2009;151(10):716–26.
Hayward RA, Krumholz HM, Zulman DM, Timble JW, Vijan S. Optimizing statin treatment for primary prevention of coronary artery disease. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152:69–77.
Fletcher GF, Balady G, Blair SN, Blumenthal J, Caspersen C, Chaitman B, et al. Statement on exercise: benefits and recommendations for physical activity programs for all Americans. Circulation. 1996;94:857–62.
Cassileth BR, Heitzer M, Wesa K. The public health impact of herbs and nutritional supplements. Pharm Biol. 2009;47(8):761–7.
Zee PC, Turek FW. Sleep and health: Everywhere and in both directions. Arch Intern Med. 2006;66(16):1686–8.
Selye H. Stress and the general adaptation syndrome. BMJ. 1950:1383–92.
Kabat-Zinn J. Full Catastrophe Living. Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. 15th ed. New York: Delta Trade Paperback; 1995.
Frankl V. Man’s searching for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press; 2006.
Harrington A. Chapter 5, Healing ties. In:The cure within. A history of mind-body medicine. New York: W. W. Norton; 2008. p. 175–204.
Mount B, Boston P. Healing connections: a phenomenological study of suffering, wellness and quality of life. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2007;33:372–88.
Drazen RY. The choice is yours [DVD]. Drazen Productions; 2001. Distributed by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation.
Philips D, editor. Heroes. 100 Stories of living with kidney failure, Chap. 14. Montreal: Grosvenor House Press; 1998. p. 43–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hutchinson, T.A. (2017). Prevention and the Whole Person. In: Whole Person Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59005-9_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59005-9_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59004-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59005-9
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)