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Health SA Gesondheid (Online)
On-line version ISSN 2071-9736
Print version ISSN 1025-9848
Abstract
KIRSTEN, Tiaan G.J.C.; VAN DER WALT, Hannes J.L. and VILJOEN, Charles T.. Health, well-being and wellness: An anthropological eco-systemic approach. Health SA Gesondheid (Online) [online]. 2009, vol.14, n.1, pp.149-155. ISSN 2071-9736.
More than two decades ago, Fritjof Capra commended - and indeed advocated - a paradigm shift in health science and care. In his book The Turning Point (1982) he talks of a major shift from the preoccupation with micro-organisms to a careful study of the 'host organism and its environment', of 'significant attempts to develop a unified approach to the mind/body system' in Western medicine, of 'a new holistic paradigm' (as opposed to 'the old biomedical paradigm') regarding the problem of health and healing, of 'a holistic and humanistic approach to primary care', and of 'a holistic therapy' as opposed to 'the traditional biochemical practice of associating a physical disease with a specific physical cause'. Our concern in this article is with the paradigm shift advocated by Capra in this book and the progress that has since been made.
Keywords : wellness; holistic; unitas complex; biomedical model; Capra.