Page 22 - Humanism 2019

ADAPTING:

The Key, the Concept and the Path for Health!!!

By Brion Benninger, MD, MSc, Professor of Clinical Anatomy, COMP-Northwest

dapting is the key, the concept and path to defining • Psychological adaptation – the ongoing process,
Ahealth. Thank you to Dr. Georges Canguilhem, a anchored in the emotions and intellect, by which
French physician who challenged the status quo on the humans sustain a balance in their mental and emotional
definition of health. He provided a profound states of being and in their interactions with their social
philosophical and functional definition with his and cultural environments.
enlightening 1943 published work, The Normal and the
Pathological, which focused on the interactions and • Social adaptation – adjustment and adaptation of
adaptions an individual has with their world in defining humans to other individuals and community groups
health. working together for a
common purpose.
In 1946, the World Health [Dr. Canguilhem] perceived health as
Organization (WHO) Adapting is defined as a
addressed two issues while one’s ability to adapt to their dynamic, ongoing, life-
defining health in its environment. It was dynamic and sustaining process by
constitution: “Health is a which living organisms
state of complete physical, varied from individual to individual adjust to environmental
mental and social well- depending on their internal and changes. A more
being and not merely the comprehensive and
absence of disease or external conditions. elaborate view would be
infirmity.” During the past the dynamic process by
decade, innovators, think which thoughts, feelings,
tanks and technology have continued to adapt, behavior, and biophysiological mechanisms of the
collectively elevating and reshaping our knowledge and individual continually adjust to a constantly changing
understanding to new levels of clarity regarding the environment.
relationship between mechanisms of disease and the Imagine a virtual 3D sphere as a health care rubric
human genome addressing individuals, health care structure representing:
systems, and population cultures. Dr. Canguilhem did not
1. Population cultures
accept the ideas or the scales defining health to be normal
2. Health care systems (delivery and education)
vs. abnormal states. He perceived health as one’s ability to
3. Individuals receiving health care.
adapt to their environment. It was dynamic and varied
from individual to individual depending on their internal Population cultures will revolve and interact at the outer
and external conditions. aspect of the sphere, providing biodata and biodiversity to
I believe the two issues within the WHO definition are maintain thriving population cultures. Health care
not ideal moving forward, considering our current systems (delivery and education) will exist as the matrix
understanding and expectations. The concept of adapting within the sphere, receiving continuous biofeedback of
must be included in a revised definition of health. positive and negative stressors from the physical, mental
and social/spiritual arenas surrounding individuals within
The Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of the sphere. This matrix can facilitate solutions to
Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health (7th ed., 2003) communities and individuals as a means for them to
provides definitions of adapting, including the three maintain harmonious homeostasis and/or return to health
realms listed in the WHO definition: from an insult(s). Individuals can move within the sphere
on any set of coordinates, deciding or randomly receiving
• Physiological adaptation – the ongoing process by
degrees of positive and negative stressors to which they
which internal body functions are regulated and
are exposed and adapt to, ultimately defining what is
adjusted to maintain homeostasis in the internal
health. The matrix receives biofeedback from population
environment.
cultures and individuals, enabling individuals to control

and define health.
19 HUMANISM IN THE HEALTH SCIENCES 2019 • VOL. 22