Teaching the mental and social aspects of medicine in eastern Europe: role of the WHO definition of health.

Abstract

Official definitions of health can be categorized into two types: positive and negative. While the negative definitions identify health as an absence of disease or illness, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines health positively, as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely as the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health Organization, 1946). This latter definition calls attention to the fact that being healthy involves much more than simply determining illness since it also encompasses well-being. Moreover, the WHO definition of health has important educational implications as it suggests medical educators should pay attention to the mental and social dimensions of health and medicine.