What is Health?

What is Health? It seemed like such an easy thing to define, but what is it? The dictionary defines it as "the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially: freedom from physical disease or pain... The general condition of the body." This week we got into a detailed discussion on health. It made me really think about it. 

The conclusion we came up with is that is is so difficult to define health. There are so many factors involved. It is all based on the person.  Some factors include how they were raised, their culture, the way they think, their religious practices, etc. Health can mean something different based on the person trying to define it. 

An example we really discussed in detail was with people diagnosed with eating disorders. These disorders are anerxia, binge eating, and bulimia. What the therapist may define as health for them is way different from what they will think. The therapist may define health as positive body image, self acceptance, appropriate BMI, and apprpritate eating habits. However, the person withy tehe eating disorder may have a distorted view of health. If they are not self aware of their disorder they may see healthy as getting the body image they want, control, perfection, and some other unattainable and unrealistic goals. It got me thinking about people's personal views of health as opposed to an overall definition. 

Some other examples of views of health comes in looking at cultures. In some cultures, a bigger weight off size may be healthier than what another culture thinks. In many cultures, the family is more important than the individual so people are greatly influenced in their beliefs by the family. It is so interesting to think about health in so many perspectives.

This has taught me another important aspect to think about when practicing music therapy in tehe future. I need to be aware of the health beliefs of different cultures and different people. Being more aware of this could help me help them.