The last time I Googled “preventive medicine” (earlier this afternoon), my search returned more than 10 Million results. Clearly, it’s an established idea, but I resent the implication of the term: that without some kind of specific medical action to the contrary, I’m tending towards illness, rather than wellness.
I admit that it’s tempting to look at something like proper dental care as preventive, but I don’t like what “preventive” does to our mental attitude, so I run my mind a bit differently.
I like to anticipate wellness and wellbeing. For the most part, I allow wellness. “Allowing wellness” is good for about 2 Million hits on Google. It is what I would like to see promoted instead of “preventive medicine” or even “proactive medicine” except in those rare cases when “preventive medicine” makes more sense in a sentence (like when talking about fluoride treatments on teeth), and there I use “proactive care.”
Even in cases where I reluctantly give the nod to proactive care, I do so reminding myself that I am contributing to my body’s natural tendency toward wellbeing, and not fending off . . . → Read More: The Problem with “Preventive Medicine”
