Total Health and Total Care

Abstract

Over the past few decades, we have witnessed the unsuspected development of personalized medicine, which uses modern knowledge of neuroscience, nanotechnology, modern methods of imaging the human brain, genetics, etc. However, it has also become clear that in the increasing fragmentation of medicine, the holistic approach is increasingly being lost and that the foreground diseased organ or diagnosis is from the person with all his dimensions of health and illness. It is precisely for this reason that the movement of psychiatry and the entire medicine directed towards the person is developing in the world. Person-centered psychiatry is an initiative that places the patient's whole person at the center of mental health care. Its goals are highlighted by the promotion of psychiatry for the person (the overall health of the person, including illness and positive aspects), for the person (help in fulfilling the life goals of each individual), by the person (with clinicians who act as whole beings, scientifically rooted, with high ethical aspirations) and with a person (in cooperation with a person who is a representative of health care based on respect and empowerment). The person is placed in context, in accordance with the words of Ortega y Gasset: “I am me and my circumstances.” An approach that connects science as an essential tool, clinical practice and medical ethics is becoming a growingly recognized need in all medicine and care. The goal is to overcome reductionism and accept complexity in clinical practice, as well as to demonstrate empathy, understanding, prudence and intuition that are integrated with scientifically and clinically based therapeutic strategies. The definition of health which originated from prof. dr. sc. Andrija Štampar is gaining more and more importance today, and the concept of total health and total care is slowly being introduced. In her presentation, the author will present these contemporary concepts, with a special emphasis on psychotrauma.