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I have really enjoyed the dialogue in the forumthis week and it has me thinking a great deal about all the issues raised.

Martin’s comment about distribution of resourcesreally made me think a great deal about the question of health and MentalHealth about what the most effective ways to enhance it in society are.

In general, my sense is that our system stillrelies too heavily on a band-aid model of medicine. For example, we invest aton as a society in good surgical and pharmacological remedies for heartdisease.  But heart disease in the ratesthat we are seeing it in the United States is really a combined problem ofdiet, exercise and stress.

If we were really serious about health shouldn’twe try to find ways to keep people from getting heart disease in the firstplace?

The other thought that comes to mind is the close correlationbetween physical health and mental health. Very often when we are dealing withphysical ailments we are really dealing with underlying mental causes.  For example a person who is suffering fromheart disease, might be very obese.  The obesitymight be related to an unresolved conflict between their story-teller and theirunconscious – that keeps them, despite the advice of friends and family anddespite their own better intentions from being able to help themselves. In thiscase the physical illness is just a symptom of the underlying unresolvedconflict.