wellness models
by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.There are many definitions of the word wellness. Every promoter of healthy lifestyles has either created his or her own, or adopted (usually with variations) an established, oft-repeated definition. All are similar, and all are useful as guides to the boundaries and issues addressed in this broad area of lifestyle education. I always encourage wellness promoters to consider many varied definitions, and then write their own.
The situation with regard to wellness models is a bit different. Only a few exist -- in part because they take more time to construct and in part, perhaps, because they do not seem as essential to the non-theoreticians of the wellness idea. As a result, there are far fewer models of wellness than there are definitions. In fact, the only models to gain much attention over the past 30 years are those that appeared in early wellness books and the one adopted and promoted by the National Wellness Institute (NWI). The NWI promotes a six-part model, the same construct that was first sketched by NWI president Bill Hettler in 1979. (An interview with Bill appears here). The NWI six-dimensional model looks like this:
Beginning in 1972, John Travis, MD, developed his Illness/Wellness Continuum to illustrate the relationship of treatment to wellness. He also defined 12 dimensions of wellness with the Wellness Energy System.
My own model evolved from a simple circle with five dimensions that I introduced in the book, High Level Wellness: An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs and Disease (1977, Rodale). It listed the wellness dimensions in a simple circle, with self-responsibility in the center of that circle, bordered by nutritional awareness, stress management, physical fitness, and environmental sensitivity.
By 1998, I had decided on a more inclusive classification, which appeared in the book 14 Days to Wellness (New World Library, 1982), as follows: self-responsibility (still in the center), nutritional awareness and physical fitness, meaning and purpose, relationship dynamics, and emotional intelligence.
Well, now I have another update, and this is the one used at SeekWellness.com. It looks like this:
Have a look -- all of “Don’s Reports” sorted into the 14 dimensions in the model above are available at the “Daily Report Archive.”
If you feel creative, why not invent your own model of wellness? If you do, send it along to me -- I’d love to see and benefit from it. I might even adopt it! Stay open to possibilities -- that’s the key. What the world needs now are more wellness models, especially if the new models lead to more people living wellness lifestyles.