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PERSONAL WELL BEING:

If Personal Well Being sounds like ThinkPint has gone "trendy", look again. We are simply trying to expand our generation appeal. PERSONAL WELL BEING refers to what in the olden days would have been Physical and Mental Health, respectively. Much is being written under the rubric "Mind Body" and that concept is important to understand. It ain't solely one or the other, that is physical or mental, the two being interconnected and thus operationally they are one. Like egg yolks and whites: you can't have one without the other, but it sometimes is easier to write about each as if it were independent parts of the person. Well Being web sites often start by focusing on one concern, usually physical pain because of a trauma or sudden change in condition and later turn to prevention and maintenance.

The Well Being sites included have good face value. That is, they have been around along enough to be established, are associated with reputable organizations and professionals and do not have commercial axes to grind. Their formats are clear and simple to navigate. All sites include addresses for contacting them. Probably several thousand Body-Mind sites exist. Those included here should give you a useful start in your search for Well Being information.

An ideal classification of Well Being sites might be have two sections, one on Preventive concerns and another on Curative but historically few sites appear to be so singularly concerned. Classifying anything can be a tricky business. For example, if you are seeking information regarding a broken foot, your immediate concern is curative. Where do go and what do you do to have it fixed?

Then, after you have used the curative information and he foot is on its way to healing, your interest may change, especially if you are the spouse, parent or other care taker of the affected. The concern shifts from curative (fixing) to preventing further problems such as helping the patient avoid infection, learning to walk without further injuring the foot, and of course dealing with the psychological issues that accompany a person who has suddenly changed from Well to Sick. The ownership of the problem can also shift from the actual patient solely to being shared by those whom for whatever reason are stuck with the role of caretaker. How is the responsibility shared, who is in charge, who makes the decisions?

Most sites will provide brief explanations about the nature of the condition and then if appropriate discuss how it can be treated or managed. Take time to read the beginning sections of sites. Most sites concerned with physical conditions of well being provide some scheme for classifying disease and injury that are almost intuitive. Scan the introductions to several sites when they exist before turning to a more detailed reading on a particular site.