A Health Model vs. a Disease Model

Decades of research led to the development of the Health Model upon which much of our programs and products are based. This Model is markedly different from the Disease Model, which is currently the basis of traditional health practice.

The Disease Model is based on the assumption that health is simply the absence of disease and established risk factors. When medicine is practiced this way, a doctor is expected to assume that disease is mostly the result of flaws in the genetic pool. As a result, the focus of treatment is on making a diagnosis, putting a label on that diagnosis, and then treating the label. This approach works well in crises situations, such as a heart attack, but fails miserably when used to handle chronic disease and infections. The flaw rests in the fact that symptoms and risk factors are less often the cause – and more often a reflection – of underlying defects. As a result, treating the symptom by dictating to the body what you would like to have happen, rather than supporting natural mechanisms, does little more than hide the underlying defect.

The Health Model begins, instead, with the premise that it is necessary to know how something works in order to repair or improve it. It further proposes that health changes must be addressed from the perspective of their impact on total health, rather than just focusing on how a procedure impacts a specific symptom.

Our Health Model addresses health from a broader framework than the conventional approach. This is why a one-size-fits-all approach to wellness doesn’t work for many people. By addressing and treating these defects, the doctor and patient are able to get at the cause of disease, rather than simply treating symptoms for a lifetime.