2023 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 52-61
The aim of this paper is to determine how to effectively apply salutogenesis to clinical pain medicine and medical education.
Salutogenesis is a new idea on health advocated by Aaron Antonovsky, an Israeli health sociologist.
We provide the following medical education: (1) In overview of Oriental Medicine for first- and second-year students of our medical department, we endeavor to help students understand how salutogenesis differs from traditional pathogenesis with regard to the idea of health; (2) In the medical program for junior residents we teach traditional oriental medicine, with a particular emphasis on Chinese medicine, representing the salutogenetic approach to pain medicine; and (3) In the outpatient pain clinic for anesthesiology specialists, we teach the application of pathogenesis and/or salutogenesis from the practical clinical standpoint of pain medicine, considering applications and limitations in medical methodologies. There are cases in which pathogenesis alone does not provide relief. In such cases, we propose the application of salutogenesis; namely, identifying and activating the patient's resources so as to obtain the desired outcome. Our final goal is to develop medical practitioners capable of practicing comprehensive medicine based on the biopsychosocial-existential medical model. In this paper, we consider salutogenesis in a case of fibromyalgia syndrome in which comprehensive medicine was practiced.
In conclusion, it is our belief that the salutogenetic manner of thinking is essential in understanding and practicing comprehensive medicine.
