THE 2lST CENTURY

The purpose of this volume is to provide a capsule view of the relationship of the behavioral and social sciences to pubIic health as we enter the 2 1st century. Historically, the genealogical tree of Western medicine often is traced to Hippucrates, who held a holistic concept of health and disease: “Health depends upon a state of equilibrium among the various internal factors which govern the operation of the body and the mind; the equilibrium in turn is reached only when man lives in harmony with his external environment” (cited in Dubos, 1959, p. 114). Thus, although physicians before the Age of Enlightenment attempted to treat wounds, burns, and fractures with practical remedies, the emphasis in healing was on health preservation rather than on curative processes. There was also emphasis on the interactions between cognitive-affective processes and bodily processes and between the individual (i.e., the host) and the environment. In the 17th century, emerging notions of scientific thought shifted the balance in favor of reductionist as opposed to holistic approaches to health and disease and curative medicine over the preservation of health.