Dr. Hassan Rafiei; Psychiatrist and Faculty Member of the University of Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences

[Taken from the Positive Life Weekly, titled “A Healthy Society Means No One is Below the Poverty Line”; 2015/3/24]

The roots of social health go back to the World Health Organization’s definition of the concept of health. This definition states that health is not just the absence of disease or defect, but rather complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Social health is a multifaceted term. For this reason, it may not be possible to have a precise and comprehensive definition of it from different perspectives. It can be said that there are three perceptions of the concept of social health. A few years ago, at a conference in Paris, there was much discussion about the social nature of health, and in the end, no conclusion was reached, but this conference caused more attention to be directed towards social health and this category was addressed more. It was mentioned that there are three perceptions of the concept of social health. The first perception considers social health to be a combination of physical and mental health. In the sense that in physical health, the body is healthy, and in mental health, the mind is healthy.

But in the second view of social health, attention is paid to the way an individual is socially present in society. That is, the individual interacts well with others in society, helps others when necessary, and sometimes seeks help from others. Of course, some researchers criticize this definition. When we look at the definition of mental health from the perspective of the World Health Organization, we realize that mental health, in addition to the absence of psychological disorders, also means coping with the usual psychological and nervous pressures of life, being productive and fruitful, and participating in the living environment, etc. In the definition of mental health, there are elements of our social presence in the environment that make it impossible to summarize mental health only in anxiety, psychosis, etc., and the social aspect must also be considered. In the other definition, only the individual is considered and the emphasis is on social conditions, but the question that arises is what should social conditions be like? There are also two theories in this topic; The first theory emphasizes a healthy society; that is, social conditions that promote health, which are called social determinants of health. Another theory also emphasizes a healthy society, but a healthy society is not one that simply promotes human health, but social conditions must also improve. With this definition, a healthy society is a society in which there are no social harms, it is developing, and… .

About 10 years ago, a team of 30 people conducted research and listed the characteristics of a healthy society that is appropriate to the social conditions of our country, in which 18 characteristics were mentioned. Of those 18 options, three important components were at the top, and based on those three components, they defined a healthy society in Iran. A healthy society is a society in which no one is below the poverty line, there is no violence, and population growth is controlled. Although these three characteristics may seem ideal, these problems can be minimized.