Abstract
Working as a doctor in an outpatient psychiatric hospital, I had just finished the treatment of a young homosexual woman who had recently separated from her girlfriend. She experienced a strong grief reaction and came into treatment for this reason. She improved rather quickly, and it was at that moment that I was confronted with the following practical question: Does a homosexual person, who feels reasonably well, require further treatment? Is such a person healthy or not? What are the grounds for a “yes” or “no” in response to this question? The medical library of the University Hospital where I worked, and the medical literature in general, was of little help in answering such questions. I was surprised to find nothing there.
“Defining general terms is not an abstract exercise but a way of shaping the world metaphysically and structuring the world politically.”
Daniel Callahan (1973, p. 74)
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Van Spijk, P. (2002). Positive and Negative Aspects of the Who Definition of Health, and Their Implications for a New Concept of Health in the Future. In: Taboada, P., Cuddeback, K.F., Donohue-White, P. (eds) Person, Society and Value. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 72. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2570-5_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2570-5_10
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