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#3 Wellness Services
Definition of wellness
"Wellness" is a relatively new word from the wellness movement in the 1950s.[1] It simply means the state of being in good physical and mental health, but the word wellness today implies broader, holistic lifestyle than just heath care treatment.
Wellness is a big business
According to a study by the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness market is worth $3.4 trillion—three times larger than the global pharmaceutical industry. [2] In the report, the wellness industry is separated into the following ten groups (the $ figure in parenthesis is the estimated market size):
- Beauty and anti-aging ($1,026 billion)
- Healthy eating, nutrition, and weight loss ($574 billion)
- Wellness tourism ($494 billion)
- Fitness and mind-body ($446 billion)
- Preventive and personalized health ($433 billion)
- Complementary and alternative medicine ($187 billion)
- Wellness lifestyle real estate ($100 billion)
- Spa industry ($94 billion)
- Thermal / mineral springs ($50 billion)
- Workplace wellness ($41 billion)
Wellness services in principled mental care
Within the framework of principled mental care, wellness services are viewed as an organized self-help support resource. Similar to psychotherapies, wellness services work because of the collaboration between a motivated self-help practitioner and a skilled service provider. The collaboration is a social mode with a variety of additional modes depending on the specific service types utilized.
For example, the healthy eating, nutrition, and weight loss services utilize the biochemical mode of mental care, including vitamins and supplements that directly influence your body's chemical balance and mental well-being. The fitness and mind-body services such as yoga, gym, and crossfit focus on physical mode.
The complementary and alternative medicine services utilize a combination of biochemical, physical, and spiritual modes via meditation and herbal remedies. The preventive and personalized health services, as well as the workplace wellness services offer preventive care and stress management classes by using a combination of sensory, cognitive, and physical modes of mental care.
Just like psychotherapies, the efficacy of wellness services depends on the person's effort, service providers' skill and experience, and quality of the collaboration. Before you subscribe to a wellness service, it is important to define a clear goal and expected outcome, and shop around for the most reasonable provider that meets your expectation.
For further exploration, use the search keywords: wellness mental health.
[1] B. Zimmer. The New York Times Magazine. April 16, 2010. Retrieved on May 29, 2016. Link
[2] Global Wellness Institute. Global Spa and Wellness Economy Monitor. 2014. Link
