title: Development of Instruments and Evaluative Procedures on Contributors to Illness and Health.
abstract: Instruments available for a person-centered assessment of the causes of well-being and ill-being are described. Monitoring at the level of symptoms of illness and past lifestyle behavior has failed to promote change in well-being in a strong and consistent way. Therefore, we illustrate a way of assessing the interactions among multiple aspects of the causes of well-being. For example, at least three distinct aspects of human well-being are known to interact synergistically to promote health - neurobiological plasticity, self-regulatory functioning and virtue. The neglect of any one of the ternary aspects of well-being impedes understanding and treatment of the whole person. Each aspect can be reliably measured using quantitative and qualitative techniques to facilitate treatment planning and analysis of their interactions as a complex adaptive system, although further work is needed to clarify the content and structure of each aspect.
authors.affiliation: Renard Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: C Robert
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Cloninger
authors.affiliation: President, Anthropedia Foundation, Washington, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Cloninger
keywords: Diagnosis; health promotion; person-centered care; personality; plasticity; resilience; self-regulation; virtues; well-being