EN
This study is based on the WHO’s conception of health as optimal physical, mental and social well-being. The paper outlines historical changes in the structure of illness incidence. General causes of rising illness incidence are: the lengthening of human life expectancy (illustrated by international statistics), inadequate diet (especially obesity), and physical inactivity (the ‘wellness’ movement). The increasing occurrence of mental illness is analyzed on the basis of several tendencies. These are: weaker adaptability of the human organism to abrupt changes in life; the mass disintegration of the human personality in industrial countries; the consequences for harmonious co-habitation of the enormous differentiation of personalities; individuals’ lifestyle in the so-called performance society; consequences of changes in traditional values.