Psychology
Characteristics of Mental Health
The characteristics of mental health include emotional resilience, the ability to form and maintain positive relationships, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, the ability to cope with stress, and the capacity to adapt to change and uncertainty. Mental health also involves self-acceptance, a realistic perception of oneself and others, and the ability to manage one's emotions effectively.
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7 Key excerpts on "Characteristics of Mental Health"
eBook - PDF- Dianne Hales(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
• They feel a sense of meaning and purpose that makes the gestures of living worth the effort required. check-in How many of these characteristics do you have? Psychological health encompasses both our emotional and mental states—that is, our feelings and our thoughts. Emotional health generally refers to feelings and moods, both of which are discussed later in this chapter. Characteristics of emotionally healthy persons include the following: • Determination and effort to be healthy • Flexibility and adaptability to a variety of circumstances • Development of a sense of meaning and affir-mation of life • An understanding that the self is not the cen-ter of the universe • Compassion for others • The ability to be unselfish in serving or relat-ing to others • Increased depth and satisfaction in intimate relationships • A sense of control over the mind and body that enables the person to make health-enhancing choices and decisions Mental health describes our ability to per-ceive reality as it is, to respond to its challenges, and to develop rational strategies for living. A mentally healthy person doesn’t try to avoid con-flicts and distress but can cope with life’s transi-tions, traumas, and losses in a way that allows for emotional stability and growth. The characteris-tics of mental health include: • The ability to function and carry out responsibilities • The ability to form relationships • Realistic perceptions of the motivations of others • Rational, logical thought processes • The ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity check-in How would you assess yourself on each of these characteristics? Culture also helps to define psychological health. In one culture, men and women may express feelings with great intensity, shouting in joy or wailing in grief, while in another cul-ture, such behavior might be considered abnor-mal or unhealthy.
eBook - PDF- Spencer A. Rathus, Jeffrey S. Nevid(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
319 CHAPTER 11 Psychological Health The Good Brigade/Getty Images LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you will be able to . . . 1. Describe the features of a healthy personality from the perspective of major theories of personality. 2. Identify criteria used to distinguish normal from abnormal behavior. 3. Identify and describe the major types of psychological disorders. 4. Identify and describe causal factors in psychological disorders. 5. Identify factors involved in suicide. 320 CHAPTER 11 Psychological Health Some 2,000 years ago the Roman poet Juvenal voiced his prescription for the good life: “Pray for a sound mind in a sound body.” He recognized the need to take care of both the body and the mind. In earlier chapters, we explored how health psychologists seek to understand the psy- chological or mental processes that affect physical health and adherence to medical treatment. In this chapter, we focus directly on our psychological health. Psychological health is essential for our well-being and our ability to cope with the challenges of life. But what does it mean to be psychologically healthy? One yardstick of psychological health is the same as the minimal yardstick for physical health—the absence of a diagnos- able health problem, in this case, the absence of a psychological or mental disorder. But just as psychologists focus on physical wellness, they also think of psychological wellness, which entails coping skills, regulation of our emotional states, and the possibilities of happiness and self-fulfillment. The Healthy Personality The term personality refers to the unique constellation of psychological characteristics or behaviors that make each of us unique and account for consistency in behavior across situa- tions and over time. There is no one single theory or conceptualization of personality. Psychologists recognize that personality involves a complex web of factors that different theorists have approached from different perspectives.
eBook - PDF- Frances E. Aboud(Author)
- 1998(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
Most will have come to the clinic complaining of physical symptoms. The health workers have been trained to detect and treat physical problems but probably know little about psychological symptoms. Consequently, the patient's psy-chological distress is frequently overlooked and he or she is forced to return again and again seeking relief. As a result of studies such as this, more attention is being paid to mental illness in developing countries and to its prevention and treatment. DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION Mental health refers to satisfactory functioning in cognitive, emo-tional, and social domains. Because it represents a continuum, mental health may be more or less satisfactory, and it is safe to say that most people have room for improvement. Very impaired functioning Fully functioning Everyone can be located somewhere along this continuum of mental health. Some function more competently than others in the cognitive, emotional, and social domains of life. Presumably we all aim to function at a high level sometime during our adult years. At what point along this continuum do we place the threshold for mental illness? That is the task of those who develop and use assessment procedures. Below a certain threshold, psychosocial functioning becomes a prob-lem for the person and/or the community, and the person is said to be mentally ill or to have a mental disorder. Mental disorders are defined as behavioral or psychological syndromes (groups of associated fea-tures) that are associated with one or more of the following:
eBook - PDF- Victor Olisah(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- IntechOpen(Publisher)
Traditionally, the profession of clinical psychology has been interested in the alleviation of human suffering. Studies of positive psychological functioning have been far outweighed by those concerned with psychological distress and dysfunction (Joseph & Wood, 2010). It is time to pay more attention to healthy aspects of personality and mental process or in other words good mental health (Davydov et al., 2010) in order to find what kind of features are prominent in healthy individuals rather than what kind of features should not be seen in individuals and also in order to include wellness and mental health promoting factors. Considering Essential Notes in Psychiatry 482 the notion of clinicians who are really and actually engaged in psychopathology, and believe that general personality traits and personality disorders are placed in one spectrum, we can change our approach regarding mental health. Mental health and mental illness are not two distinct phenomena. They might have fluctuation in different situations and might appear in just some kind of situations considering psychological, social, cultural and situational factors. Even in defining abnormal traits there are divergence between social- personality perspectives and clinical perspectives (Rosenthal & Hooley, 2010). Is it really possible to draw a distinction border between health and illness? If yes, to what extent? There has begun to be a profound shift in psychology’s center of gravity– or its locus of control–from outside to inside the person (McCrae, 2002). We thought that psychopathology was the result of life stress, and those events such as marriage, retirement, and loss of spouse would surely bring about major transformations of intraspychic and interpersonal styles.
- David Pilgrim, Anne Rogers, Bernice Pescosolido, David Pilgrim, Anne Rogers, Bernice Pescosolido(Authors)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
49 INTRODUCTION Mental health is a fuzzy concept. It is intertwined with social and cultural values, which are characteristically and legitimately diverse (Fulford, 2001). Hence, there is no bird’s eye view of it but a variety of different perspectives (Pilgrim, 2005: 438). Established approaches to mental health focus on psychiatric disor-der or psychological distress. That is they see mental health as the absence of symptoms of psychopathology. In this chapter, two different perspectives are described from positive psychology and the sociology of the self. Both have developed distinct theoretical concepts and delivered empirical evidence that complement the psychopathological view and are of high relevance to research-ers and practitioners in the field of mental health. The present contribution is structured as follows. First, as a background the psychiatric disorder and the psychological distress concept are briefly recapitulated. Then, I highlight the approach and contributions of positive psychology. Subsequently, I deal with the sociology of the self. For both perspectives, emergence, main theoretical assumptions, central empirical findings and merits and criticisms are described. The contribution ends with a short conclusion. 3 Mental Health, Positive Psychology and the Sociology of the Self B e n e d i k t R o g g e THE SAGE HANDBOOK OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS 50 BACKGROUND: THE DISORDER AND THE DISTRESS APPROACH Both the psychiatric disorder and the psychological distress approach (see for example Payton, 2009) conceive mental health indirectly as the absence of symptoms. Mental health is thus defined negatively by the absence of pathology, operationalized by cognitive, emotional, behavioural and (occasional) physical symptoms, defined in psychiatric classifications, such as DSM and ICD (Rogers and Pilgrim, 2005). However, there are major differences between these deficit approaches.
eBook - PDFA Handbook for the Study of Mental Health
Social Contexts, Theories, and Systems
- Teresa L. Scheid, Eric R. Wright(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
The more frequently such events occur and the more serious they are, the worse any person’s mental health is likely to be. Other social causes of poor mental health lie in persistent living conditions that do not appear at a particular time and then go away but that are rooted in ongoing circum-stances (Turner, Wheaton, & Lloyd, 1995 ; Chapter 12 in this volume). For example, people who live in social environments that feature high rates of poverty, neighbor-hood instability, crime rates, dilapidated housing, and broken families are likely to have high rates of psychological distress (Ross, 2000 ; Wight, Ko, & Aneshensel, 2011 ). Other enduring stressful circumstances involve troubled marriages, oppressive working conditions, or unreasonable parents. Sociological perspectives predict that especially taxing living conditions, roles, and relationships are related to low levels of psychological well-being, over and above the qualities of the particular individuals who must deal with these situations. Many sociologists study how social conditions affect levels of mental health. Others look at the social reactions to mental health problems. Some factors that lead people to respond to emotional difficulties in different ways involve social char-acteristics such as gender, ethnicity, age, and education (Schnittker, 2013 ). These traits make people more or less likely to define themselves as having some kind of 8 Allan V. Horwitz psychological problem and to seek help once they have made these definitions. Other aspects involved in the reaction to mental troubles concern varying cultural values toward mental health and illness. Culture refers to socially shared systems of beliefs, values, and meanings. It encompasses, among many other factors, people’s ethnic heritage, religious beliefs, political principles, and tastes of their age peers.
eBook - PDF- Margarete E. Vollrath(Author)
- 2006(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING AND HEALTH When asked what it is that we would want for our own lives and for our loved ones’ lives, a typical answer is ‘a long life and a good life’—that is, life quantity and life quality. In 1948 the World Health Organization (WHO, 1948) defined health as ‘. . . a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. This definition, with its inclusion of ‘complete . . . well-being’ should be seen as more of a politically based vision than a scientific definition. Yet, the formulation is important both with regard to the tri-component model implied in ‘physical, mental and social . . . ’ and to the focus on the presence of well-being rather than on only the absence of problems. To start with the mental aspects of health, although well-being research can be seen as an alternative or even contrast to the long lasting focus on mental illness in psychology and psychiatry, both approaches should be seen as addressing issues concerning mental health. Well-being research and mental illness research differ in the focus on positive versus nega-tive states and conditions and to some extent in the assumptions concerning the underlying nature of the phenomena of interest. That is, whereas well-being research typically con-ceives of the conditions examined as continuous phenomena, the mental illness tradition has operated with categories of ill-health and disorders, as indicated, for example, by the categorical DSM-IV (Widiger & Clark, 2000; Widiger & Sankis, 2000). Nevertheless, the two approaches complement each other within the mental health field.
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