This article needs to be to conform to a of quality.
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See and for help, or this article's talk page.Mental health, mental hygiene and mental wellness are all terms used to describe the absence of mental illness. However, mental health is not defined simply as the absence of mental illness, as it infers the ability to enjoy life, resilience, balance, flexibility and self-actualization.[1]
Overview
Some experts consider mental health as a continuum. Thus, an individual's mental health may have many different possible values. Mental wellness is generally viewed as a positive attribute, such that a person can reach enhanced levels of mentally health, even if they do not have any diagnosable mental illness. This definition of mental health highlights emotional well being, the capacity to live a full and creative life and the flexibility to deal with life's inevitable challenges. Many therapeutic systems and self-help books offer methods and philosophies espousing presumably effective strategies and techniques for further improving the mental wellness of otherwise healthy people.
World Health Organization definition of mental health
"It is a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." [2]
Mental hygiene concept
Dr. William Glasser, a psychiatrist engaged in therapeutics and counseling, describes 'Mental Hygiene' in his book Mental Health or Mental Illness (1961), following the dictionary definition of hygiene as the establishment and maintenance of health, i.e. mental health. Currently, many mental health professionals focus less upon enhancing mental health than on treating psychological symptoms with psychoactive medications.
Mental health, as a concept, is quite distinct from mental illness, and enhancement of mental health plays no part in what most mental health professionals actually do. Instead, the Western medical model relies primarily upon the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) to diagnose and treat the symptoms associated with what they call mental illnesses and disorders.
Psychiatrists and physicians would generally agree that a mental illness is likely present when a defined pathology can be found in brain tissue. Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease are two such illnesses. When no known psychopathology is present, as is the case in depression, manias, neuroses, and such, the question then arises as to whether it is correct to attribute the very real symptoms to scientifically defined causes, i.e. a specific pathology. To a degree, certain indicators, such as reduced thyroid function, support Western medical hypotheses such as the chemical imbalance theory. The DSM-IV defines and attributes mental illnesses to 'chemical imbalances', for which brain drugs are now widely (and in the view of some board certified psychiatrists, wrongly) prescribed. [See Glasser: WARNING--Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous To Your Mental Health. Harper-Collins, 2004. Also see: Robert Whitaker: Mad In America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill; Perseus Publishing,(c)2002; 352pp.]
When no known pathology is present, as is the case for depression, mania, and neuroticism, the question then arises as to whether it is correct to attribute the very real symptoms to mental illness, i.e. a pathology. Nevertheless, the DSM-IV does so define and attribute mental illnesses to several hundred diagnostic conditions for which psychotropic drugs are now routinely prescribed. (However, see references above.)
For an informed discussion of this topic, Dr. Glasser has published Treating Mental Health as a Public Health Problem -- A New Leadership Role for the Helping Professions. (2004 -- www.wglasser.com)
Opposition to biological psychiatry
Opposing viewpoints to biological psychiatry theories include those of anti-psychiatry advocates, who contend psychiatric patients do not necessarily have a mental illness, but in fact are individuals who do not ascribe to the conventional belief system, or consensus reality, shared by most other people in their culture.
Dr. Glasser defines mental health as an entity completely separate from mental illness, explaining that as long as the Western medical model prevails, the mental health profession will be unable to affordably deliver the services many people need. Dr. Glasser asserts that the Public Health model is much better suited to delivering mental health than the prevailing medical model.
According to some critics of the reining medical model, such as Glasser, the Public Health model has been successfully delivering physical health to millions of people for hundreds of years. He explains how this model could be expanded into a low cost Public Mental Health Delivery model, one that could be put into practice easily by all mental health professionals and institutions, by hiring mental health professionals to deliver services without diagnoses (and without strict reliance on drugs) directly to people who need professional help.
Dr. Glasser's work is closely associated with Choice theory.
Mental health promotion
Mental health promotion works from the principle that everyone has mental health needs, not just people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Mental health promotion is essentially concerned with making changes to society that will promote people's mental well-being.
Mental health promotion is a term that covers a variety of stategies. These strategies can be seen to occur at three levels:
- Individual - encouragement of invidual resources by promotion of interventions for self-esteem, coping, assertiveness in areas such as parenting, the workplace or personal relationships.
- Communities - increasing social inclusion and cohesion, developing support structures that promote mental health in workplaces, schools and neighbourhoods.
- Government reduce socioeconomic barriers to mental health at governmental level by promoting equal access for all and support for vulnerable citizens.
See also
External links
- APA.org - 'American Psychological Association'
- MentalHealth.about.com - 'Mental Health Resources: Prescription Drug Abuse Rises in U.S.', Leonard Holmes, PhD, About.com, (July 8, 2005)
- Hodges Health Career - Care Domains - Model
- MentalHealth.com - Internet Mental Health
- MHSelfHelp.org - 'The National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse'
- Mentality - Mental Health Promotion Organisation
- MHSource.com - 'Mental Health Infosource: Your Source for Mental Health Information'
- Resources for CAMHS Information about child, adolescent, and family mental health.
- Latest headlines from journals on mental health
- Oikos.org - 'The Future of Mental Health: Radical changes ahead', Fred Baughman, Jr., USA Today Magazine (March 1, 1997)
- Better-Choices.org - 'Treating recidivism as a mental health issue.'
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