What is positive mental health?
The mental health continuum
For a long time, researchers and clinicians have largely neglected positive mental health and primarily focused on mental illness. However, positive mental health is more than just the absence of mental health problems: it’s a combination of feeling good and functioning well emotionally, psychologically and socially. According to sociologist and psychologist Corey Keyes, mental health falls on a continuum ranging from poor mental health to flourishing (1). As you can see on the curve below, most people fall in the ‘moderate mental health’ category.
What are languishing and flourishing?
Languishing is a state of lower wellbeing and functioning where a person might experience some psychological distress, limitations in daily activities and a sense of stagnation or emptiness (2). Put more simply, someone who is languishing might be feeling a bit “meh” and joyless, find that they are aimlessly going through daily tasks and are struggling to function at their normal activity levels. While languishing is not a mental illness, therapy and other strategies can help a person cope and move up the mental health continuum (3). According to Keyes, approximately 12% of American adults fit the criteria for languishing (although this might have gone up during the pandemic) (1).
In contrast, flourishing refers to living “within an optimal range of human functioning” characterised by “goodness, generativity, growth and resilience” (2). Research has shown that individuals who are flourishing and free of mental health disorders report fewer missed workdays, better psychological and social functioning and improved physical health outcomes (4). Despite all these benefits, fewer than 20% of adults meet the criteria for flourishing, suggesting that in addition to preventing and treating mental illness, there is a need for proactive positive psychology programs to help more people flourish.
As shown in the image above, traditional psychology mainly focuses on healing peoples’ disorders and reducing suffering. While this life-saving work is incredibly important and needed, it generally deals with the lower half of the mental health continuum. In contrast, positive psychology aims to help people flourish and reach the upper end of the continuum. It does so by focusing on “the psychological states (e.g., contentment, joy), individual traits or character strengths (e.g., intimacy, integrity, altruism, wisdom), and social institutions that enhance subjective well-being and make life most worth living” (American Psychological Association - APA). That is to say, positive psychology tries to encourage people to use their strengths, build upon the good in their life (while repairing the bad), and lead meaningful and purposeful lives. Ultimately, both traditional psychology and positive psychology play an important role in achieving and maintaining positive mental health.
The Takeaways
Mental health falls on a continuum. Mental health generally varies across the lifespan which means that we are all likely to move up and down this continuum at different stages of our lives.
Positive mental health is not just the absence of mental illness but also the presence of ‘wellbeing symptoms’. Traditional psychology mainly focuses on healing mental illness while positive psychology aims to help people flourish and reach their optimal range of functioning.
Do you feel a bit stuck and would like to move up the mental health continuum? Are you relatively mentally healthy but you know that could feel and function even better?
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Resources
If you are interested in learning more about positive psychology, some great books on the topic include:
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E.P. Seligman
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being by Martin E.P. Seligman
References
Keyes, C. L. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of health and social behavior, 207-222.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Losada, M. F. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American psychologist, 60(7), 678.
Article by verywellmind.com Languishing Is the Mood of 2021, How to Identify It and How to Cope - https://www.verywellmind.com/languishing-is-the-mood-of-2021-5180999
Keyes, C. L. (2007). Promoting and protecting mental health as flourishing: a complementary strategy for improving national mental health. American psychologist, 62(2), 95.