Mental Health as a Complete State: How the Salutogenic Perspective Completes the Picture

Summary & key facts

This chapter explains three ways people think about health. It says the best view — the "complete state" — includes both the lack of disease and the presence of positive mental capacities and functioning. The author reviews studies that support using this complete-state view for mental health and suggests that protecting and promoting positive mental health may help lower the chance of mental illness and improve how people function socially and psychologically.

Key facts:

• The chapter describes three conceptions of health: the pathogenic approach (health as the absence of disease or disability), the salutogenic approach (health as the presence of positive capacities and functioning), and the complete state mo
• The World Health Organization’s definition of health as a "complete state" is given as an example of the complete state model (presence of positive states plus absence of disease or infirmity).
• The chapter reviews research evidence that supports applying the complete state model to mental health and mental illness.
• Studies cited in the chapter make the case that promoting and protecting positive mental health may help prevent mental illness and improve individuals’ psychosocial functioning and population health (as reported by the chapter’s review of
• The chapter was first published online on 01 January 2013 and covers pages 179–192 in the book in which it appears.

Abstract

There have been at least three conceptions of health throughout human history. The pathogenic approach views health as the absence of disability, disease, and premature death. The salutogenic approach views health as the presence of positive states of human...

Topics

Health, psychology, and well-being Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction Resilience and Mental Health

Categories

General Health Professions Health Professions Health Sciences

Tags

Affect (linguistics) Artificial intelligence Clinical psychology Communication Computer science Disease Environmental health Meaning (existential) Medicine Mental health Pathology Perspective (graphical) Population Population health Psychiatry Psychology Psychosocial Psychotherapist