THE CONCEPT OF

HEALTH
IN PSYCHOLOGY
 THE CONCEPT OF

HEALTH
IN PSYCHOLOGY

What do you know about…

- What is mental health?
- Who studies mental health?
- How do they study it?
- Are we all healthy in this class?
- What can we do to increase it?
What is mental health?
Conceptions of health:

P
S
C
What is mental health?
Conceptions of health:

P PATHOGENIC APPROACH
Origin: “Pathos” = human suffering

S Distinguishing characteristics:
1. Dominant vision
2. The absence of disability, disease and

C premature death
What is mental health?
Conceptions of health:

S SALUTOGENIC APPROACH
Origin: “Salus” = safety, salvation or health

C Distinguishing characteristics:
1. Illness is not the opposite of normality or the absence
of disease, but the opposite of positive health
2. We need to investigate salutogenic factors (that cause
and maintain positive health) and pathogenic factors
(responsible for illness)
What is mental health?
Conceptions of health:

S SALUTOGENIC APPROACH
Origin: “Salus” = safety, salvation or health

C Distinguishing characteristics:
1. Illness is not the opposite of normality or the absence
HUMAN SALUTOGENESIS THEORY
of disease, but the opposite of positive health
2.
(Antonovsky, 1979)
We need to investigate salutogenic factors (that cause
aims on finding and examining which factors are
and maintainfor
responsible positive health)and
the formation andthe
pathogenic factors
maintaining of
health
(responsible for illness)
What is mental health?
Conceptions of health:

S SALUTOGENIC APPROACH
Distinguishing characteristics:

C 1. Illness is not the opposite of normality or the absence

of disease, but the opposite of positive health
2. We need to investigate salutogenic factors (that cause
and maintain positive health) and pathogenic factors
(responsible for illness)
3. Health= the presence of positive states of human
functioning in thoughts, feeling and behaviour
What is mental health?
Conceptions of health:

C COMPLETE STATE MODEL

Origin: “Hale” = whole, complete

Distinguishing characteristics:
1. Health= complete state, consisting of the presence
of positive state of human capacities and functioning
as well as the absence of disease
2. Exemplified in the World Health Organization’s (1948)
definition of overall health
What is mental health?
Conceptions of health:

P Borrowing from WHO’s (1948) definition of

health…
Mental health = not merely the absence of

S psychopathology, but the presence of

sufficient levels of emotional, psychological,
and social wellbeing (Keyes, 2002, 2005)

COMPLETE STATE MODEL

What is mental health?
Evolution of “health” definition (WHO):

1 1948: not merely the absence of disability, but a complete

state of physical, emotional and social wellbeing

2 1986: (…) + health is a resource of daily life and not the

unique goal of a person in life

3 2011: Complete wellbeing state in which the person is aware

of his/her own capacities, can face daily stress, work
productively and is able to contribute to his/her community
What is mental health?
Evolution of “health” definition (WHO):

3 2011

- “Mental or physical health does not only consist on

lacking illness or disorders, but also to enjoying some
capacities and resources that allow us to copy with
adversity and create conditions for endorsing as much as
possible the human development (…) such as”:

- fulfilling relationships with people

- ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity
What is mental health?
Evolution of “health” definition (WHO):

3 2011

Mental health implies… “something positive”

 emotional vitality and
≠ an-hedonia positive feelings towards
one’s life

≠ malfunctioning
Scientists have been studying
“something positive” in the
“something positive”
domain of health for about 50
years. This research has
yielded 13 specific
dimensions to identify
wellbeing

FLOURISHING
vs

LANGUSHING
Mental health is NOT
the opposite of mental
illness.

Why?
Mental health Mental illness

If I don’t have any mental illness…does it

mean that I’m mentally healthy?
MIDUS: Testing the Dual-Continua Model

MIDUS: Midlife In the United States Survey

Objective
To answer: Is mental health - mental illness a continuum (1)?
or separate entities (2)?
MIDUS: Testing the Dual-Continua Model

Objective

1 One dimension with two poles 2 Complete state of mental

health

The absence of mental

illness doesn’t equal the
presence of mental health
MIDUS: Testing the Dual-Continua Model

Methodology (How did they test it?)

A Measures of mental illness

(depression, generalized anxiety, panic and alcohol dependence)

B Measures of mental health

(emotional, psychological and social wellbeing)
MIDUS: Testing the Dual-Continua Model

Conclusions

Measures of mental illness and mental health are separate entities

Two-factor model: mental illness is distinct from mental health

(but they are correlated)

Mental health is a continuum… and mental illness is another one

MIDUS: Testing the Dual-Continua Model

Mental health is a continuum… and mental illness another one

+ -
mental illness

mental health

- +
Health= no mental
illness +
something more
Mental health is a continuum…

Flourishing is…

the combination of feeling good and functioning effectively

high levels of wellbeing

the optimal human functioning

the complete state of mental health

MIDUS: Testing the Dual-Continua Model

1 2
One-factor model Two-factor model
- mental health and mental illness
reflect a single factor (=“thing”) - mental health and mental illness
reflect two different factors (“things”)
- the absence of mental illness
implies the presence of mental - the absence of mental illness does
health NOT imply the presence of mental
health

Results supported this model

 Flourishing prevalence
(Keyes, 2005)

100 Languishing Moderately mentally healthy Flourishing

77%

75
23%
16,8
1,5 1,5

50

55,0 50,7
25

7,0 9,5
0
Episode of mental illness No mental illness
 Flourishing prevalence
(Keyes, 2005)

100 Languishing Moderately mentally healthy Flourishing

77%

75
23%
16,8
1,5 1,5 One of the goals of psychology is to
promote mental health, rather than
50 just to prevent illness

55,0 50,7
25

7,0 9,5
0
Episode of mental illness No mental illness
Mental health as flourishing
Mental health= having a positive emotional state, a compassionate way of
thinking about ourselves and the others, expectations of a positive and
hopeful future and, in general, interpreting the present adaptively. It also
implies having resources to face adversity and for developing as humans.
All these go beyond the approach based on deficiency and weaknesses:

Help and
intervention Illness prevention
Health promotion
Disease intervention

Deficiency/pathogenic approach Strengths/complete state approach

SEE YOU ON
THURSDAY