Positive Mental Health: A Turn of the Century Perspective

Abstract

Within the last decade, a national prevention research, training, and practice agenda on mental health has been established to address the epidemiological increases in mental disorders and associated emotional and financial costs to individuals, families, and communities. In this article, the author reviews theoretical, empirical, and public policy support in favor of prevention science that inherently includes a broad positive mental health orientation with an emphasis on mental health promotion processes. Prevention within the mental health field needs to include not only minimizing mental disorders, but also enhancing positive qualities of daily functioning. The socioeconomic and cultural context of positive mental health is emphasized with particular attention given to the interrelatedness of individual, family, and community "collective sense of well being." Nursing and interdisciplinary contributions are reviewed, noting implications for future public policy and service system changes. Innovative ways to enhance mental health will require study of system integration across primary and mental health services as well as incorporating services within societal institutions such as schools and the workplace.

Is Hope or Mental Illness a Stronger Predictor of Mental Health?

“…This result is consistent with a positive psychological view that, unless characterised by the presence of other positive and meaningful dimensions, absence of mental illness does not necessarily equate to mental health (Keyes & Lopez, 2002;Magyary, 2002). On a practical level, the result implies that the focus of strategies to promote mental health may be best redirected to building a young person's positive strengths, such as Hope, to promote mental health and indirectly prevent mental illness, rather than to preventing or remedying mental illness in an attempt to build mental health indirectly.…”

Investigating the Evidence for the Effectiveness of Risk Assessment in Mental Health Care

“…Weak social controls and the disruption of local community organisation have strong associations with increased rates of violent crime and suicide (WHO, 2004). Recognition that mental health problems occur universally, but are much more common among people with relative social disadvantage (Herman & Jane-Llopis, 2005) therefore requires a shift in policy, practice, and research away from a narrow biomedical approach toward a broader health promotion and public health perspective (Magyary, 2002;Wand, 2011).…”

A Novel Theory for Nursing Education

“…Assets derived from this learning community include a commitment to learning, support, positive values, experiential competencies, resiliency, empowerment, empathy, and positive relationships. The comfort of the individual student is thereby strengthened by the comfort of the learning community; the student who experiences comfort in the context of learning contributes to the strength of the community as a whole (Magyary, 2002).…”