ObjectiveThis paper studies the mediating and interactive effects of social capital on psychological capital and the feeling of happiness from the impact of COVID-19. Since its emergence, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on people’s mental health and affected their hopes for the future. Lifestyle and economic conditions have also been affected and have subsequently impacted people’s sense of confidence in life. This could increase the likelihood of many people developing mental health issues, such (...) as anxiety or depression. Therefore, it is vital to study the influence of psychological capital and social capital on people’s subjective psychology and happiness experiences.Materials and MethodsUsing an ordered probit model, this paper studied the independent influence and interaction between psychological capital and social capital on people’s happiness. The ordered probit model was chosen because subjective well-being is an ordered variable. We further used structural equation modeling to study the mediating effects of social capital on psychological capital and happiness.ResultsThe regression results showed that both psychological capital and social capital were significantly positively correlated with happiness when controlling for other factors. In addition, psychological and social capital significantly interacted, in which the psychological capital promotes the effect of social capital on happiness. Moreover, the effect of psychological capital on happiness was greater than that of social capital, demonstrating that happiness is more greatly influenced by subjective psychological experience. The interaction coefficient of psychological and social capital was also significant, showing that the two have mutually reinforcing effects on happiness. Finally, health, income class, real estate, stranger trust, age, and urban household registration had significant positive effects on happiness, while the view of money, being female, education had a negative relationship with happiness. The SEM results showed that the mediating effect of psychological capital on happiness was partly transmitted through social capital: the total effect of psychological capital on happiness was highly significant, as was the total effect of social capital on happiness ; however, the coefficient for psychological capital was greater than that for social capital. Through heterogeneity analysis, we found that the relationship between psychological capital, social capital, and happiness was significantly positive in each sub-sample group. There was also a significant interaction between psychological and social capital for men, women, urban and rural residents, and higher education background sample groups. However, the interaction was not significant in the sample group without higher education. In addition, the relationship between the happiness of rural residents and their educational background and gender was not significant.ConclusionWe found that psychological and social capital have significant positive relationships and effects on happiness. Psychological capital demonstrated both direct and indirect influences on happiness, and further strengthens the influence of social capital on happiness. These results support a scheme to emphasize psychological support during the COVID-19 pandemic period to enhance the mental health of citizens. (shrink)

Health is certainly a valuable asset in the life of every human being and of particular relevance for a flourishing childhood. As empirical research concerning the social determinants of health shows, its distribution can, at least to a certain extent, be influenced by the way a society is arranged. Many philosophers now acknowledge that a fair distribution of health has to be a central part of a just society and they discuss to what extent a right to (...) health can be justified. However, they do not typically distinguish between physical and mental health and neglect the special problems arising from these distinct, though related, perspectives. In this paper, we argue in favour of such a distinction and ask whether a minimally just society ought to include mental health among the goods that are to be distributed in a fair way among its children. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between mental health and happiness and ask whether making mental health a subject of justice implies that children are entitled not only to a healthy but also to a happy childhood. Despite the positive impact of happiness on the lives of children, we conclude that happiness cannot be incorporated into a functional theory of justice, since it does not fully meet the criteria of objectivity, measurability and influenceability. (shrink)

Mental health generally refers to an individual’s thoughts, feelings and actions, particularly when he faced with life challenges and stresses. A good mental health isn’t just the absence of mental health problems. It is the achievement and the maintenance of psychological well-being. Mental Health is the state of one’s peace of mind, happiness and harmony brought out by one’s level of adjustment with himself and his environment. In describing mental (...) class='Hi'>health, Anwar said, “…mental health is the health of one’s mind which can prove a potent determinant of one’s integrated personality and balanced behavour identified on the basis of the level of his adjustment to himself, others and with the environment. A mentally healthy individual possesses a number of characteristics which influence his life positively and help him in achieving his goals of life effectively. He has adequate ability to make adjustments in the changed circumstances and situations. His intellectual powers are adequately developed. He is able to think independently and take proper decision at the proper time. He tries to accomplish his work as effectively as possible but he does not prove to be an extremist by becoming a perfectionist. Though these characteristics are expected from a mentally healthy individual, but these should be taken as essential and necessary conditions for the maintenance of proper mental health and thus absence of one or the other characteristic does not necessarily mean negation of mental health. Good mental health is not just the absence of mental problems. Being mentally healthy is much more than free of depression, anxiety or other psychological issues.”1 In this paper an attempt is made to discuss about the mental health policies and issues in India. (shrink)

What is it to be mentally healthy? In the ongoing movement to promote mental health, to reduce stigma, and to establish parity between mental and physical health, there is a clear enthusiasm about this concept and a recognition of its value in human life. However, it is often unclear what mental health means in all these efforts and whether there is a single concept underlying them. Sometimes, the initiatives for the sake of mental (...) health are aimed just at reducing mental illness, thus implicitly identifying mental health with the absence of diagnosable psychiatric disease. More ambitiously, there are high-profile proposals to adopt a positive definition, identifying mental health with psychic or even overall well-being. We argue against both: a definition of mental health as mere absence of mental illness is too thin, too undemanding, and too closely linked to psychiatric value judgments, while the definition in terms of well-being is too demanding and potentially oppressive. As a compromise, we sketch out a middle position. On this view, mental health is a primary good, that is, the psychological preconditions of pursuing any conception of the good life, including well-being, without being identical to well-being. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to present a model of well-being based on current research in neurobiology and psychology, integrated in an evolutionary perspective of the human mind. Briefly, the primary purpose of nervous systems is to direct an animal toward behavior should be conducive to survival and procreation, and as a rule of thumb this implies either approach or avoidance. While behavior originally was based on reflexes, in humans the brain contains a system of negative and positive affect. (...) Although an array of functions has evolved that employ emotions in order to handle various pursuits, recent studies suggest that they converge on shared neural circuits involved in mood, that is, they converge on circuits designed to generate reward and punishment. Happiness can be construed as the net output of these brain modules. Neural circuits tend to gain in strength and influence upon frequent activation, which suggests a strategy for improving happiness and mental health: to avoid excessive stimulation of negative modules, to use cognitive interference to enhance the "turn off" function of these modules, and to exercise modules involved in positive feelings. (shrink)

There is much evidence that the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and mental health is linear and positive, but relatively few studies have included samples of non-religious participants in their analyses. Some findings suggest that, compared to people who have intermediate levels of R/S, those with higher levels and those with insignificant levels are mentally healthier. However, this curvilinear model does not appear to have been tested through a measure of spiritual beliefs and the comparison of different religious/spiritual groups. In (...) view of this, 1788 Brazilians were assessed in terms of their spiritual beliefs, their religious/spiritual experiences, and their positive and negative mental health components. We found curvilinear relationships between R/SE and all components of mental health, but the level of spiritual belief predicted only the variance in the meaning in life. With the exception of comparisons involving happiness, at least one of the groups that had intermediate levels of R/SE had worse mental health than the groups that had the highest and lowest levels. Although religious people and atheists had similar levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression, the former presented more happiness and meaning in life. Together, these findings corroborate the curvilinear model, but suggest that R/SE is related in different ways to the positive and negative components of mental health. (shrink)

According to the Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory (MPMHT), the main pillars of positive mental health are global well-being, efficient coping that enables an individual to maintain positive conditions and functioning, savoring capacity, resilience, and dynamic self-regulation. This study presents the validation of a new five-scale mental health test (MHT), the MHT that operationalizes MPMHT. The methodology comprised two online cross-sectional studies using self-report questionnaires. Participants in Study I (n = 1,736; 448 males, 1,288 (...) females; mean age 51.3 years; SD = 11.6 years) filled in the MHT, the Flow, the Positive emotions, Engagement, Positive Relationship, Meaning, Accomplishment Questionnaire (PERMA-Profiler), and the Flourishing Scale. Participants in Study II (n = 1,083; 233 males, 847 females; mean age 33.9 years; SD = 12.2 years) filled in the MHT, the Shortened Aspiration Index, the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory, the WHO Well-Being Index, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Purpose in Life Test, and the Schema Questionnaire–Short Form. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified a five-factor structure with 17 items in Study I that was confirmed with excellent fit measures in confirmatory factor analysis in Study II. Both studies indicated a high level of internal consistency (above 0.70). In each subscale, a minimum part of 44% did not overlap with the set of the other subscales. The content validity of the subscales was confirmed by 10 tests of mental health. We found a positive correlation of the self-regulation and resilience subscales with age, while women showed a higher level of savoring than men at all age levels. When Study I was replicated after 2 weeks and again after 11 months, excellent internal consistency and good test–retest correlation values of the MHT scales were found. The MHT can thus be considered a reliable and valid measurement tool for mental health. (shrink)

Previous accounts of psychiatry within Communist Europe have emphasized the dominance of biological approaches to mental health treatment. Psychotherapy was thus framed as a taboo or marginal component of East European psychiatric care. In more recent years, this interpretation has been re-examined as historians are beginning to delve deeper into the diversity of mental healthcare within the Communist world, noting many instances in which psychotherapeutic techniques and theory entered into clinical practice. Despite their excellent work uncovering these (...) hitherto neglected histories, however, historians of the psy-disciplines in Eastern Europe have neglected to fully consider the ways that post-World War II psychotherapeutic developments were not simply continuations of pre-war psychoanalytic traditions, but rather products of emerging transnational networks and knowledge exchanges in the post-war period. This article highlights how psychotherapy became a leading form of treatment within Communist Yugoslavia. Inspired by theorists in France and the United Kingdom, among other places, Yugoslav practitioners became well versed in a number of psychotherapeutic techniques, especially ‘brief psychotherapy’ and group-based treatment. These developments were not accidents of ideology, whereby group psychotherapy might be accepted by authorities as a nod to some idea of ‘the collective’, but were rather products of economic limitations and strong links with international networks of practitioners, especially in the domains of social psychiatry and group analysis. The Yugoslav example underscores the need for more historical attention to transnational connections among psychotherapists and within the psy-disciplines more broadly. (shrink)

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1920 Edition.

This study investigates the relationship between mental health and emotional intelligence among senior high school students in a public school. Thus, the study employed a correlational design to measure the relationship between mental health and emotional intelligence among 152 Grade 12 senior high school students in a public school. Hence, to measure the study’s variables - Mental Health Inventory and Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) were utilized. Based on the inferential statistics, the r coefficient of (...) 0.32 indicates a low positive correlation between the variables and a p-value of 0.00, indicating a significant relationship between the respondents' mental health and emotional intelligence. Implications and recommendations were discussed in the study. (shrink)

Colleges and universities are in an important position to train builders and successors of the socialist cause whilst promoting quality education. Mental health education is an important foundation and condition for comprehensively improving students' overall quality. This research explores adjustment methods for college students' mental health based on virtual reality under the background of positive psychology. It discusses the importance of system requirements analysis in the software development process, analyzes the system's functional requirements, safety requirements, and (...) software and hardware requirements, and uses the Apriori algorithm to explore the influencing factors of college students' mental health. Based on the system engineering method and using the data mining clustering method undertake detailed analysis and research on the mental health of college students, it then designs an anomaly mining algorithm based on clustering to quickly find anomalous data health problems. The interface design of the system is concise and the operation is simple. Users can conveniently input, query, and count information according to the various controls on the interface, which fully embodies human-oriented characteristics. Exploration of the characteristics of students' frequent Internet access ensures the efficiency, accuracy, and comprehensiveness of the evaluation and consultation work, facilitating psychological counseling for teachers and students, and saving paper. By establishing a data mining model, mining the database, and learning about different student groups and their respective characteristics, we discuss our research on student psychology and summarize the mental health status and gender, adaptation and anxiety, introversion, emotionality, and calmness of college students. We also consider the relationship between sex, negative, and courage. Using positive psychology theory, we examine the positive experiences of students and interconnected qualities, to build a mental health practice system. In the experiment, the happiness index evaluation of the virtual reality treatment system group was significant, P = 0.002 < 0.05. Mental health education plays an important role in cultivating the healthy psychology of college students, developing their psychological potential, enhancing their adaptability, and improving their personality. This analysis based on actual data provides a reliable basis for psychological educators to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of school psychological counseling and to facilitate schools in establishing new methods of early prevention and intervention for psychological disorders, enabling institutions to create a healthy atmosphere for college students. (shrink)

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a treatment involving the implantation of electrodes into the brain. Presently, it is used for neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease, but indications are expanding to psychiatric disorders such as depression, addiction and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Theoretically, it may be possible to use DBS for the enhancement of various mental functions. This article discusses a case of an OCD patient who felt very happy with the DBS treatment, even though her symptoms were not reduced. (...) First, it is explored if the argument that ‘doctors are not in the business of trading happiness’, as used by her psychiatrist to justify his discontinuation of the DBS treatment, holds. The relationship between enhancement and the goals of medicine is discussed and it is concluded that even though the goals of medicine do not set strict limits and may even include certain types of enhancement, there are some good reasons for limiting the kind of things doctors are required or allowed to do. Next, the case is discussed from the perspective of beneficence and autonomy. It is argued that making people feel good is not the same as enhancing their well-being and that it is unlikely—though not absolutely impossible—that the well-being of the happy OCD patient is really improved. Finally, some concerns regarding the autonomy of a request made under the influence of DBS treatment are considered. (shrink)

It is a common aim of psychologists to construct a definition model with universal cultural applicability for mental health. These models can be divided into two types in terms of definition: One is the negative mental health definition model based on the absence of mental illness symptoms; the other is the definition model of positive mental health based on subjective feelings, such as happiness and social identity. However, neither of these definitions can (...) properly explain Chinese people’s understanding of mental health or how mental health is dealt with in Chinese culture. This paper proposes a Yin–Yang definition model of mental health based on the theory of personality of Confucianism and Taoism. This model not only properly describes the understanding of mental health in traditional Chinese culture, but also explains East Asian psychotherapy and mental health practices in the context of Chinese culture. (shrink)

Increased awareness of the importance of mental health for global health has led to a number of new initiatives, including influential policy instruments issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN). This policy brief describes two WHO instruments, the Mental Health Action Plan for 2013–2020 (World Health Organization, 2013) and the Mental Health Atlas (World Health Organization, 2015), and presents a comparative analysis with the Sustainable Development (...) Goals (SDGs) of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015). The WHO’s Action Plan calls for several specific objectives and targets, with a focus on improving global mental health governance and service coverage. In contrast, the UN’s SDGs include only one goal specific to mental health, with a single indicator tracking suicide mortality rates. The discrepancy between the WHO and UN frameworks suggests a need for increased policy coherence. Improved global health governance can provide the basis for ensuring and accelerating progress in global mental health. (shrink)

This study evaluates the relationship between mental health and academic motivation among third-year college TES grantees. Thus, correlational design was employed to determine if there is a significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among 150 third-year TES grantees. Statistical findings reveal that the r coefficient of 0.52 indicates a moderate positive correlation between the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to rejecting the null hypothesis. Hence, a significant relationship exists (...) between mental health and academic motivation of third-year college TES grantees. Implications were discussed in the study. (shrink)

This study investigates the significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among graduating students. Thus, the study employed a correlational design to determine if there is a significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among 150 graduating college students. Hence, the Mental Health Inventory 38 (MHI-38) and Academic Motivation Scale (AMS-C28) were employed to measure the study variables. Moreover, statistical analysis reveals that the r coefficient of 0.35 indicates a low positive correlation (...) between the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to the decision to reject the null hypothesis. (shrink)

This study investigates the significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among graduating students. Thus, the study employed a correlational design to determine if there is a significant relationship between mental health and academic motivation among 150 graduating college students. Hence, the Mental Health Inventory 38 (MHI-38) and Academic Motivation Scale (AMS-C28) were employed to measure the study variables. Moreover, statistical analysis reveals that the r coefficient of 0.35 indicates a low positive correlation (...) between the variables. The p-value of 0.00, which is less than 0.05, leads to the decision to reject the null hypothesis. (shrink)

Although employed throughout health-related rhetoric and research today, prevention it is an ambiguous and complicated category when applied to mental and behavioral health. It is analyzed here, along with four ethical issues arising when public health preventative methods and goals involve mental health: age of intervention; resource priorities between prevention and treatment; substantive issues in preventive pedagogies and trade-offs framed by differences of approach. Illustrations include some of the most widespread and ambitious recent preventive (...) models: those aiming to avert subsequent mood disorders of depression and anxiety; those that would curb self-harming behavior, and efforts to anticipate and avoid or delay psychosis. To suppose that public mental health can be entirely modeled on other public health programs is mistaken. Instead, it must proceed with awareness of the particular features typifying many mental disorders. These include features of the disorders themselves; the preliminary nature of scientific knowledge about them; the contested applicability of traditional disease models to them; the dearth of established research data available about preventive interventions currently in place or proposed; and the effects of stigma and discrimination on any such interventions. (shrink)

Ford, Norman M Doctors and nurses understand the personal dignity of their patients and their natural desire to be healthy and happy. The aged with failing memories or mental impairments are persons whose dignity and moral worth remain intact. They also know patients differ in their personal circumstances, their faith, their stages of life's journey and their attitude to sickness and approach of death. This awareness enables them to adequately perform their valuable professional services from a subject centred perspective (...) as well as from an objective approach based on our shared rational human nature. All this needs to be re-affirmed for patients, especially the aged, those living with post coma unresponsiveness, Alzheimer's disease and any other unconscious state. (shrink)

Mental health has become a domain of professional and scientific endeavor, distinguished in the modern mind from spirituality, which is understood as a more subjective, transcendent, and private concern. This sharp separation has been challenged in recent decades by scientific research, which demonstrates the positive benefits of spirituality/religion (S/R) for mental health. Increasing scientific interest in the topic is to be welcomed, but the contribution of theology to the debate has been neglected. It is proposed here (...) that Jesus’ life and teaching are presented in the synoptic Gospels as fundamentally concerned with what we now call mental health. Jesus’ teaching on worry, for example, offers various psychological strategies for dealing with anxiety. Moreover, it presents prayer as an effective and constructive response to worry, involving disciplined attention rather than avoidance. Critical interdisciplinary conversations between science and theology on matters such as worry offer a constructive approach to understanding the human condition in the context of adversity. (shrink)

Recently, the pandemic context in which the world finds itself has inspired studies that sought to evaluate to mental health and the way people are relating to the purpose of understanding and promoting improvements psychological health. The epidemiological and public health literature shows that social connection protects and promotes mental health, being an important clinical tool for reducing anxiety, depression, and stress. Thinking in the broad sense of connection, that is, feeling and perceiving oneself (...) connected with the environment, applied to the context of sport, it is suggested that social connection could be related to the interactions in the practice of sport. Although playing sports can promote mental health, there are few findings on the topic in the context of a pandemic and with physical sports and electronic sports players. In this sense, the present study aims to assess the extent to which social connection and mental health indicators are correlated in a sample of sports and e-sports players. The participants were 401 Brazilian physical sports and e-sports players, mostly male and single, who filled in the Social Connectedness Scale, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, and demographic questions. The results indicated that social connection was negatively correlated and also predict the anxiety, depression, and stress. When comparing sports and e-sports players, a statistically significant difference was identified in the levels of social connection [t = −3.41; sportsmean = 4.53 ; e-sportsmean = 4.14 ] and depression [t = 2.90; sportsmean = 1.10 ; e-sportsmean = 0.85 ]. These findings can serve as a theoretical basis for the development of intervention programs and promoting discussions that focus on the analysis of aspects promoting psychological health in sports context. (shrink)

One in three university students experiences mental health problems during their study. A similar percentage leaves higher education without obtaining the degree for which they enrolled. Research suggests that both mental health problems and academic underperformance could be caused by students lacking control and purpose while they are adjusting to tertiary education. Currently, universities are not designed to cater to all the personal needs and mental health problems of large numbers of students at the (...) start of their studies. Within the literature aimed at preventing mental health problems among students (e.g., anxiety or depression), digital forms of therapy recently have been suggested as potentially scalable solutions to address these problems. Integrative psychological artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a chatbot, for example, shows great potential as an evidence-based solution. At the same time, within the literature aimed at improving academic success, the online life-crafting intervention in which students write about values and passions, goals, and goal-attainment plans has shown to improve the academic performance and retention rates of students. Because the life-crafting intervention is delivered through the curriculum and doesn’t bear the stigma that is associated with therapy, it can reach larger populations of students. But life-crafting lacks the means for follow-up or the interactiveness that online AI-guided therapy can offer. In this paper, we propose to integrate the current literature on chatbot interventions aimed at the mental health of students with research about a life-crafting intervention that uses an inclusive curriculum-wide approach. When a chatbot asks students to prioritize both academic as well as social and health-related goals and provides personalized follow-up coaching, this can prevent -often interrelated- academic and mental health problems. Right on-time delivery, and personalized follow-up questions enhance the effects of both -originally separated- intervention types. Research on this new combination of interventions should use design principles that increase user-friendliness and monitor the technology acceptance of its participants. (shrink)

In recent years there has been considerable discussion and controversy concerning the concepts of mental health and mental illness. The controversy has centered around the problem of providing criteria for an adequate conception of mental health and illness, as well as difficulties in specifying a clear and workable system for the classification, understanding, and treatment of psychological and emotional disorders. In this paper I shall examine a cluster of these complex and important issues, focusing on (...) attempts to define ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’; diverse factors influencing the ascription of the predicates ‘is mentally ill’ and ‘is mentally healthy’; and some specific problems concerning these concepts as they appear in various theories of psychopathology. The approach here will be in the nature of a survey, directed at the specification of a number of problems—conceptual, methodological, and pragmatic—as they arise in various attempts to define and to provide criteria for applying the concepts of mental health and mental illness. (shrink)

본 논문의 목적은 아리스토텔레스 『니코마코스』 윤리학 에서 건강과 행복의 관계를 규명하는데 있다. 헬레니즘 시대에는 의학이 몸의 건강을 돌보는 학문이었다면, 철학은 영혼 의 건강을 돌보는 학문으로 의학과 철학을 동일시했는데, 이는 고대 철학에서 기인한 사상 이었다. 특별히 건강과 질병의 개념을 규정하는 것은 의학의 영역이 아닌 철학의 영역이었 으며, 철학의 실천적 기능은 우리의 영혼을 돌보는 것이었다. 아리스토텔레스는 『니코마코스』 윤리학 에서 건강과 행복을 비유적으로 설명하면서, 건강을 행복의 요소로 생각했다. 왜냐하면 행복은 완전하고 자족적인 것으로 이는 영혼의 좋음인 덕뿐 아니라 몸의 좋 음인 건강과 외모, 그리고 (...) 여러 외적 좋음도 포함시켜야 하는 것이다. 건강이란 몸의 탁월 함으로 지나침이나 모자람으로 파괴되며 중용에 의해 유지된다. 이는 어렸을 때부터 습관 화된 식생활과 운동에 따른 성향에 기인하며, 올바른 이성에 의해 의사나 체육인에 의해 각 개인과 상황, 기후 등에 맞게 증진되어야 하는 것이다. 또한 인간은 신체와 영혼으로 구성되어 있기에 신체의 탁월함인 건강과 영혼의 탁월함인 덕은 서로 긴밀한 관계를 맺고 있는데, 덕으로서의 절제는 몸에 무엇이 좋고 유익한지 숙고하며, 반면에 신체의 건강과 질병은 영혼에 건강과 마비를 초래할 수 있다. 따라서 우리는 어렸을 때부터 자발적으로 건강한 몸을 가질 수 있고, 훌륭한 삶을 영위할 수 있으며, 건강은 덕 있는 활동을 증진시 킬 수 있다는 한에서 행복에 기여한다. (shrink)

The paper concerns two familiar lines of inquiry. One, stemming from a neo-Aristotelian naturalism associated with Foot and others, asks whether we can derive human excellences from what humans need in order to be some way. The second asks whether virtue is a kind of health, and vice a kind of illness. The first is often seen as a failure to the extent that the list of characteristics derived by this approach does not include familiar moral virtues. However, it (...) is argued that the concept of human excellence is many-layered, so the fact that the approach may not succeed for moral virtues does not show that it is no good for anything. Moreover, the kinds of psychological characteristic derived by a liberalized version of Foot’s approach may also help to give non-trivial answers to the second, Platonic, line of inquiry. (shrink)

This article discusses the relationship between stress, physical health, and well-being in cultural context, offers examples of laws, policies, and programs to promote mental health and well-being, and examines how collective impact supports mental health and well-being.

It is sometimes assumed that when the gospels talk about demon possession they are just using different terminology for what would now be called psychosis or epilepsy. However, these terms come from different discourses that need to be distinguished, but do not need to be kept completely separate. The nature of the relationship between religion and mental health is complex. There is usually a positive correlation, but it is more difficult to be confident about the nature of the (...) causal connection. Poor mental health can become intertwined with religion in a way that drags both down. It is a consistent feature of Jesus' interactions that he encourages people to believe that more is possible than might have been imagined. His impact on the mental health of those around him seems to have been largely a matter of what might now be called positive psychology. (shrink)

I argue in this essay that the phenomena we classify as "mental illness" result largely from the refusal of socially authorized "experts" to recognize - and thus to constitute - the Other as a subject. I suggest that Institutional Mental Health refuses to do this not merely because it seeks to aggrandize its own power but also because it fears to acknowledge that we are all participants in a process of historical development. It denies this because it (...) is historically conditioned by its own moment of origin in the project of the Enlightenment, It is conseqently wed to an ethos of rationalized order that does not accomodate, much less support, the unpredictable creative power of the Other and that sustains instead the project of mastery, of domination, of disovering eternal laws that will enable Reason to master history and to master the Other. For this reason Institutional Mental Health and its diverse ideologies, ranging from the pyschoanalytic to genetic defect models, constitute a major obstacle to the evolution of humanity. (shrink)

It is necessary to study the various dimensions of health and their affecting factors during the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic to identify the necessary interventions. The study aims to determine the relationship between spiritual health and happiness in medical students during the COVID-19 outbreak. In this analytical cross-sectional design study, 409 medical students were examined for the state of happiness and spiritual health and the relationship between them. Student information was collected through Web-based sampling by using (...) standard tools from 20 April to 20 June 2020. Medical students completed the demographic questionnaire as well as Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and Paloutzian and Ellison spiritual health questionnaire. The results showed that while the score of spiritual health and happiness was related to factors such as marriage, interest in a field of study, and socioeconomic status, the relationship between spiritual health and happiness was significant. This study showed that students’ happiness scores were not optimal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the strong relationship between spiritual health and happiness scores, spiritual health promotion, in conjunction with other interventions, can be used to improve happiness in this group. (shrink)

The basic work for this book was carried out during the spring of 1989 in Edinburgh, where I had been granted a research position at The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. I should like to express here my indebtedness to the Institute for the opportunity thus afforded me. I should also like to say how very grateful I am for the stimulating conversations I had there with Professor Timothy Sprigge and Dr. Elizabeth Telfer. Dr. Telfers’s own treatise (...) class='Hi'>Happiness has been a major influence on my view of the questions involved. The basic view of health and illness presented in this book is more fully set out in my On the Nature of Health. As in the case of my previous larger projects, I have received a great amount of support and may wise comments from Professor Ingmar Pörn, Helsinki. Three Danish experts – Anton Aggernaes, Erik Ostenfeld and Peter Sandøe – have made valuable comments. Professor Heng ten Have, Nijmegen, has improved my reading of the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham. I should also like to thank my colleagues at the Department of Health and Society, University of Linköping, for helping me to avoid a number of the pitfalls that can so easily stumble into when it comes to a treatise like this. Especially I should like to mentioned Per-Erik Liss, Ingemar Nordin and Bo Petersson, all three of whom have read and commented on the entire manuscript. A Swedish version of this book, Livskvalitet och hälsa, came out in 1991. I have been made quite a number of corrections and additions, one type of addition being replies to critical points made in reviews of the Swedish version. I should like to thank Malcolm Forbes for valuable help putting my English into publishable condition. Linköping, May 1993 Lennart Noredenfelt. (shrink)

What is happiness? How is it related to morality and virtue? Does living with illusion promote or diminish happiness? Is it better to pursue happiness with a partner than alone? Philosopher Mike W. Martin addresses these and other questions as he connects the meaning of happiness with the philosophical notion of "the good life." Defining happiness as loving one's life and valuing it in ways manifested by ample enjoyment and a deep sense of meaning, Martin (...) explores the ways in which happiness interacts with all other dimensions of good lives--in particular with moral decency and goodness, authenticity, mental health, self-fulfillment, and meaningfulness. He interweaves a variety of examples from memoirs, novels, and films along the way, connecting his discussion of the philosophical issues to related topics that interest all of us: virtue, love, philanthropy, suffering, simplicity, balancing work and leisure, and much more. Drawing on wide-ranging and robust evidence, Martin also makes the case that we need a "politics of happiness" whereby government would apply the results of recent "happiness studies" in psychology to public policy. (shrink)

How do people understand the concepts of mental health and disorder? The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of several factors on people’s judgments about whether a condition constitutes a mental disorder or a healthy state. Specifically, this study examines the impact of the source of the condition, its outcome, individual valuation (i.e., the value the individual attaches to the condition), and group valuation (i.e., the value the relevant group attaches to the condition). While (...) we find that people’s health and disorder judgments are driven by perceived dysfunction, we also find that health and disorder judgments are impacted differently by these factors. Health judgements are impacted by outcome and individual valuation, and disorder judgments are impacted by condition source. These results suggest that the folk concept of mental health is positive (i.e., mental health is more than the absence of mental disorder) and normativist (i.e., value judgments play a significant role in determining whether a condition counts as healthy), while the concept of mental disorder aligns with a naturalist perspective, at least to the extent that dysfunction plays an important role in categorizing a condition as a disorder. However, our finding that people’s dysfunction judgments are influenced by individual valuation and outcomes poses a strong challenge to naturalist accounts. To provide access to our supplementary data, an appendix has been included. (shrink)

Introduction: Social media has become an integrated part of daily life, with an estimated 3 billion social media users worldwide. Adolescents and young adults are the most active users of social media. Research on social media has grown rapidly, with the potential association of social media use and mental health and well-being becoming a polarized and much-studied subject. The current body of knowledge on this theme is complex and difficult-to-follow. The current paper presents a scoping review of the (...) published literature in the research field of social media use and its association with mental health and well-being among adolescents. Methods and analysis: First, relevant databases were searched for eligible studies with a vast range of relevant search terms for social media use and mental health and well-being over the past five years. Identified studies were screened thoroughly and included or excluded based on prior established criteria. Data from the included studies were extracted and summarized according to the previously published study protocol. Results: Among the 79 studies that met our inclusion criteria, the vast majority (94%) were quantitative, with a cross-sectional design (57%) being the most common study design. Several studies focused on different aspects of mental health, with depression (29%) being the most studied aspect. Almost half of the included studies focused on use of non-specified social network sites (43%). Of specified social media, Facebook (39%) was the most studied social network site. The most used approach to measuring social media use was frequency and duration (56%). Participants of both genders were included in most studies (92%) but seldom examined as an explanatory variable. 77% of the included studies had social media use as the independent variable. Conclusion: The findings from the current scoping review revealed that about ¾ of the included studies focused on social media and some aspect of pathology. Focus on the potential association between social media use and positive outcomes seems to be rarer in the current literature. Amongst the included studies, few separated between different forms of (inter)actions on social media, which are likely to be differentially associated with mental health and well-being outcomes. (shrink)

This paper examines the concept of medical necessity as it relates to mental health care rationing, arguing that the normal functioning model of medical necessity is insufficient because it fails to cohere with an important aim and function of mental health care, which is to provide support for individuals in abusive or otherwise difficult personal relationships.

This Article provides a comprehensive, critical overview of proposals to use happiness surveys for steering public policy. Happiness or “subjective well-being” surveys ask individuals to rate their present happiness, life-satisfaction, affective state, etc. A massive literature now engages in such surveys or correlates survey responses with individual attributes. And, increasingly, scholars argue for the policy relevance of happiness data: in particular, as a basis for calculating aggregates such as “gross national happiness,” or for calculating monetary (...) equivalents for non-market goods based on coefficients in a happiness equation. But is individual well-being equivalent to happiness? The happiness literature tends to blur or conflate important concepts: well-being, subjective well-being, happiness, utility, satisfaction. A preference-realization account of well-being denies the equivalence of happiness and welfare, since someone can have preferences for non-mental attributes, such as health, autonomy, goal-fulfillment, knowledge or the quality of her relationships. It is critical, therefore, to differentiate two potential policy roles for happiness surveys. First, the survey response may provide prima facie evidence of the respondent’s preference-utility: the extent to which her preferences are realized. Second, it may indicate her experience-utility: the quality of her mental states. The Article clarifies these two, very different, ideas. It then criticizes, in turn, the preference-utility and the experience-utility defenses of the policy relevance of happiness surveys. Enthusiasm about happiness is premature. (shrink)

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.