This article’s purpose was to update the view on and definition of mental health, which was last addressed forty years prior. It makes the distinction between mental health and mental illness. These were previously seen as opposites, when in fact they are two ends of a continuum. Dr. Corey Keyes made four separate classes regarding the probability for any given person’s current state of mental health, and when graphed, it was revealed to be a normal distribution: Flourishing (17.2%), moderately mentally healthy (56.6%), languishing (12.1%), and major depressive episode (14.1%) [pg. 2]. This distribution would be helpful when classifying a large group of people’s mental health—for instance, a school, town, state, etc. The main question of this study was: “Are adults who remain free of mental illness annually and over a lifetime mentally healthy and productive?” (pg. 3).
More fun with mental health! This one's pretty read-able, it kept me very engaged as I read the various sections. Link is in ocean blue-green in the citation.
Citation:
Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 1(1), 1-17. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3090197?uid=3739936&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102858388321
More fun with mental health! This one's pretty read-able, it kept me very engaged as I read the various sections. Link is in ocean blue-green in the citation.
Citation:
Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 1(1), 1-17. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3090197?uid=3739936&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102858388321