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Definition: mental health from The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology

Although the focus of this term is somewhat more sanguine than that of its opposite, MENTAL ILLNESS, the same medical, logical and empirical problems attend its use. In spite of these issues, the term will probably persist because it is generally used to designate one who is functioning at a high level of behavioural and emotional adjustment and adaptiveness and not for one who is, simply, not mentally ill.


Mental Health

From Encyclopedia of Social Problems
Mental health was once defined as the psychological state that exists in the absence of mental illness. Contemporary social scientific thought, however, has abandoned the view that mental health and mental illness are antithetical to one another. Now, lack of mental illness no longer simply implies the presence of mental health, just as lack of mental health no longer suggests the presence of mental illness. Thus, the term mental health refers to a social psychological state greater than the mere absence of mental illness. Moreover, some scholars suggest that mental health can be present in individuals diagnosed with mental illness, a position that lends greater support to the view that mental health and mental illness ought not to be treated as oppositional categories. Social scientists believe that mental health exists on a continuum, with optimal mental health occupying one pole of the continuum, poor mental health occupying the other. According to this model, an individual’s…
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Full text Article MENTAL HEALTH

From Dictionary of Prisons and Punishment
The prevalence of mental disorder is much higher among the prison population than in the general population and, as imprisonment is likely to have a negative effect on mental health, it is often argued that mentally disordered offenders should not be sent to prison at all but should be cared for by…
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Full text Article Mental Health

From World of Sociology, Gale
Sociologists expect societies to include diverse groups of people. But while diversity is anticipated, it is also expected that the society will display patterns of behaviors that sociologists consider to be normal for the society. Those behaviors are identified as norms . Behaving in accordance…
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Full text Article mental health

From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
In psychiatry and abnormal psychology, mental illnesses are divided into neuroses and psychoses. The causes of mental illness are either organic malfunctioning or in personality conflicts which have their origin in childhood. Psychoses (e.g. schizophrenia) involve a loss of contact with reality; …
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Full text Article Mental Health

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Mental health refers to an individual's emotional, psychological and social wellbeing, characterized by self-acceptance and feelings of emotional security. Mental health, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood, involves how people think, feel, and behave. It also refers to how people feel…
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Full text Article Mental Health

From Encyclopedia of Adolescence
Mental health generally refers to the state of possessing psychological well-being or of having adequate adjustment, particularly in light of established and expected norms derived from community-accepted standards of healthy human relationships. What constitutes mental health has been expanded over…
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Full text Article Mental Health

From The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies
Many trans individuals report notable elevations in mental health concerns as a result of the social rejection and oppression that they are exposed to in their immediate and broader communities. Mental health disparities exist across a number of areas, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidality, …
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From The Encyclopedia of Aging
Mental health is a multifaceted concept that describes psychosocial functioning that is either symptom-free (as in the absence of mental illness or dysfunction) or yields optimal levels of personal satisfaction and effective cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. An implicit continuum…
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Full text Article Mental Health

From The Gale Encyclopedia of Senior Health
Senior mental health refers to the mental health of persons over the age of 65, including disorders and other mental health issues that are more common later in life. Senior mental health is a rapidly growing field of research and treatment due to the increased proportion of older adults in the…
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Full text Article mental health

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Well-being and soundness of mind, not only in terms of intellectual abilities, but also in terms of the capability to deal with everyday problems, and the capacity to get on well with other people and to form and sustain relationships. In psychoanalysis , much prominence is given to the importance…
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Full text Article Mental Health

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
As in other developing nations, care and...
Although in the past, mental health was defined as the absence of mental illness or behavioral problems, most mental-health professionals today define it in more positive terms, as the psychological state of a person who is at a satisfactory level of emotional function and behavioral adjustment. …
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