Problems, Possibilities, People Power and Passion: What Mental Health Promotion is and What it is not: A Response to the Inaugural Issue

Abstract

Three articles in the inaugural issue of this Journal discuss the idea of mental health promotion. Here, each is discussed in terms of claims, assumptions and, in some cases, weaknesses such as an unreconstructed account of mental illness prevention, the mistake of relying on an arbitrary definition of mental health and problems with relying on ‘resilience’ as a central concept. It is argued that none of the papers pays enough attention to social experiences and processes, cultural values and norms on which all judgements about what promotes and demotes mental health are based. In response to this critique, the ten‐element map of mental health promotion and demotion is referred to as a more comprehensive, illuminating and, in the end, more philosophically sound account.

Citation

MacDonald, G. (1999), "Problems, Possibilities, People Power and Passion: What Mental Health Promotion is and What it is not: A Response to the Inaugural Issue", Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 37-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729199900016