Mental Health

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Introducing the Subject

   1. Front Matter

      Pages xi-xi

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   2. Introduction

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 1-12

3. Some Attempts to Demarcate Positive Mental Health

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. Psychiatry and Positive Mental Health

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 15-34

   3. Psychoanalysis, Humanistic Psychology, and Positive Mental Health

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 35-45

   4. Marie Jahoda’s Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 47-78

4. Toward a Theory of Positive Mental Health

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79

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   2. Theories of Health

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 81-96

   3. An Analysis and a Quasi-Empirical Investigation of Some Mental Abilities

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 97-140

   4. Toward a Material Theory of Acceptable Mental Health

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 141-150

5. Consequences and Conclusion

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 151-151

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   2. The Value of a Conceptual Analysis for Measuring Mental Health

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 153-166

   3. Conclusion

      • Per-Anders Tengland

      Pages 167-172

6. Back Matter

   Pages 173-182

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Mental health issues are a growing concern in our modern Western society. This is part of an increasing interest in questions about health, quality of life, personal development, and self-fulfilment. However, most of what has been written so far has had its focus on mental illness or disease, the negative side of the coin, and few attempts have been made to discuss more thoroughly, from a philosophical perspective, what it is to be mentally healthy. The present book is such an attempt.
The author's aim is to analyze, philosophically, the notion of `positive mental health'. In so doing a number of ideas found in the literature are presented and discussed. The author also raises some important methodological questions. The final result of the analysis is a formal and a material reconstruction of the concept of "positive mental health".
The book will be of value to all professionals within the health care sector, in particular to psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and psychotherapists. It will also be of interest to philosophers and social scientists working with health questions.

• health
• health care
• issue
• psychiatry
• psychoanalysis
• psychology
• quality of life

• Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

  Per-Anders Tengland

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