Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory

Together with the Positive Psychology Research Group of ELTE, we formulated the need that the measurement of mental health must go beyond operationalizations that define the concept in terms of observable characteristics of well-being (e.g. positive emotions, enough friends) or characteristics that are listed as mirror opposites of mental disorders (DSM categories).

We think that it would be much more important to identify the components of our “psychological immune system” which can guarantee the protection and prevention of our mental health.

We believe that all of us –both those with mental disorders and those who do not have a mental disorder – have the competences with which we can take steps towards our Positive Mental Health.

1. Global Well-being: multi-component subjective well-being encompassing emotional states and psychological functioning in the emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual areas in life.
2. Savoring: the ability and capacity which allows us to mentally mobilize our joyful memories and experiences to generate mental well-being, reliving them in the present and, furthermore, extending them to future events.
3. Creative and Executive Efficiency: our competence which enables us to cope with the difficulties we encounter by mobilizing our various competencies in the difficult, stressful, and challenging situations of life. Furthermore, it indicates how we are able to provide successful individual and social problem-solving behavior.
4. Self-regulation: the capacity to regulate and control our emotions, cognition, temperament, behaviors, and negative states and to persist in achieving a given goal.
5. Resilience: our ability to mobilize our mental capacities and resources to maintain positive mental health when we face unexpected, stressful, and difficult situations. The higher the level of our resilience, the more quickly we can recover from a sudden, unexpected stressful situation.