mental health and wellness midterm units 1-5

Why is the term "mental health" considered ambiguous?

Because it has two different meanings:

• Narrow sense: The absence of mental illness.

• Broad sense: The absence of mental illness plus the presence of positive mental well-being.

What is the narrow definition of mental health?

Mental health (narrow sense) simply means the absence of mental illness.

• If someone does not meet the diagnostic criteria for disorders such as depression or anxiety, they are considered mentally healthy under this definition.

Why is the narrow definition of mental health considered incomplete?

Because someone can have:

• No diagnosed mental illness,

• Yet still feel empty,

• Lack purpose,

• Feel disconnected,

• Experience little enjoyment in life.

Therefore, the absence of illness does not necessarily mean someone is mentally well.

What is the broad definition of mental health?

Mental health (broad sense) includes:

• The absence of mental illness

• Positive psychological functioning

• Positive emotions

• Meaning and purpose

• Strong relationships

• Engagement with life

This is often called mental well-being.

How does the World Health Organization define health?

"A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

• This definition recognizes that health is more than simply avoiding illness.

Is the WHO definition of health an example of the narrow or broad definition?

It is the broad definition, because it includes:

• Physical well-being

• Mental well-being

• Social well-being

rather than only the absence of disease

Why is it problematic when promoting mental health only means treating mental illness?

Because:

• Positive well-being is ignored.

• Research focuses mainly on illness.

• Public policy prioritizes treatment over prevention.

• Clinical practice overlooks flourishing.

• Society stops asking whether people without diagnoses are actually living fulfilling lives.

What important question is often ignored when mental health is viewed only as the absence of illness?

Whether people without mental illness:

• Feel connected

• Have meaning and purpose

• Enjoy life

• Are flourishing psychologically and socially

How is mental illness defined?

Mental illness refers to aspects of a person's mental life that reflect dysfunction in:

• Psychological processes

• Biological processes

• Developmental processes

It includes diagnosed disorders and less severe symptoms

Does mental illness only include diagnosed disorders?

No

It includes:

• Diagnosed disorders

• Subclinical symptoms that do not meet full diagnostic criteria

Why is mental illness considered a continuum instead of an on/off condition?

Because people can experience different levels of symptoms:

• Subclinical

• Mild

• Moderate

• Severe

What important information does the narrow definition fail to tell us?

It tells us nothing about:

• Meaning in life

• Purpose

• Happiness

• Connection

• Engagement

• Life satisfaction

What is mental well-being?

A state in which all aspects of a person's mental life are functioning positively

What are the major components of mental well-being?

• Meaning

• Purpose

• Engagement

• Connection

• Vitality

• Positive emotions

Is mental well-being simply the opposite of mental illness?

No

A person can have:

• High well-being and mental illness.

• Low well-being without mental illness

What is flourishing?

Flourishing goes beyond individual well-being by including:

• Personal functioning

• Social functioning

• Environmental context

• Society

What did the old model of mental health look like?

One straight line:

Less illness ←────────→ More illness

Health was viewed simply as moving away from illness.

Why is the old model incomplete?

Because reducing illness does not automatically create:

• Meaning

• Happiness

• Purpose

• Positive relationships

What does the Dual Continua Model propose?

Mental illness and mental well-being are:

• Related

• Correlated

• But separate dimensions

Both can independently be high or low

Can someone have a mental illness and still have high mental well-being?

Yes

Someone can:

• Live a meaningful life

• Have strong relationships

• Feel purposeful

while managing a mental illness

Can someone have no mental illness but poor mental well-being?

Yes.

This person may be:

• Empty

• Unmotivated

• Disconnected

• Languishing

despite having no diagnosis

What do the axes represent in the Dual Continua Model?

Horizontal axis:

• No mental illness → Severe mental illness

Vertical axis:

• Low mental well-being → High mental well-being

Why is Keyes' model important?

Because it recognizes that mental health is more complex than simply being ill or healthy.

People move between categories over time.

Does Keyes' model suggest people's mental health stays fixed?

No.

People can move between categories because of:

• Life events

• Stress

• Recovery

• Personal growth

• Social circumstances

What is languishing?

A state of low mental well-being characterized by:

• Little positive emotion

• Low psychological functioning

• Low social functioning

Can someone languish without having a mental illness?

Yes.

Languishing can occur:

• With mental illness

• Without mental illness

What are common characteristics of someone who is languishing?

• Going through the motions

• Feeling emotionally flat

• Low motivation

• Lack of purpose

• Little enjoyment in life

• Feeling disconnected

What historical concept resembles modern languishing?

Acedia

Known in early Christianity as:

• Spiritual sloth

• The "eighth deadly sin"

Is flourishing more common than languishing?

No.

Most adults are not flourishing

What surprising conclusion comes from comparing languishing and depression?

Languishing alone can be at least as impairing as depression alone

What are the three major clusters of well-being?

Emotional well-being

Psychological well-being

Social well-being

What is positive affect?

Experiencing more pleasant than unpleasant emotions

Positive affect examples?

Cheerful

Calm

Feeling full of life

What is life satisfaction?

Feeling that life is going well overall or within important areas of life.

What are Ryff's Six Dimensions of Psychological Well-being?

Self-acceptance

Personal growth

Purpose in life

Environmental mastery

Autonomy

Positive relations

Do Ryff's dimensions focus mainly on happiness?

No.

They focus on deeper psychological functioning rather than simply feeling cheerful

What are Keyes' Five Dimensions of Social Well-being?

Acceptance

Actualization

Contribution

Coherence

Integration

What does social well-being measure?

A person's relationship with:

• Other people

• Communities

• Society

• The larger world

What are the three kinds of evidence supporting the Dual Continua Model?

Conceptual evidence

Descriptive evidence

Longitudinal evidence

What does conceptual evidence show?

Knowing whether someone has mental illness does not fully tell us about their level of mental well-being

What does descriptive evidence show?

People with the same mental illness can have very different levels of mental well-being

What does longitudinal evidence show?

High well-being predicts a lower risk of developing future mental illness, suggesting that well-being is protective

What happens if researchers only measure mental illness?

They:

Miss people who are languishing

Miss the protective effects of well-being

Underestimate the importance of mental health promotion

Case Study: Who is Maya?

22-year-old third-year university student

No diagnosis

No therapy

No medication

Feels emotionally flat

Doesn't enjoy activities she once liked

Feels like she's simply going through the motions

Case Study: According to the Dual Continua Model, where would Maya likely be placed?

Maya would most likely be languishing:

• No mental illness diagnosis

• Low mental well-being

• Low enjoyment

• Reduced engagement with life

• Going through the motions

According to the lecture, what do people generally expect "more" (money, status, achievement, possessions) to provide?

People commonly expect that having more will lead to:

• More income

• Less stress

• More freedom

• Higher status

• Greater respect

• Greater self-worth

• More possessions

• More comfort

• More enjoyment

• Greater achievement

• More pride

• Feeling like they have "made it"

• Ultimately, greater overall well-being

What two important clarifications does the lecture make about money and well-being?

The lecture is not saying:

• Money doesn't matter.

• Poverty is unimportant.

Instead, it argues that after basic needs are met, additional wealth produces much smaller improvements in well-being.

Why is money important at lower income levels?

Because material security:

• Reduces suffering

• Meets basic needs

• Provides safety

• Creates opportunities

• Serves as a foundation for many other aspects of well-being

What is meant by the "threshold" idea?

Once basic material needs are met, increases in income, status, or possessions no longer reliably produce corresponding increases in well-being.

Did Americans become much happier as their income doubled?

No.

• Although income more than doubled, approximately 30% of Americans described themselves as "very happy" in both 1960 and 1990

What important conclusion comes from the American data?

Economic growth does not automatically produce higher levels of happiness

Is national wealth related to happiness?

Yes—but only partially

Why isn't national wealth a perfect predictor of happiness?

Because many other factors contribute to well-being, including:

• Relationships

• Meaning

• Health

• Community

• Personal values

• Psychological functioning

What did Diener, Horwitz, and Emmons (1985) find about extremely wealthy Americans?

Even the wealthiest Americans reported happiness levels only slightly higher than people with average incomes

What did Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman (1978) discover about lottery winners?

One year after winning the lottery, lottery winners were no happier than people who had experienced severe life trauma

What psychological process helps explain why lottery winners return to their previous happiness level?

Hedonic adaptation, meaning people quickly become accustomed to positive changes and return toward their previous emotional baseline

What surprising relationship was found between socioeconomic status and children's happiness?

Children from the lowest socioeconomic backgrounds reported the highest happiness, while upper-middle-class children reported the lowest

What is life evaluation?

A person's overall judgment about how well their life is going

• It reflects how people think about their lives

What is emotional well-being?

A person's everyday emotional experience.

• It reflects how people actually feel from day to day.

How is emotional well-being commonly measured?

By asking people how they felt yesterday, rather than asking them to evaluate their lives overall

What did Kahneman and Deaton find regarding life evaluation?

Life evaluation continued increasing as income increased

What did Kahneman and Deaton find regarding emotional well-being?

Emotional well-being increased with income at lower income levels but eventually reached a plateau around $75,000 (2010 estimate)

According to Kahneman and Deaton, why do higher incomes continue increasing life evaluation?

Because people judge their lives as being more successful, secure, and accomplished

According to Kahneman and Deaton, why doesn't emotional well-being continue increasing indefinitely?

Once basic needs are comfortably met, additional income produces much smaller improvements in daily emotional experience

How did Killingsworth's (2021) findings differ from Kahneman and Deaton's?

Killingsworth found emotional well-being continued increasing beyond $75,000 for many people

What did the 2023 joint reanalysis conclude?

Both findings were partly correct.

• The least happy 15–20% of people continue showing a plateau.

• Most other people continue experiencing gradual increases in emotional well-being

What are Csikszentmihalyi's four explanations?

Escalating expectations

Relative deprivation

Trade-off of attention

Narrow cultural script

What is hedonic adaptation?

The tendency to become accustomed to improvements so they no longer produce lasting increases in happiness

What did the 1987 Chicago Tribune poll demonstrate?

People always believed they needed significantly more money than they currently earned in order to feel satisfied

What does escalating expectations teach us about happiness?

Achieving one goal simply creates a new goal, making satisfaction temporary

What is relative deprivation?

Judging ourselves by comparing our circumstances to people who have more than we do

Why is relative deprivation becoming stronger in modern societies?

Growing income inequality makes upward comparisons easier and more frequent

What does the trade-off of attention mean?

Time and energy are limited.

• Devoting more attention to earning money often reduces attention available for other important aspects of life

What is meant by the "narrow cultural script"?

Modern society increasingly measures success using one dominant standard: Money

What is Csikszentmihalyi's minimum-threshold idea?

Material rewards are extremely important below a certain level but become much less important after basic needs are satisfied

Case study: Jay

21-year-old fourth-year university student

Earned excellent grades

Secured an internship

Received a high-paying job offer

Initially celebrated but soon felt emotionally flat

Case Study: Why did Jay feel emotionally flat despite receiving a dream job?

Because:

His life evaluation increased.

His emotional well-being changed very little.

Hedonic adaptation quickly began.

He started comparing himself to people earning even more

How would Kahneman and Deaton explain Jay's experience?

His salary increased his life evaluation, but it had only a limited effect on his everyday emotional well-being

What is affective forecasting?

Affective forecasting is predicting our own future emotional reactions to events. It involves estimating:

• Whether an event will feel good or bad

• Which emotions we will experience

• How intense those emotions will be

• How long they will last

What are the four components of every affective forecast?

Valence – Will the event feel good or bad?

Specificity – Which emotions will occur?

Intensity – How strong will the emotions be?

Duration – How long will the emotions last?

Which parts of affective forecasting are people generally accurate about?

People are usually accurate about:

• Valence (whether something will be pleasant or unpleasant)

• Direction (which option will feel better)

Which parts of affective forecasting are people generally accurate about?

• Valence: A vacation is expected to feel better than a dental appointment.

• Direction: A birthday party is expected to feel better than a tax audit.

Which parts of affective forecasting do people consistently get wrong?

People commonly misjudge:

• Intensity (how strongly they will feel)

• Duration (how long the feeling will last)

These errors have the greatest influence on decision-making

Why are mistakes in intensity and duration especially important?

Decisions are usually based on:

• How good or bad an event will feel

• How long those feelings will last

If these predictions are inaccurate, our choices may also be misguided

What is the impact bias?

The impact bias is the tendency to overestimate both the intensity and duration of future emotional reactions.

• People expect future events to affect them more strongly and for longer than they actually do

Is the impact bias rare?

No.

It appears consistently across many different situations, including:

• Breakups

• Elections

• Sports

• Academic careers

• Pregnancy test results

• Negative feedback

What is focalism?

Focalism is the tendency to focus almost entirely on one future event while forgetting all the ordinary experiences that will compete for our attention afterward

Why does focalism contribute to impact bias?

Because people imagine only the major event itself rather than everyday life that eventually returns.

Life "crowds back in."

What everyday example illustrates focalism?

After getting a dream job or entering a desired program, people imagine constant happiness.

In reality, a few months later they are mostly thinking about:

• Assignments

• Bills

• Sleep

• Relationships

• Daily responsibilities

What was the climate illusion study?

Schkade & Kahneman (1998) compared students in California and The Midwest asking about happiness.

Both groups believed Californians were happier because of the weather.

What actually happened in the climate illusion study?

Students in California and the Midwest reported essentially equal happiness.

What are the four stages of adaptation?

Attend

React

Explain

Adapt

What happens during the "Attend" stage?

The event captures our attention because it is:

• Surprising

• Personally relevant

What happens during the "React" stage?

We experience an emotional response such as:

• Joy

• Fear

• Sadness

• Grief

• Awe

What happens during the "Explain" stage?

The mind searches for reasons and builds a story that makes the event understandable

What happens during the "Adapt" stage?

Once the event has been explained, it becomes part of normal life and emotional intensity decreases

What is the psychological immune system?

An automatic psychological process that quietly protects emotional well-being by helping people:

• Reframe experiences

• Rationalize events

• Find explanations

• Adapt

How is the psychological immune system similar to the physical immune system?

Both operate automatically and largely outside conscious awareness.

What is immune neglect?

Immune neglect is failing to recognize that our psychological immune system will help us recover from negative events.

What happened when participants were rejected by one rude interviewer?

They recovered relatively quickly because it was easy to explain the rejection.