Deviation from Ideal mental health

• Deviation from Ideal mental health - behaviour that doesn't meet 'healthy' criteria

  • ignores the issue of abnormality and focuses on normal 'ideal mental health' (e.g. no symptoms/stress)
• (DMH) + Comprehensive definition

  • covers a broad range of mental criteria making it a useful tool when defining abnormality
• (DMH) - Cultural relativism

  • some ideas in the classification are culture bound so can't be generalised and applied to the wider population
• (DMH) - Unrealistically high standard for mental health

  • none of us achieve all criteria for ideal mental health for long periods of time which would deem the majority of people as abnormal following this approach