Deviation from ideal mental health:

• STRENGTH

  • highly comprehensive
  • Jahodas concept includes a range of criteria for distinguishing mental health from mental disorder
  • It covers most reasons why we seek help with mental health
  • Means that an individual's mental health can be discussed meaningfully with a range of professionals who might take different theoretical views ie a medically trained psychiatrist may focus on symptoms whereas a humanistic counsellor may be more interested in self-actualisation

  Provides a checklist against which we can assess ourselves and others discuss psychological issues with a range of professionals
• LIMITATION

  • Different elements are not equally applicable across a range of cultures
  • Some of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health are firmly located in US and Europe generally
  • In particular the concept of self-actualisation would probably be dismissed as self-indulgent in much of the world
  • Within Europe there is variation in the value placed on personal independence ie high in Germany low in Italy
  • What defines success in our working, social and love-lives is different in different cultures

  Difficult to apply the concept of ideal mental health from one culture to another