Deviation from ideal mental health

• Criteria for ideal mental health

  • No symptoms of distress
  • Rational and perceive ourselves accurately
  • Self actualise
  • Can cope with stress
  • Have a realistic view of the world
  • Have good self-esteem and lack of guilt
  • Independent of other people
  • Can successfully work and enjoy our leisure
• Changing the emphasis, a different way to think about normality and abnormality is to think about what makes someone normal and healthy, then think about anyone who deviates from this
• Someone's inability to keep a job


  May be a sign of inability to cope with the pressure of work
• There is inevitable overlap between definitions
• Limitation


  Unrealistically high standard for mental health
• Very few people meet all of Jehodas criteria
• This approach would see us all as abnormal
• It makes it clear on how people could see help to improve their mental health