Objective: It is increasingly appreciated that mental health may not just involve a relative absence of mental illness, but the active presence of positive psychological desiderata. However, research attention on mental illness and health has tended to remain siloed and disconnected-proceeding along parallel tracks-with their potential relationship underexplored and undertheorized. As such, we sought to develop theoretical models to help us better understand the interaction of these two domains of experience.
Methods: Through extensive engagement with relevant literature, we created two complementary meta-conceptual frameworks to represent and evaluate states of mental illness and health.
Results: The Mental Illness-Health Matrix allows different forms of mental illness and health to be situated and assessed within a common framework. The Mental State Space Matrix further enables these various forms to be conceptualized and appraised in terms of numerous common parameters (e.g., valence and arousal).
Conclusion: It is hoped that these frameworks will stimulate and support further research on the inter-relational dynamics of illness and health. Indeed, the matrices themselves are provisional works-in-progress, with their articulation here intended as a foundation for their further development as understanding of these topics evolves and improves.
Keywords: flourishing; mental health; mental illness; well-being.
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