Mental health - myth or reality?

Attempts to define the boundaries of the norm of mental health have led, in fact, to an incorrect reflection of vague ideas about the concept of mental disorder. First of all, this is due to the concept of mental diathesis, erasing the boundary between these definitions. At the same time, at present, the advances of biological psychiatry unwittingly contribute to the leveling of the holistic approach in the understanding of mental processes and the dominance of the ideas of biological reductionism. Within the framework of this approach, the suffering person is considered as an object, and the manifestations of a mental disorder observed in this case are considered as dysfunctions observed primarily in the physical (biological) domain. At the same time, only a biopsychosocial diagnostic approach, covering a holistic idea of the development of mental health and mental disorder from the viewpoint of the factors that determine these concepts, can provide the understanding of the features of the formation and main markers of health/ill health, as well as the conditions of stabilization and the nature of efforts aimed at improving the general health of the population.