Positive Mental Health: From the treatment of mental illness to the promotion of mental health

The WHO defines mental health as: “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” The main point of this holistic definition is that mental health is not limited to the absence of illness, but is in fact a positive state. If the term “positive” is added to mental health, it is to distance it from the negative connotation of mental illness to which it is generally associated.