Mental illness, mental health, and mental well-being
Mental health is sometimes understood as merely the absence of mental illness and sometimes more expansively as inclusive of a broader and more complete mental well-being. We present conceptual, empirical, and causal evidence for a distinction between the absence of mental illness and positive mental well-being. We discuss the implications for assessment, national tracking, research, policy, and mental healthcare. We argue for a greater clinical, policy, and public health attentiveness to positive mental well-being, to supplement work already being done on the treatment and prevention of mental illness.
Authors
- David Goodman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2504-503X)
- Chukwuemeka N. Okafor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6080-4866)
- R. Truzoli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7420-7053)
- Byron R. Johnson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3337-3810)
- Laura Diane Kubzansky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4039-2235)
- Suzanne T Ouyang
- Alexander Moreira-Almeida
- Tim Lomas
- Vikram Patel
Institutions
- Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (BR)
- Boston College (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Baylor University (US)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
- Harvard Global Health Institute (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Mental Health Research
- Published
- 2026-02-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-026-00193-7
- Primary Topic
- Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- John Templeton Foundation