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This post has taken me a while to get up here and a large part of the reason is because the definition that was decided upon last Monday does not sit well with me at all. I don't believe that only the mentally healthy are able to grow/evolve/create and recreate, often times the those that do these things most are those in serious need of mental help.

I may be a little ahead of the curve but I just finished reading the book that I picked to do my report on, it is in the reading list and titled "Divided Minds". The novel tells a story of two twins sisters of which one has schitzophrenia. Both sisters attended and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University, both were able to get into prestigious medical schools. Does this sould like either one of these ladies had any problems with our definition of mental health? 

As one reads this book however it becomes clear that neither of the two are actually mentally healthy. Both sisters are suffereing either physiologically or emotionally. I would like to think that when I suffered a serious depression in high school that I was still able to grow/evolve/create and recreate. I think that this definition is in many ways greatly flawed. I think mental health is far more complicated than the ability to do these things. 

Unfortunately I do not really have a definition to propose but this definition certainly does not cover all the bases.  I think that perhaps what mental health is cannot be defined, and I know that Paul thinks that this is a cop out. Maybe the correct way to assess mental health is in levels, similar to Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. Is it possible that there is a very basic concept of what consists of mental health and tiers that than can build from that basis. 

Really what I want to point out is that "our" definition is flawed and I don't think that any progression can be made from such a flawed notion of what mental health is. Those are just my thoughts and I know it has taken a while to put them up here, but I kept starting this blog trying to defend the definition when really I completely disagree with it.