What is Positive Mental Health?

Mental health is more than the absence of mental illness. It is a component
of overall health and is shaped by individual, physical environment, social,
cultural and socio-economic characteristics. Increasingly, mental health is
moving to the forefront of discussions and action on overall health and
well-being. However, much of the work in this area to date has not focused
on supporting the development of positive mental health; instead, it has had
a primary focus on mental illness, specifically service-, access- and
stigma-related issues. This was seen as a gap by the experts with whom the
Canadian Population Health Initiative consulted regarding the focus of this
report. Positive mental health is a construct that is still being developed
and for which literature is emerging.
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*Improving the Health of Canadians: Exploring Positive Mental Health* brings
together available information and data analyses that look at one way of
defining positive mental health, how we currently measure it, its role in
health, the factors associated with high levels of positive mental health
and what strategies are, or may be, effective at promoting mental health at
a population level.

To read more the report can be accessed at the following link:

http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=PG_1492_E&cw_topic=1492&cw_rel=AR_1730_E

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