The Mental Health Continuum

Promoting Mental Health

The Mental Health Continuum is a model that explains the connection between mental health and mental illness. People often think of these two terms as completely separate, and that an individual with a mental illness cannot achieve mental health. However, this is not the case. According to researchers an individual with optimal mental has the following characteristics;

1. Many different interests and the ambition to pursue them.

2. The ability to complete activities essential to daily love, such as hygiene.

3. A mature view on their external and internal worlds.

Individuals without these characteristics risk falling from the healthy end of the spectrum to the unwell end of the spectrum. You can see that these characteristics do not exclude individuals with mental illnesses, as they can still posses these qualities.

This continuum highlights the need for caregivers to be mentally healthy in order to be a good support and role model for their infants and children. Poor mental health can be projected onto the infants and as a result, cause poor mental health in the infants as well.

References

Mental health continuum. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.togethertolive.ca/mental-health-continuum

What is the Mental Health Continuum Model? (2019, August 28). Retrieved from

https://positivepsychology.com/mental-health-continuum-model/