ABSTRACT

In this paper, I consider the debates surrounding the prevention of mental disorder and the promotion of mental health. In so doing, I offer some provisional insights into the wider notion of wellbeing. All three topics – mental disorder, mental health and wellbeing – imply generative mechanisms of some sort. By considering these mechanisms as ontological entities, we can appraise the relationship between human agency and its biological, social and economic constraints. This provides us with an understanding of bio-psycho-social causal loops, fluxing across time and space, which avoids a reductionist explanation of wellbeing. I also describe how the critical realist concept of four planar social being (our relationship to the natural world, one another, embedding social and economic structures, and our unique biographies) can further assist in the development of a holistic understanding of mental health and mental disorder.

摘要

在本文中，我考虑了围绕预防精神障碍和促进精神健康的辩论。通过这样做，我对更广泛的幸福概念提供了一些临时见解。所有三个主题——精神障碍、心理健康和幸福——都暗示着某种生成机制。通过将这些机制视为本体实体，我们可以评估人类能动性与其生物、社会和经济约束之间的关系。这让我们了解了跨越时间和空间流动的生物-心理-社会因果循环，从而避免了对幸福的简化解释。我还描述了四个平面社会存在的批判现实主义概念（我们与自然世界的相互关系，嵌入社会和经济结构，