Mental health as well-being

Two traditions of well-being research are currently distinguished
- Hedonic well-being
- Eudaimonic well-being
Hedonic well-being involves pleasure attainment and pain avoidance
- In the 1980’s and 1990’s there was some discomfort with the narrow portrayal of well-being in the hedonic tradition
- In 2000’s well-being was defined in terms of individual strivings and optimal functioning = eudaimonic well-being
Eudaimonic well-being encompasses 6 elements
- Personal growth
  - Having insight into one’s own potential for self-development
- Purpose in life
  - Having goals and beliefs that affirm a sense of direction and meaning in life
- Positive relationships
  - Having satisfying personal relationships in which empathy and intimacy are expressed
- Self-acceptance
  - A positive and acceptant attitude towards aspects of the self in past and present
- Autonomy
  - Self-direction as guided by one’s own socially accepted internal standards (able to resist social pressures to think and act in certain ways)
- Environmental mastery
  - The capability to manage the complex environment according to one’s own needs
    - E.g. in general, I feel I am in charge of the situation which I live