Abstract

JARAMILLO ESTRADA, Juan Carlos  and  RESTREPO-OCHOA, Diego Alveiro. Normality and Mental Health: analysis of a multivalent relationshipNormalidad y Salud Mental: análisis de una relación multivalente. CES Psicol [online]. 2015, vol.8, n.1, pp.37-46. ISSN 2011-3080.

The categories "Normality" and "Mental health" are closely related. What is considered "mentally healthy" is linked with what is estimated as "normal" in every historical and cultural context. There are at least four ways to comprehend "normality" which determinate the forms of conceptualization and intervention in mental health: adjustment/ maladjustment understood as the subject’s adaptation to the social expectation; health/illness determined by biological factors under the medical model; statistics normality/ statistics abnormality defined from statistics criteria of population distribution and wellbeing/ discomfort related with the assessment that subjects make about their own life experiences. This paper shows discussion about the relationship between the categories "normality2 and "mental health" from the perspective of these four antithetical pairs and the analysis of the theoretical and practical implications of each one of these perspectives.

Keywords : Mental Health; Normality; Adaptation; Adjustment; Wellbeing.

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