The Minds We Want: A Theory of Mental Health

"This book argues for a new theory of what mental health is and why it matters. Mental health is best understood as psychological well-being, and psychological well-being is best understood subjectively, in terms of a person's desires or values for her own mind. To be mentally healthy is to have the mind one wants or values. Since people want and value different things, mental health is different for everyone. On this view, one can be mentally healthy even if one has a mental disorder, so long as one is able to realize one's desires or values for one's own mind. The book also advocates a new account of the nature of mental disorder and of the proper aim of psychotherapy. Finally, it articulates a new vision for mental health policy: such policy should aim at providing each person with the basic psychological goods that she needs to pursue her own psychological ends, whatever these may be. In this sense, mental health policy should be seen as an element of the more general program of political justice"-- Provided by publisher.