The complete mental health model: The social distribution of mental health and mental illness in the Dutch population

Abstract

The promotion of mental health is a new goal in public mental health care, which has traditionally focused on the treatment and prevention of mental illness. Mental health consists not only of the absence of disease but also of the experience of emotional well-being and personal and social fulfillment. We studied the social distribution of mental illness and different components of mental health in the Dutch population across time. Sociodemographic variables hold different relations with different indicators of mental illness and mental health. These relations are remarkably stable across time. The exceptions to this stability for age and educational level showed distinct time trajectories for the different indicators of mental health and illness. We conclude that it is important to distinguish among the three different components of mental health, i.e., emotional, psychological, and social well-being. The findings provide further support that mental health and mental illness represent different continua.