Psychological Well-Being in Adult Life

Abstract

in magnitude of research?studies of psychological problems dwarf the literature on positive psychological functioning?and in the meaning of basic terms (e.g., typical usage equates health with the absence of illness). A person is viewed as men tally sound if he or she does not suf fer from anxiety, depression, or other forms of psychological symp tomatology. This prevailing formula tion never gets to the heart of Well ness; to do so, we must define mental health as the presence of the positive. To explicate the positive is, how ever, to grapple with basic values and ideals of the human experience. These values are no less evident in definitions of human suffering, al though consensus in identification of the negative is somehow easier to achieve. Despite these challenges, much has been written, within the field of psychology and outside it, regarding the contours of positive psychological functioning. DEFINING FEATURES OF WELL-BEING