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Understanding Wellbeing and Mental Health Nursing

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Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture ((PASCC))

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Abstract

This chapter begins by introducing wellbeing theory and ranges from Aristotle’s ideas about eudaimonia, through the positive psychology conceptions of Seligman and colleagues, to contemporary preoccupations with happiness, wellbeing and flourishing. It then outlines the findings of a systematic literature review conducted by the author, exploring the question: what is wellbeing and how is it relevant to mental health nursing? The findings are presented under five main thematic headings: wellbeing as a nebulous, multifaceted notion, physical wellbeing as a legitimate concern, psychosocial wellbeing for mental health nurses (MHNs), the psychosocial wellbeing of MHNs and finally spiritual wellbeing (MHNs as spiritual allies.) These findings are revisited and discussed in depth in Chap. 9, which also makes recommendations based upon this discussion.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Seligman uses the hyphenated term ‘well-being’ rather than the single word ‘wellbeing’. The older hyphenated form is used in North America and, while this is still used throughout the English-speaking world, the single word ‘wellbeing’ is now more widely used outside the US and Canada. For the purposes of this book, the single word form will be used, except when directly citing an author (such as Seligman) who used the hyphenated form in their original work.

  2. 2.

    In 1972, Bhutan’s former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck made a half-joking remark suggesting Gross National Happiness (GNH) was as important as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The idea was subsequently taken up by the Centre for Bhutan Studies who developed policy screening tools which measure the impact of different policies on the population’s wellbeing level (McNaught, 2011).

  3. 3.

    While depression and anxiety can certainly be, in some cases, severe and debilitating, in mental health practice , because of their prevalence they are described as common mental health disorders and contrasted with relatively rarer disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which are denoted as serious (or severe) mental illness (sometimes abbreviated to SMI).

  4. 4.

    Papadopoulos et al. (2013) erroneously refer to the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) as a Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan.

  5. 5.

    Job strain (high psychological demand with low job control) paired with low support in the workplace – a phenomenon that has been termed iso-strain (van der Doef & Maes, 1999).

  6. 6.

    Hood Morris (1996) provides a reference for an earlier use of the phrase “spiritual ally” (Colliton, 1981).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK

    Tony Gillam

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Gillam, T. (2018). Understanding Wellbeing and Mental Health Nursing. In: Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74884-9_4

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