The New Arabia Felix

Abstract

The World Health Organization (2010) describes mental health as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’ (p. 1). In spite of this positive definition, most ‘mental health’ research to date has focused on the exploration of what we variously describe as mental illnesses, psychological complaints, or psychiatric disorders. In exploring psychological well-being across the Arabian Gulf States, we are forced — at present — to take a similarly negative and rather narrow view, where psychological well-being is essentially synonymous with the absence of psychological disorder. Regional explorations of more positive psychological concepts, such as savouring and flourishing, are at present in their infancy. However, what we do have are more than three decades’ worth of regional research, exploring a variety of psychological problems across all six Arabian Gulf States.