How does the concept of flourishing define current mental health practice? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Mental health problems have spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, and a new book by Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Meg Chisolm may help. Called “From Survive to Thrive, Living Your Best Life With Mental Illness,” the book aims to go beyond simply managing symptoms.

Chisolm: What the components are of a good life, what most people mean when they say that they’re leading their best life possible.  And that is happiness, life satisfaction, physical and mental health, close social relationships, character and virtue, and meaning and purpose, as well as financial and material security and stability. From these big epidemiologic longitudinal datasets, there seems to be a causal link between these four pathways and these outcomes of a flourishing life. And those are family, work, education and community.    :33

Chisolm says these must be integral to any plan for managing mental illness and moving beyond it. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.