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Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model

In this paper, we argue for the need to rethink mental health beyond the medical model because much of human suffering cannot be diagnosed by the DSM-5. During the pandemic and post-pandemic, people have learned to accept the fact that no one is immune from suffering. Given the universality and comp...

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Autores principales: Wong, Paul T. P., Laird, Don
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10237014/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37275717
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1155845
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author Wong, Paul T. P.
Laird, Don
author_facet Wong, Paul T. P.
Laird, Don
author_sort Wong, Paul T. P.
collection PubMed
description In this paper, we argue for the need to rethink mental health beyond the medical model because much of human suffering cannot be diagnosed by the DSM-5. During the pandemic and post-pandemic, people have learned to accept the fact that no one is immune from suffering. Given the universality and complexity of human suffering, it is natural for people to wrestle with existential questions such as “Why struggle when all life end in death?” and “How can one flourish when life is so hard?” Existential positive psychology (EPP or PP2.0) was developed to address these existential concerns. After explaining the inherent limitations of the medical model and the need for EPP as an alternative vision for mental health, we provide illustrative clinical cases to demonstrate the advantages of this broader existential framework for both case conceptualization and interventions. According to EPP, mental illness is reconceptualized as both deficiency in knowledge and skills in coping with the demands of life and deficiency in meeting the basic needs for livelihood and mental health, the Soul’s yearnings for faith, hope, and love. Finally, we introduce integrative meaning therapy as a therapeutic framework which can equip people with the needed skills to achieve healing, wholeness, and total wellbeing.
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spelling pubmed-102370142023-06-03 Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model Wong, Paul T. P. Laird, Don Front Psychol Psychology In this paper, we argue for the need to rethink mental health beyond the medical model because much of human suffering cannot be diagnosed by the DSM-5. During the pandemic and post-pandemic, people have learned to accept the fact that no one is immune from suffering. Given the universality and complexity of human suffering, it is natural for people to wrestle with existential questions such as “Why struggle when all life end in death?” and “How can one flourish when life is so hard?” Existential positive psychology (EPP or PP2.0) was developed to address these existential concerns. After explaining the inherent limitations of the medical model and the need for EPP as an alternative vision for mental health, we provide illustrative clinical cases to demonstrate the advantages of this broader existential framework for both case conceptualization and interventions. According to EPP, mental illness is reconceptualized as both deficiency in knowledge and skills in coping with the demands of life and deficiency in meeting the basic needs for livelihood and mental health, the Soul’s yearnings for faith, hope, and love. Finally, we introduce integrative meaning therapy as a therapeutic framework which can equip people with the needed skills to achieve healing, wholeness, and total wellbeing. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC10237014/ /pubmed/37275717 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1155845 Text en Copyright © 2023 Wong and Laird. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wong, Paul T. P.
Laird, Don
Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model
title Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model
title_full Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model
title_fullStr Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model
title_full_unstemmed Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model
title_short Varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model
title_sort varieties of suffering in the clinical setting: re-envisioning mental health beyond the medical model
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10237014/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37275717
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1155845
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