Mental health

is a term used to describe either a level of cognitive or emotional wellbeing or an absence of a mental disorder From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. The World Health Organization states that there is no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined.

HISTORY

The treatment of mental disorders dates back to ancient civilisations, including Ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome. Medieval physicians in the Muslim world from the 8th to 15th centuries were concerned with mental health.

In the mid-19th century, William Sweetzer was the first to clearly define the term "mental hygiene". Isaac Ray, one of thirteen founders of the American Psychiatric Association, further defined mental hygiene as an art to preserve the mind against incidents and influences which would inhibit or destroy its energy, quality or development.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Clifford Whittingham Beers founded the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and opened the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States.