One of the challenges of being a psychologist is the lack of consensus in the mental health field about what it actually means to be “mentally healthy.” Ironically, professionals who work with mental health often disagree on what it means. The DSM-5, which is the diagnostic guide most mental health providers use, defines health primarily as the absence of illness or symptoms. This means many therapeutic approaches are focused on reducing distress and detecting pathology. But this framework can feel limiting, as it often revolves around moving away from something negative rather than striving toward something positive.
Some might argue that happiness is a clear marker of mental health. While it’s true that mentally healthy individuals are often happier, this alone does not capture the full picture—after all, many mentally well people endure significant suffering. Others point to resilience or high distress tolerance as the key indicators of mental health. While it’s true that healthy individuals often cope with stress more effectively, this too feels incomplete. In fact, many of my patients are remarkably stoic, minimizing or even denying their pain—an adaptive strategy for survival, but not necessarily a sign of true wellness.
So, if mental health isn’t simply the absence of illness, happiness, or resilience, then what is it? This is the question we sought to explore at the foundation of our training at the Institute for Psychological Sciences. What is mental health? Health is not simply the lack of disease or mental disorder. We can begin describe what we perceive to be a healthy person by observing his or her ability to function. Mental health manifests in a healthy relationship to oneself and one’s body, healthy relationships with other people, the ability to think clearly and reason, and the ability make free choices. Mental health incorporates and is affected by a person’s thoughts, feelings, relationships, family, environment, and community. When a person’s life is well-ordered, they may still struggle in a particular area, but their overall life will seem relatively balanced. Is this sense of balance at the core of mental health? Maintaining order and balance certainly contributes to mental health. However, when pursued for its own sake, it lacks a deeper sense purpose, without which it becomes easy to abandon when difficult or for something more appealing.
Understanding the human person from a Catholic perspective provides a framework for health, meaning to life, and an order to health and flourishing. Human flourishing is not just about surviving or escaping hardship by grit or luck. It involves managing the stresses and unavoidable pain of daily life with a sense of integrity and purpose. This then can bring about joy, even in the midst of difficulty. We all have different coping strategies and defenses we use to make it through tough times, and when we’re stressed we may not always make the best choices. Many times these poor choices come from a weakness in the will or an unwillingness to admit a limitation. So how can we order ourselves toward a deeper sense of personal unity and maintain a sense of order when we’re stressed? Humility! When we can acknowledge our strengths and limitations and be honest about what we desire we can work through difficulties and internal conflicts with a more realistic and stronger sense of self. Practicing virtue helps us order our lives so that when we are stressed or facing challenges, we have the strength to continue to live according to our values. The Catholic vision of the human person provides the point toward which we order ourselves, mainly toward God, Love, and that which is Good.
The three theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity. The Four cardinal virtues are prudence, justice, courage, and temperance. These four virtues have been called cardinal since each of them serves as a hinge (cardo, hinge in Latin) that brings order to a grouping of other biological, cognitive, affective, and spiritual strengths. St. Augustine saw the Cardinal and Theological virtues as a roadmap to perfect harmony, guiding human love toward God. He described their relationship in this way: temperance is love preserving itself pure and undivided for God; fortitude is love enduring all challenges for God’s sake; justice is love devoted to serving God and rightly ordering human affairs; and prudence is love discerning what brings us closer to God and what pulls us away.
Prudence is the virtue that sharpens practical reason, enabling us to discern the true good in every situation and choose the right means to pursue it. Justice, in turn, is the virtue of giving each person their due, respecting rights, and fostering harmony in human relationships that upholds both individual dignity and the common good. Fortitude (or courage) ensures steadfastness in the face of trials, emboldening us to stand firm for what is good—even when it’s difficult. Finally, temperance is the practice of moderation and self-control, balancing our actions, thoughts, and emotions in a way that keeps us anchored in the pursuit of God’s will. Together, these virtues align the human heart and mind, guiding us toward greater union with God and a flourishing life.
Virtue is developmental, unfolding across different stages of life. In childhood, virtues are primarily taught through duty and discipline. At this stage, children are best able to grasp moral principles through clear rules—what is right and wrong, and the importance of self-control. The Ten Commandments, for example, align with this stage, offering a concrete framework for understanding justice and temperance. Adolescence marks a shift toward more complex virtues like prudence and courage. Teens begin to move beyond the simplistic pleasure/pain dynamic that guided earlier behavior, seeking deeper consideration of the good. At this stage, they are drawn to compassion and begin engaging with the world beyond themselves. They are ready for more complexity, moving from categorical thinking to a framework that accounts for individual differences. In adulthood, virtue reaches its fullest expression in a profound love for others and a deep union with God. The practice of virtue becomes less about external rules and more about an interior transformation, where love for God and others becomes the guiding force of life. This stage represents a union with the divine, marked by a calm, steady devotion to the highest good.
People who are mentally healthy exhibit a sense of balance and order in their lives. They tend to be hopeful, optimistic, loving, and see the good in their situations. When stressed or upset, their emotional reactions are not muted nor are they exaggerated. The life of virtue is all about finding balance between the extremes and ordering life toward the Good, toward God.