An attempt to define mental health.

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Abstract
7 advanced graduate students in clinical psychology ranked, in an order most descriptive of optimal personality integration, 20 abbreviated paragraphs of Murray's "desires and effects of the 20 manifest needs." There was highly significant agreement between judges, and this pattern of needs is discussed as a conceptualization of mental health. 116 male research scientists, using the same paragraphs, described themselves. Deviation of self-descriptions from the ideal related significantly to measures of creativity, ego strength, manifest anxiety, autonomy, and authoritarian values. Strong conflict on specific Blacky scales was frequently associated with marked deviation of a need related to the particular psychosexual issue. Methodological considerations in defining mental health, the role of mental health in creativity, and the value of self-description in assessment are discussed. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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