Positioning mental health nursing practice within a positive health paradigm

Mental health service provision has traditionally been dominated by biomedical models of illness and disorder, a problem-based orientation, and the assessment and management of risk. While psychotherapeutic approaches are numerous and have been widely utilized, psychotropic medications, either as monotherapy or in conjunction with psychological therapies, remain the mainstay for the 'treatment' of mental health problems. This is despite growing uncertainty over the effectiveness of psychotropic medications (particularly antidepressants), as well as their potential for enduring and debilitating side-effects. This discussion paper outlines the emerging field of positive health, which eschews a psychiatric disorder and illness focus, and is instead oriented towards the identification of strengths, abilities, hopes, and the individual's preferred future. The shift in positive health, from illness towards wellness, aims to build health literacy and the capacity of individuals to make decisions conducive to health, and thereby make more effective the use of health-care services. A positioning of mental health nursing practice within a positive health paradigm is promoted. By illustration, a number of solution-focused mental health assessment questions are tabled to contrast the current format for mental health assessment, which rather than being 'comprehensive', is predominantly concerned only with problem and risk identification, and the search for pathology in the individual.