Mental health and functioning: a case analysis of rehabilitation patients

The relationship between mental health and functioning has been inconsistently described. Here, the role of mental health in determining functioning was studied from a large multi-axial (biopsychosocial) and multi-dimensional (impairments, disabilities and handicaps) point of view. Case-analysis of rehabilitation patients indicated that inconsistent findings may be due to an incorrect linearity assumption. Results indicated that: (1) good mental health may aid the patient to benefit from rehabilitation. However, (2) it does not guarantee good future functioning, because the impact of mental health on functioning varies in interaction with other functional aspects. On the other hand, (3) poor mental health does not necessarily impede good future functioning, whereas (4) poor mental health, associated with other aspects of poor functioning, quite reliably predicts poor functioning after rehabilitation. It was concluded that single psychological factors cannot predict functioning. To improve prediction, broader models of functional assessment in rehabilitation should be used.