Mental Hygiene: What It Is, Implications, and Future Directions

Abstract

Every day, people struggle with mental health challenges; one in five people will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. Innovative approaches to strengthen the public mental health strategy warrant careful deliberation. This article reintroduces and explores the conceptual framework of mental hygiene. The concept of mental hygiene was originally introduced in the early 20th century, with the aim of preventing and treating mental illness and milder mental disorders. The movement lost its momentum shortly thereafter and the concept went largely ignored since then. Mental hygiene is a form of preventive maintenance that can be likened to other hygienic practices. Through the plasticity of the brain, mental training activities can foster healthy cognitive patterns that are conducive to well-being. The article offers a brief overview of some of the mental hygiene practices one can engage in, on a daily basis, to support well-being and assist in preventing mental health issues. Such mental training behaviors may potentially reduce ubiquitous human tendencies to ruminate and mind-wander without awareness, which when in excess correlate with increased activity of the default mode network and susceptibility to the pathogenesis of mental illness, along with impeding human flourishing. The article advocates for the routine engagement in healthy mental hygiene to become a global recommendation.