THE ILLUSION OF MENTAL-HEALTH

It is argued that researchers' reliance on ''objective'' mental health scales and disregard for clinical judgment has led to many mistaken c onclusions. Specifically, standard mental health scales appear unable to distinguish between genuine mental health and the facade or illusio n of mental health created by psychological defenses. Evidence is pres ented indicating that (a) many people who look healthy on standard men tal health scales are not psychologically healthy, and (b) illusory me ntal health (based on defensive denial of distress) has physiological costs and may be a risk factor for medical illness. Clinical judges co uld distinguish genuine from illusory mental health, whereas ''objecti ve'' mental health scales could not. The findings call into question t he conclusions of many previous studies that rest on standard mental h ealth scales. They suggest new ways of understanding how psychological factors may influence health. Finally, they suggest that clinical met hods (which researchers often malign) may have an important role to pl ay in meaningful mental health research.