CATEGORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF "MENTAL HEALTH" IN THE CONTEXT OF ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS

Abstract

This article presents the author’s research findings on the issue of preserving adolescents’ mental health amid prolonged hostilities in Ukraine. It emphasizes the need to distinguish terminologically between the concepts of “mental health” and “psychological health.” The purpose of the article is to conduct a categorical analysis of the concept of “mental health,” identify its components, and substantiate their connection to the developmental tasks of adolescents, particularly in the context of the war in Ukraine.

The research methodology is based on a theoretical analysis and synthesis of scientific sources, including the conceptual definition provided by the World Health Organization, B. Ryan’s multicomponent model of health as interpreted by N. Zymivets, as well as the comprehensive approach of L. Kalashnikova, Yu. Rudenko, and S. Rudenko to understanding the essence of mental health. A comparative analysis of the concepts of “mental health” and “psychological health” was conducted, as well as a structural-functional analysis of age-related needs, developmental tasks of adolescence (sociocultural and sociopsychological), and corresponding psychosocial acquisitions in their interrelation with the components of mental health. The paper justifies the need to supplement the list of age-related sociopsychological developmental tasks for adolescents with specific tasks such as developing resilience, enhancing personal adaptive potential, and mobilizing the individual’s internal resources.

The scientific novelty of this study lies in the author’s justification of the concept of “mental health” as an integrative phenomenon that combines the emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual dimensions of an individual’s well-being, with the psychological dimension serving as their essential foundation; for the first time, a connection has been established between the components of mental health of adolescents and the sociocultural and sociopsychological tasks of their development has been established; the list of sociopsychological tasks of adolescence has been expanded to include the development of resilience, the enhancement of adaptive potential, and the mobilization of the individual’s internal resources under conditions of prolonged wartime stress.

It has been established that the development of adolescents’ mental health is inextricably linked to the successful resolution of the sociocultural and sociopsychological challenges of their development, and the resulting psychosocial acquisitions ensure a state of holistic well-being in accordance with the WHO concept. It is concluded that the theoretical analysis of the multidimensional nature of the phenomenon under study lays the conceptual foundation for social workers to develop practical tools for providing psychosocial support for adolescents’ mental health, taking into account their age-specific developmental challenges.