Spiritual Health as a Dynamic Characteristic of Individuality

2008

Abstract

The article grounds the productivity of using the notion of «spiritual health» for indicating of the phenomena described in psychological papers as «personal health», «psychological health» etc. The author argues that it is necessary to consider cultural context to define characteristics of a spiritually healthy person. The notion of spiritual health is suggested to be a dynamic characteristic of individuality. The four criteria of spiritual health are figured out: availability of life goals that constitute meanings; accordance of one's activity with sociocultural requirements and natural environment; feeling of subjective well-being; positive prognosis. It is shown that traditional and modern cultures create drastically different conditions for developing and maintaining of spiritual health according to the above-listed criteria. Preservation of spiritual health under modern conditions implies an individual's activity in the process of solving a range of psychohygienic tasks. The role of all the individuality's sub-structures in maintaining and strengthening a person's spiritual health is emphasized.

General Information

Keywords: spiritual health, cultural context, individuality, criteria of spiritual health, psychohygienic tasks, principles of spiritual health preservation, human inner world.

Journal rubric: Theory and Methodology

Article type: scientific article

For citation: Danilenko O.I. Spiritual Health as a Dynamic Characteristic of Individuality. Kul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 2011. Vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 52–59. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Olga I. Danilenko, Doctor of Cultural Studies, Professor at the General psychology chair of the St. Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: danilenko.olga@gmail.com

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