The salutogenic approach in community mental health: A single case study of Schizophrenia remission in Bodoland Territorial Region, Assam, India

Abstract

The salutogenic approach encompasses a broader perspective of health and well-being in a mental healthcare scenario. This approach extends beyond treating mere illness, emphasizing a holistic framework through a proper health system governance. This needs to be inclusive and should include all the stakeholders, including the patients, their caregivers and their surroundings; as the factors supporting human health and well-being are important in case of mental health scenario. These factors cannot be adequately explained in the negative framework of Pathogenesis, which traditionally focuses on disease characterization in the community. In defining, explaining, assessing and managing the mental health of community-dwelling patients, the salutogenic approach has been propounded in recent times. The conventional biomedical emphasis on pathogenesis has been replaced by the perspectives of salutogenesis. In this approach, more emphasis has been laid on the positive aspects, namely enhancing the sense of coherence, promoting health-promoting behaviours, enhancing coping skills, teasing out Generalized Resistance Resource (GRR), constructing and maintaining a social network, strength-based intervention and factors affecting mental health. In this manuscript, a case is being reported that highlights the critical interplay in the lens of salutogenesis with a person living with Schizophrenia in the Bodoland Territorial Region, Assam, India.