Characteristics of Psychological Wellness Nancy McWilliams, Rutgers University

1. The capacity to work: to feel what you do has meaning, that you make an impact, that you have pride in how you spend your work time

2. The capacity to love: a. Re: adult-adult relationships - to have an authentic, intimate relationship b. Re: parent-child relationships – the capacity for devotion; to be able to set aside your desires from time to time in order to do what’s best for your child

3. The capacity to play: to enjoy recreational activities, to take pleasure in having fun

4. Movement towards a secure attachment:
   

   1. The patterns that develop between parent and child lead to the development of patterns of attachment. In adults patterns of attachment turn into internal working models with guide the individual’s perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and expectations in later relationships.

   2. Attachment patterns are difficult to change, but research suggests that these patterns can change in response to:
      

      1. Love relationship that lasts for at least 5 years

      2. Intensive psychotherapy for at least 2 years

5. Sense of Agency (acting on your own behalf or exerting your own personal power to accomplish a goal) or Self-efficacy (the belief in one’s ability to accomplish tasks and reach goals)

6. Self-constancy (the person has some sense of having an identity and can hold in mind “who they were, who they are now, and who they may become in the future) and Object-constancy (the person understands the other people have separate identities)

7. Ego strength or resilience (ability to cope with stress and adversity): “bouncing back”

8.Realistic and reliable self-esteem (a feeling of pride in yourself)

9.Values (ethics, morals, integrity)

10.Affect Tolerance and Regulation: a person is capable of feeling a wide range of emotions – not just the “good ones” – and can fluidly and flexibility move from one to another without becoming flooded and overwhelmed.

11.Insight: the capacity to develop an ever-increasing, more complex understanding of self, others, or thing/problem

12.Capacity to mentalize: ability to recognize your own and others’ mental states, and to see these mental states as separate from behavior. Being able to think about your thoughts.

13.Flexibility of defenses or coping styles

14.Balance between relatedness and separateness: the capacity to be deeply close and also to be alone

15.Vitality – sense of feeling alive

16.Acceptance of what cannot be changed