Dimensions of Safety in the Process of Mental Health and Illness. Empirical Results and Theoretical Framework

Feeling safe in the world is regarded as a basic human need which Maslow placed at the second level of his human need hierarchy directly after bare physical survival. Consequently, lack or loss of safety in the most general sense is considered as a major risk factor for the impairment of human well being and the development of mental disorders. Dimensions of safety which have been identified as relevant for mental health are personal relationships, economic living conditions and environmental circumstances. Despite the fact that the relevance of these dimensions of safety for mental health has been confirmed in an increasing number of studies, there is still lacking a common theoretical framework that allows a comprehensive understanding of the interrelationships between individual and environmental aspects of safety in the etiology of mental disorders.

In this presentation the recent results of empirical studies on the impact of the lack or loss of safety on mental health will be discussed with regard to their contribution for the understanding of the interaction between personal characteristics and environmental hazards in the development of mental health and illness.