Mental health: historical approaches from the human sciences and critical thinking

Mental health, understood as a set of meanings ranging from the absence of illness to holistic approaches encompassing emotional and social well-being, remains a subject of ongoing debate at the intersection of history, culture, and subjectivity. This research seeks to describe mental health from historical perspectives characteristic of the human sciences and critical thinking. Using a post-positivist paradigm and a hermeneutic method, the study was developed through phases of document collection, interpretation, and theoretical synthesis, ensuring validity through internal consistency, intertextual contrast, and current relevance. The study concludes that these notions open new ways of understanding human beings, where competencies such as emotional intelligence, prevention, postvention, and psychological first aid become fundamental pillars, while iatrogenesis highlights the limitations of any intervention.