One Generic Mental Illness: A Principle-Based Psycho-Spiritual Explanation of General Factor p and Its Application to Spiritually Informed Clinical Practice

Author/s: Thomas M. Kelley, William F. Pettit Jr., Judith Sedgeman, Jack Pransky

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.37898/spc.2021.6.2.132 

Year: 2021 Vol: 6 Number: 2

Abstract

Multiple forms of psychopathology appear to have one common liability typically referred to as general factor p (or p). The possibility of a general factor of psychopathology begs several questions. If something substantive exists that accounts for patterns of co-morbidity across myriad forms of psychopathology, what exactly is it? If higher levels of this factor account for more severe and sustained psychological ill-heath, what explains it and its developmental progression? If this factor exists, does it account for varying levels of mental health and the apparent decline in mental health from childhood to mid-life? Does this factor have a common prevention and remediation? The authors offer a possible answer, a new psycho-spiritual explanation of general factor p grounded in understanding the way people’s psychological life experiences are created via three universal Principles—Mind, Consciousness and Thought. Given this understanding of p, we propose a process from p to psychopathology. Then we offer a prevention and remediation for the ill-effects of our view of p which we call factor U. Factor U describes people’s awareness and sufficient insight-based understanding of the way these three Principles manifest within everyone. Finally, we apply our view of p to clinical practice emphasizing empirically supported mental health education grounded in factor U for preventing and remediating the ill-effects of p, thus reducing psychopathology and its symptoms, and naturally restoring a state of innate mental well-being.

Keywords
General Factor p; Universal Mind, Consciousness, and Thought; Innate mental well-being; Mental health education