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Sarah, thank you for bringing up Gestalt theory (which I have no understanding of beyond what wikipedia just told me, but sounds very interesting!). Perhaps wikipedia's summary is not exactly correct, but from what it says, it actually appears to be very in line with (my understanding of) professor Grobstein's definition of mental health.

To quote the all-powerful wikipedia on Gestalt therapy:

"The client learns to become aware of what they are doing psychologically and how they can change it. By becoming aware of and transforming their process they develop self acceptance and the ability to experience more in the "now" without so much interference from baggage of the past. The objective of Gestalt therapy, in addition to helping the client overcome symptoms, is to enable him or her to become more fully and creatively alive and to be free from the blocks and unfinished issues that may diminish optimum satisfaction, fulfillment, and growth."

The end goal of Gestaltian therapy thus seems to very much be saying what I interpret Professor Grobstein to be defining mental health as: the ability to perceive of one's own condition and how one can change it.

(I am unsure whether I think one needs to only be aware of how one's situation could be changed, or needs to actually be changing it, in order to be mentally healthy - thoughts?)

Anyway, while I do really like the self-understanding/evolution theory of mental health, and I'd be happy to call it the first step one takes when deciding if someone is "mentally healthy", I worry that in many cases asking this question wont get us very far. Is a child with bi-polar disorder who is threatening the lives of his family members one moment and crying in their laps the next impaired in being able to understand his own condition and how to change it? YES. Now what?

I think the challenge put forth in Culture as Disability, and by the self-understanding/evolution definition of mental health is a very worthy cause that must be addressed, but I also think if we put forth ALL our efforts towards changing cultural norms so there is no longer "mental illness" and "mental deficiencies", we are going to not give "help" to a lot of people who may need it in a more "traditional" mental illness kind of way.

(I apologize for my overuse of quotation marks. I am wary of all adjectives and nouns after our discussion Monday night. And also for not really giving any conclusions in this post - the ideas are still unclear in my mind!)