The World Health Organization (2001: p. 3) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being’. What is meant to any individual by well-being, mental health and what constitute mental health problems, and to some extent mental illness, is largely determined by the cultural and social circumstances of communities in which the individual in most instances is immersed (Fernando, 2010). In multicultural situations, different interpretations exist side by side, but which ones dominate will be determined by the power relations that exist between the different cultural groups (see Chapter 13, this volume). The closest we can get to studying well-being and mental health as experienced by people in particular cultural/multicultural and social settings is therefore to explore not only the meanings that are given by each constituent community, but also how some meanings are privileged over others and how this can serve to diminish or invalidate others. By the same argument, the meaning of recovery from mental health problems must also be defined within specific cultural/multicultural and social contexts.

The terms well-being and mental health capture different concepts: the former encompasses personal, social and spiritual aspects of life and functioning in society, whereas the latter implies a biomedical understanding of how a person's mind functions. The focus on well-being has grown rapidly in recent years and is justified on the grounds that, in contrast to assessments of mental health by experts, well-being: (a) is based on standards and values chosen by people themselves; (b) reflects success or failure in achieving norms and values that people themselves seek; and (c) includes components dependent on pleasure and the fulfilment of basic human needs, but also includes people's ethical and evaluative judgements of their lives (Diener & Suh, 2000). At a personal level, well-being, sometimes called subjective well-being or happiness (Diener, 1984), is a positive state of mind brought about by satisfaction of personal, relational and collective needs (Prilleltensky et al, 2001). However, there is another approach (the capabilities approach) to well-being, which is more about what people can doas agents and arein terms of lived experience – the emphasis being on their having the capability (i.e. the practical choice) to function (Sen, 2008).