Health Anarchology: (2/10) Self-Integrity with Authentic Being in Moral Selfhood

Health Anarchology: (2/10) Self-Integrity with Authentic Being in Moral Selfhood

Mahmoud Sadeghi Janbehan

Translated by ChatGPT 

Introduction

In the modern era, the concept of mental health is primarily defined within biological, psychological, and social frameworks—as if health merely denotes the absence of illness, the maintenance of psychological and social balance, or a state of mental calm and adaptive adjustment. Although this view has proven useful in applied domains, it has largely neglected a more fundamental human dimension: the relationship between the individual and the experiences of cognitive and moral courage, rebellion against domination, and the unity of the self. Consequently, the modern conception of mental health has been reduced to conformity with social norms and the standards of a dominant scientific order, particularly within mainstream psychology.

While concepts such as self-actualization and self-realization have received extensive attention in psychology and moral philosophy, their explanations often remain confined to hegemonic interpretive systems governing the human sciences. Thus, even when an individual seems free of visible symptoms of disorder, at a deeper level of existence, they remain caught in disconnection, anxiety, and alienation from the self.

In contrast to this reductionist perspective, the theoretical system of Health Anarchology seeks to elevate the notion of health from the biological, psychological, and social domains to a moral and ontological horizon. Within this framework, mental health is not a passive state of equilibrium or the mere absence of pathology, but rather a process of psychological unification—a state in which the individual returns to their authentic self and becomes liberated from both internal and external forms of domination.

Psychological unification, the foundational principle of this system, rests upon rebellion against all authoritarian and oppressive structures. In this view, mental health can only be realized through persistent and courageous moral rebellion—a continuous ethical boldness that frees the individual from submission, pathological anxiety (archo-anxiety), and structural subjugation, both within the psyche and in society at large. This experience transcends the psychological domain; it is simultaneously an existential and ethical process, shaping the individual’s way of being in relation to truth and freedom.

Health Anarchology holds that the root of much psychological distress and ethical disintegration—particularly the loss of justice-centered morality—lies in humanity’s disconnection from Authentic Being. In pursuit of security, order, and conformity, modern individuals often distance themselves from the essence of freedom and moral rebellion, reducing health to a fragile equilibrium dependent upon external control. In contrast, genuine and enduring mental health emerges only when a person, illuminated by awareness, conscience, and freedom, rediscovers the possibility of inner unity, integrating cognition, emotion, and morality into a harmonious and meaningful whole.

From this perspective, moral selfhood constitutes one of the most essential indicators of health in the anarchological framework. Only through moral autonomy and an awakened conscience can one attain the experience of psychological unification and mental well-being. Moral selfhood—living by inner, self-derived ethical standards, independent of domination or blind imitation—forms the central axis of health in this theoretical paradigm.

Accordingly, this paper, focusing on the concept of moral selfhood within the framework of Health Anarchology, seeks to demonstrate that mature mental health is nothing other than the manifestation of inner unity, justice-centered being, and ethical freedom. To this end, the paper first outlines the theoretical foundations of Health Anarchology, and subsequently analyzes the relationship between moral selfhood and psychological unification, in order to propose an alternative model of the healthy human being as envisioned within this anarchological paradigm.