[The role of the study of neurocognitive mechanisms for maintaining and restoring mental health in the setting of uncertainty of the psychopathology boundaries].

In the last century, fundamental and applied psychology has established a view of mental health as a qualitatively distinct condition, determined not only by the absence of symptoms of psychopathology but also by several positive characteristics. These include subjective well-being, positive emotions, psychological resilience, emotional competence, and a person's social maturity appropriate for the age and cultural expectations. However, modern epidemiological and experimental studies operate mainly with a negative definition of mental health, compiling control groups of so-called «neurotypical volunteers» based on the absence of a history of mental disorders in them and sometimes also in their blood relatives. There are no explicit criteria for mental health or patient recovery in clinical protocols for diagnosing mental disorders. The gap between the theoretical and operational definitions of mental health is due to the insufficient popularity of tools for assessing the parameters of mental activity necessary for a person to function optimally in everyday life. The purpose of the review is to analyze recent empirical studies on the neurocognitive mechanisms for maintaining and restoring mental health. The paper justifies the need to develop practice methods for diagnosing a person's mental health within a modern humanistic approach.