The Three Families of Resources for Positive Mental Health

Definition

This definition extends that of the World Health Organization by specifying what positive mental health is built from: resources that can be identified, preserved, restored and developed throughout life.

From five types of resources to three families

In the founding article "La santé mentale positive : définition, dimensions et approches" (in French), the definition distinguishes five types of resources: biological, emotional, cognitive, relational and existential. The framework presented on this page keeps that analysis and groups these five types into three families: emotional, relational and existential resources together form the family of psychological resources, alongside biological resources (the body) and cognitive resources (the mind).

The two formulations therefore describe the same framework at two levels of detail: three families for the overall structure, five types for the finer analysis. The three-family formulation, presented here, is the reference formulation to cite.

Why speak of resources?

Research has established that mental well-being and mental disorders are two distinct dimensions: this is the two-continua model proposed by the researcher Corey Keyes. This finding raises an essential question: what concretely enables us to stay in balance, adapt and flourish?

The three families of resources answer this question. The fruit of more than twenty years of research and practice, this framework offers an integrative reading: positive mental health is not an isolated state of mind, but a property that emerges from the ongoing interaction between three families of resources.

The three families of resources

• Biological resources (the body): sleep, movement, nutrition, breathing, the microbiome. They form the physiological foundation of mental balance: recent work links stress resilience to the quality of brain-gut-microbiome interactions (An et al., 2024) and describes sleep, immunity and cardiovascular health as interconnected foundations of mental well-being (Garcia-Garcia et al., 2026).
• Cognitive resources (the mind): memory, attention, learning, mental flexibility, cognitive reserve. They allow us to interpret the world and make sense of experience: a systematic review of 99 studies shows that positive cognitive reappraisal buffers the impact of stressful events (Riepenhausen et al., 2022), and a higher cognitive reserve is associated with better mental health in adulthood (Porricelli et al., 2024; Stern, 2021).
• Psychological resources (emotions and relationships): emotion regulation, resilience, self-compassion, relationships, meaning in life. Psychological capital, which combines hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism, is one of the resources most consistently associated with mental health (Youssef-Morgan, 2024), and self-compassion helps prevent negative emotions from turning into lasting distress (Trompetter et al., 2016; Kotera et al., 2021).

These three families never act in isolation: better sleep supports attention, which eases emotion regulation, which in turn protects sleep. Research confirms this multisystemic reading: positive mental health results from processes that cut across biological, psychological and social systems (Ungar and Theron, 2019), even though the literature does not yet have a single agreed definition or measure, which is precisely what justifies an integrative framework (Iasiello et al., 2024).

The environment also plays a decisive role: spending time in green and blue spaces is associated with better mental well-being across eighteen countries (White et al., 2021), the richness of plant and animal species in an area is positively linked to the mental health of its inhabitants (Methorst et al., 2021), and the effect of individual resources depends largely on the social support and living conditions that make it possible to actually mobilise them (Ungar and Theron, 2019; Heinz et al., 2025).

An approach grounded in 4E cognitive science

To account for this interdependence, the framework draws on the contemporary strand of cognitive science known as "4E", formalised notably by Varela, Thompson and Rosch (1991) and then by Clark and Chalmers (1998). This strand holds that mental life is not reducible to what happens "inside the head". The framework's own contribution is not to found this strand, but to apply it to positive mental health, understood as:

• embodied (Varela et al., 1991): it is rooted in the body and its physiological states;
• embedded: it depends on the physical and social environments in which we live;
• enacted (Varela et al., 1991): it is built through action, through what we do day to day;
• extended (the extended mind; Clark and Chalmers, 1998): it relies on what surrounds and prolongs us, our tools, habits and relationships;
• existential (Frankl, 1969): it holds that the search for meaning is a fundamental human motivation.

The first four Es correspond to the established core of cognitive science. The fifth E, existential, is an extension proposed by the author, in dialogue with the tradition of meaning (Frankl, 1969).

From this perspective, caring for one's mental health means acting on the body, the mind, one's relationships and one's environment all at once.

How this framework relates to existing theories

A conceptual framework is also defined by what sets it apart from previously published theories. Three points of comparison help situate the three families of resources.

• Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989) is the major resource-based theory of stress. It describes how people strive to protect what they have (time, energy, relationships, possessions) and why losing these resources produces stress. The three-families framework differs in its object: it is not about stress, but about building positive mental health, and about how to cultivate three families of resources from an embodied, situated perspective.
• Psychological capital (Luthans et al., 2007) brings together four resources: hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism, studied mainly in the workplace. This capital corresponds to part of the framework's family of psychological resources, to which it adds two further families: biological and cognitive resources.
• The positive balance perspective (Sirgy, 2019) organises positive mental health into hierarchical levels, from the biological to the spiritual. The three-families framework shares this integrative ambition, but favours a reading based on interacting families of resources, each of which can be identified, preserved, restored and developed.

The status of this framework is stated clearly: it is a theoretical proposal, a conceptual framework publicly formalised in July 2026. It draws on published, referenced work cited throughout this page. Its own empirical validation, in particular the measurement of the three families of resources and their interactions, is an open research programme. This is why this website speaks of a guide or a conceptual framework, not of a validated model.

From framework to methods

This framework has been translated into concrete tools, each dedicated to developing one family of resources:

• biological resources: the D.O.S.E.® guide;
• cognitive resources: the ENCÉFAL® method;
• psychological resources: the Beau Bien Bon® method.

Frequently asked questions

What are the three families of resources for positive mental health?

It is a framework developed by Elisabeth Bélot-Grimaud, PhD in psychology, according to which positive mental health is a process in which a person deploys three interacting families of resources, biological, cognitive and psychological, modulated by their environment and living conditions.

What are the three families of resources?

Biological resources (the body: sleep, movement, nutrition, breathing, the microbiome), cognitive resources (the mind: memory, attention, learning, mental flexibility) and psychological resources (emotions and relationships: emotion regulation, resilience, self-compassion, relationships, meaning in life).

How does this framework differ from existing approaches?

Rather than defining positive mental health only as the absence of disorder, it specifies what it is built from: resources that can be identified, preserved, restored and developed throughout life. It extends the models of the WHO, Keyes and Seligman and applies 4E cognitive science to positive mental health.

Can resources be developed at any age?

Yes. Thanks to brain plasticity, each family of resources can be cultivated through small, regular practices, at any age and whether or not one is going through a difficult time.

Why do some texts mention five types of resources?

Because the framework can be read at two levels. The finer analysis distinguishes five types of resources: biological, emotional, cognitive, relational and existential. It groups them into three families: emotional, relational and existential resources together form the family of psychological resources. Both formulations describe the same framework; the three-family formulation is the reference formulation.

How does this framework differ from Conservation of Resources theory?

Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989) is a theory of stress: it explains how the loss of resources, or the threat of such loss, produces stress. The three-families framework addresses a different object: the building of positive mental health, through three families of resources cultivated from an embodied, embedded, enacted, extended and existential perspective.

Why not call it a "model" anymore?

For scientific rigour. The word "model" may suggest that the whole has already been validated by studies of its own. To date, each family of resources draws on published research, but the validation of the whole remains an open research programme. This website therefore speaks of a guide or, in scientific language, a conceptual framework. It was first presented as "The Resources Model of Positive Mental Health".

Scientific references

A selection of works supporting the components of the framework.

• An, E., et al. (2024). Stress-resilience impacts psychological wellbeing: evidence from brain-gut microbiome interactions. Nature Mental Health, 2, 935-950. doi:10.1038/s44220-024-00266-6
• Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7-19. doi:10.1093/analys/58.1.7
• Frankl, V. E. (1969). The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy. World Publishing Company. Archived text
• Garcia-Garcia, I., et al. (2026). The nine hallmarks of mental health and wellbeing as a watershed framework for resilient living and healthspan optimization. Frontiers in Psychology, 17. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1749193
• Heinz, S., et al. (2025). Mediating pathways between resilience, mental health and wellbeing: a scoping review of individual, social, and systemic factors. BMC Public Health, 25. doi:10.1186/s12889-025-24897-1
• Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513-524. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513
• Iasiello, M., et al. (2024). What's the difference between measures of wellbeing, quality of life, resilience, and coping? An umbrella review and concept map of 155 measures of positive mental health. International Journal of Wellbeing, 14(2). doi:10.5502/ijw.v14i2.3621
• Jeste, D. V., et al. (2026). Report from the WPA Section on Positive Psychiatry 2015-2025. World Psychiatry, 25. doi:10.1002/wps.70025
• Kotera, Y., Green, P., & Sheffield, D. (2021). Positive psychology for mental wellbeing of UK therapeutic students: relationships with engagement, motivation, resilience and self-compassion. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 20, 1611-1626. doi:10.1007/s11469-020-00466-y
• Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Avey, J. B., & Norman, S. M. (2007). Positive psychological capital: Measurement and relationship with performance and satisfaction. Personnel Psychology, 60(3), 541-572. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00083.x
• Methorst, J., et al. (2021). Species richness is positively related to mental health: a study for Germany. Landscape and Urban Planning. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104084
• Pellerin, N., et al. (2024). Differential effects of psychological resources on well-being and psychological distress: a one-year longitudinal study during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 21, 149-162. doi:10.1080/17439760.2024.2433046
• Porricelli, D., et al. (2024). Cognitive reserve modulates mental health in adulthood. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 36. doi:10.1007/s40520-024-02776-w
• Riepenhausen, A., et al. (2022). Positive cognitive reappraisal in stress resilience, mental health, and well-being: a comprehensive systematic review. Emotion Review, 14, 310-331. doi:10.1177/17540739221114642
• Sirgy, M. J. (2019). Positive balance: a hierarchical perspective of positive mental health. Quality of Life Research, 28(7), 1921-1930. doi:10.1007/s11136-019-02145-5
• Stern, Y. (2021). How can cognitive reserve promote cognitive and neurobehavioral health? Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 36(7), 1291-1295. doi:10.1093/arclin/acab049
• Taylor, S. E., et al. (2000). Psychological resources, positive illusions, and health. American Psychologist, 55(1), 99-109. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.99
• Trompetter, H., De Kleine, E., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2016). Why does positive mental health buffer against psychopathology? An exploratory study on self-compassion as a resilience mechanism and adaptive emotion regulation strategy. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 41, 459-468. doi:10.1007/s10608-016-9774-0
• Ungar, M., & Theron, L. (2019). Resilience and mental health: how multisystemic processes contribute to positive outcomes. The Lancet Psychiatry. doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(19)30434-1
• Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press (revised edition 2016). doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262529365.001.0001
• White, M., et al. (2021). Associations between green/blue spaces and mental health across 18 countries. Scientific Reports, 11. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-87675-0
• Youssef-Morgan, C. M. (2024). Psychological capital and mental health: twenty-five years of progress. Organizational Dynamics. doi:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2024.101081

This page is for general information. It does not replace the advice of a healthcare professional. If you are going through a difficult time, please speak to your doctor or, if you are in France, call the 3114 (suicide prevention, free, 24/7). Outside France, contact your local emergency services.