Quillette Cetera From Languishing to Flourishing, Dr. Matthew Iasiello on the Science of Well-Being
Apr 27, 2025
Dr. Matthew Iasiello, mental health researcher and founder of Be Well Co, studies how to measure and boost positive mental health. He explains the dual‑continuum model, defines languishing as low well‑being without illness, and describes mapping dozens of measures into core well‑being dimensions. Conversations cover cultural drivers of social well‑being decline and practical habit‑based interventions to move from languishing toward flourishing.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Well-Being Is Distinct From Illness
- Mental health research often conflates mental illness with well-being, obscuring the positive side of mental health.
- Well-being includes multiple philosophies (hedonic, eudaimonic) and needs clearer definition and measurement.
Too Many Measures, Too Little Agreement
- A review found 155 well-being measures claiming to assess 400 different things, revealing huge inconsistency in the field.
- The team reduced overlapping constructs into 21 core concepts to create a clearer map for measurement.
Use Delphi Consensus To Define Well-Being
- Use expert consensus (Delphi) to identify essential well-being dimensions rather than relying on isolated measures.
- Focus policy and measurement on the 19 dimensions the panel agreed are most important.
