Sanetegrity

Sanetegrity is to sanity as sanity is to insanity: on the spectrum of sanity, insanity and sanetegrity are at opposite ends.

One approach towards defining the components of sanetegrity is to identify the major components of insanity, and to take their opposites. Many of these components are either directly modifiable (through lifestyle choices or programmes such as cognitive remediation) or indirectly through choosing socially healthy environments. Because our degree of sanity affects our ability to choose ethical and effective actions, as well as improves our future quality of life, we should prioritise the pursuit of sanetegrity. There may be increasing returns on the spectrum of sanity, so from the perspective of helping the future, increasing the sanity of already-sane people should be receiving even more effort than increasing the cognitive capacities of mentally disabled people.

These are arguably components of sanetegrity:

• working memory capacity
• sensory gating
• communication skills
• the ability to sense the perspective and experiences of other people
• flexible selection from a diverse repetoire of cognitive strategies
• action orientation (as opposed to "state orientation," or doing things for the purpose of modifying one's inner state)
• not skipping logical steps, not jumping to conclusions
• the habit of questioning and refining one's beliefs, and not seeking information for the purpose of supporting one's beliefs
• strong initiative
• self-management (not acting against one's better judgment)
• freedom from addictive behaviour
• the ability to appreciate and find pleasure in everyday experiences
• psychological and physical vigour
• proactive coping