Gratitude and Human Flourishing in Adults: A Narrative Review Moving Beyond the Disease Model of Mental Health

Background: This review examines the relationship between gratitude and flourishing in adults from the perspective of Positive Psychology. It departs from the traditional empha-sis of psychology on mental illness, highlighting instead a comprehensive understanding of mental health that includes well-being and personal strengths. Methods: This study provides a narrative review of empirical studies published in the last decade, integrating the principal theoretical and methodological contributions in this field. Relevant studies were identified through searches in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Results: The available evidence suggests that gratitude functions as a psychological resource that sup-ports human flourishing by promoting greater life satisfaction, positive affect, and health-ier physical and mental functioning. Its association with better outcomes in groups facing significant stressors (e.g., emerging adults, older adults, people with chronic pain, depres-sion, or disabilities, forced migrants, etc.) and the promising results of gratitude-based in-terventions indicate that it is not only a dispositional trait but also a modifiable target for clinical and preventive programs. In addition, the findings underscore that empirical lit-erature on the relationship between gratitude and flourishing remains scarce and frag-mented. Conclusions: Gratitude is intimately connected to flourishing, as it operates as a positive emotion-focused coping strategy that supports and enhances overall well-being. Further research is required to clarify the mechanisms involved, to examine its long-term effects on flourishing, and to determine how best to integrate gratitude and flourishing in-to culturally and gender-sensitive, scientific evidence-based clinical practices.