In this contribution, presented at the Fourth International Congress on Mental Health organized in México City on December 11-19, 1951, and here translated in Italian for the first time, the issue of mental health conceived as passive adaptation to society is critically discussed. Human nature has unique and stable foundations that can be suffocated by the rules of a community that does not respect them; this process can produce either manifest psychological disorders or a latent, unconscious disturbance that manifests itself as a rigid conformism to the rules of society.
Keywords: Mental health; Conformism; Society; Personality; Human nature