If personal health speaks of the sustainability of a person’s development and the success of his personal growth, then the need for self-actualization — about How long a person seeks personal growth, speaks of the intensity of a person’s desire to develop.
There are people who are personally healthy, naturally and steadily developing, and at the same time, they do not strain at all on this topic.
“Well, I’m developing, probably… Why not develop? Do I really need it? I don’t know, I didn’t think … I just live like that.
On the other hand, there are people for whom self-actualization is very important, they feel and experience the need for self-actualization, the need is tense, but their personal growth and development is greatly disrupted.
“I understand that I am decaying, I really want to grow and develop, but something inside me constantly interferes, knocks me down all the time. I start getting up on time, doing exercises, making a to-do list for the day — then I just can’t overpower myself, at least kill myself!
Optimal level of need for self-actualization
There is evidence that an untimely or too intense need for self-actualization has a bad effect on the personal and mental health of an individual.
See studies by O.I. Motkov “On the paradoxes of the process of self-actualization of personality”