Prevention inverts the clinical model — rather than waiting for the mind to break down and then repairing it, it asks what conditions, practices, and relational structures build the kind of psychological resilience that makes breakdown less likely. The Sutras' entire program is preventive in this sense: the eight limbs do not address pathology but cultivate the qualities of mind that make suffering less likely and recovery faster when difficulty arrives. Sleep, movement, meaningful connection, self-knowledge, and purpose are not treatments for illness but the conditions of health.
Each step builds on the last.