Understanding and cultivating good Mental Health

WHAT IS  MENTAL HEALTH? 

Mental health, defined by the World Health Organization, is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

In simpler words, your mental health includes your emotional, psychological and social well-being. It influences the way you think, feel and behave in your day to day lives. It also stimulates your ability to cope with stress, overcome challenges, relate to others, build relationships, recover from life's adversities and make choices. 

A person's mental health is more than just the absence of any mental illness, in fact, it attributes to the presence of positive characteristics.

People who are mentally healthy: 

• experience positive emotions: happiness, joy, pride, satisfaction, and love

• have positive relationships: people you care for and who care for you

• feel engaged with life

• have emotional stability: feeling calm and able to manage emotions

• are optimistic: feeling positive about your life and future

• have high self-esteem: feeling positive about yourself

Anyone can suffer from mental or health issues and that is absolutely normal and natural. If truth be told, about one in five of us suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder. Notwithstanding how common and recurrent having mental health problems are, many of us make no attempt to improve our situation.

Why is it so that we usually neglect our mental health needs?

In some societies, mental and emotional issues are seen as less valid than physical issues, but in reality, both aspects are equally important for any human being.

In our expeditious world, we’re obsessed with looking for quick, easy solutions to complex problems. We would deal with our suffering momentarily rather than extracting the problem out of our lives. 

Also, many people think that if they do seek help for their mental and emotional problems, the only treatment options available are medication. As a matter of fact, there are steps you can take to improve the way you feel or think and experience better mental and emotional well-being.

Ways to maintain positive mental health include:

• Connecting with others

• Staying positive

• Getting physically active

• Helping others

• Getting enough sleep

• Being mindful of the present situation 

• Eating healthy 

• Giving yourself a break

• Getting professional help if you need 

WHEN to seek professional help?

If you’ve made persistent efforts to improve your mental and emotional health and still aren’t functioning in an ideal way at home, work or in your relationships then, it may be the right time to ask for professional help. 

Mental health awareness 

It is very important to acknowledge mental health and talk about it.

The stigma attached to mental health and mental illness often keeps back a person to reach out to others and creates reluctance in seeking the help they need. Consequently, people struggle in silence which further affects their well being. Lack of knowledge about the mental illnesses poses a challenge to the mental health care delivery system. 

The acceptance and understanding of mental illnesses has come a far way from where it earlier used to be, but improvements can, and should still be made.

If there were no stigma, there could be a public health initiative started against mental illness just like we have for diseases and other physical health issues. 

It is okay to talk about mental health and mental health issues. We should understand that it could affect anyone, is not the result of character or poor upbringing and it is treatable. 

It is indeed necessary to talk openly about your feelings and thoughts, you don’t have to struggle in silence because it’s not only how healthy you are physically that defines your well- being and quality of life but also how healthy your mind is. 

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” ― John Green