What is "mental health"? MHA2018 Day 2
Mental Health Awareness month is an entire month dedicated to mental health, which affects all people regardless of who they are, where they have been, what they may struggle with or who they have in their lives. But what does "mental health" really mean? Join in this forum discussion and lets explore together what mental health is all about.
We all have mental health, so what really is mental health? How would you define mental health and how is it different from mental illness?
@Kate, @fluffyunicorns84, @Laura, @MistyMagic
@beYOUtywithin I would define mental health as being how healthy your brain is, whether or not your stress levels are within a manageable, optimal level, how efficiently you "bounce back" mentally from an adverse experience, and how stable your moods are on a long-term basis.
Mental health is separate from mental illness in the sense that mental health is a broad term used to define our mental well-being as a whole and mental illness is a part of that. Someone can be in poor mental health but not have a mental illness. Someone can also have a mental illness but have it controlled well enough to be in good mental health. Having a mental illness does not mean someone is always in a poor state of mental health.
@VinylFly
"Having a mental illness does not mean someone is always in a poor state of mental health."
I really like this view and acknowledgement. We can have mental illness and be in a period of maintaining and controling our illness to a point of being mentally healthy. I think it is one of the great opportunities we have as humans to be able to act and react to the symptoms we have in our illness to be mentally healthy.
I think this goes along the same lines as we often say here on site to one another "i am not my illness"
Mental illness is not the defining factor of our health, it contributes but we have ability to work on ourselves and learn ways to manage which is so powerful and encouraging i think.
Mental health refers to our cognitive, behavioral, and emotional wellbeing - it is all about how we think, feel, and behave. The term 'mental health' is sometimes used to mean an absence of a mental disorder.
It can affect daily life, relationships, and even physical health. Mental health also includes a person's ability to enjoy life - to attain a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.