What Is Mental Health?
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected. Many factors contribute to mental health problems, including:
• Biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry
• Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse
• Family history of mental health problems
Experiencing one or more of the following feelings or behaviors can be an early warning sign of a problem:
• Eating or sleeping too much or too little
• Pulling away from people and usual activities
• Having low or no energy
• Feeling numb or like nothing matters
• Having unexplained aches and pains
• Feeling helpless or hopeless
• Smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual
• Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
• Yelling or fighting with family and friends
• Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
• Having persistent thoughts and memories you can't get out of your head
• Hearing voices or believing things that are not true
• Thinking of harming yourself or others
• Inability to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school
Mental health refers not only to emotional well-being but also to how people think and behave. There are a number of different factors that have been found to influence mental health.
Life Satisfaction
A person's ability to enjoy life is frequently used as an indicator of mental health and wellness. It is often defined as the degree to which a person enjoys the most important aspects of their life.
Some factors that have been found to play an important role in life satisfaction include the absence of feeling ill, good relationships, a sense of belonging, being active in work and leisure, a sense of achievement and pride, positive self-perceptions, a sense of autonomy, and feelings of hope
Resilience
The ability to bounce back from adversity has been referred to as "resilience." People who are resilient also tend to have a positive view of their ability to cope with challenges and seek out social support when they need it. Those who are more resilient are better able to not only cope with stress but to thrive even in the face of it.
Support
Social support is important to good mental health. Loneliness has been shown to have a number of negative health effects. It has been linked to problems with both physical and mental health including cardiovascular disease, depression, memory problems, drug misuse, alcoholism, and altered brain function
Decreases in social support caused by life changes such as going to college, facing social adversity, changing jobs, or getting divorced can have a negative impact on mental health.
Fortunately, research suggests that it is not necessarily the number of supportive connections you have that it is the most important; it is the quality of these relationships that matters
Flexibility
Having rigid expectations can sometimes create added stress. Emotional flexibility may be just as important as cognitive flexibility. Mentally healthy people experience a range of emotions and allow themselves to express these feelings. Some people shut off certain feelings, finding them to be unacceptable.
Lack of psychological flexibility has been linked to some types of psychopathology, while research suggests that increase flexibility is connected to better life balance and improved resilience
How to Stay Mentally Healthy
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests that some of the ways that you can promote and maintain mental health include:10
• Trying to keep a positive outlook on life
• Engaging in regular physical exercise
• Learning new coping skills to manage stress
• Staying connected to other people
• Helping others
• Getting adequate sleep
It is also important to be able to seek help if you are having difficulties. Talk to your doctor or mental health professional if you want help improving your mental health or addressing a psychological problem.
Mental health is much more than simply the absence of illness. It is important to note, however, that there are many factors that determine mental health and overall well-being. Individual factors play an important part in this, but social, environmental, and financial circumstances also interact dynamically with these individual factors to either enhance or threaten mental health
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