Key Takeaways
- Mental health is about emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
- Feeling satisfied with life can indicate good mental health.
- Resilience is the ability to bounce back from challenges.
Mental health is something we talk a lot about in today’s stressful world, but what does is actually mean? Is it just about not having a diagnosable mental health condition? Does being mentally healthy mean we have to be happy all the time? While both of those are related to the meaning of mental health, the truth is that it’s a lot more complicated than just being free of mental illness and having a positive state of mind.
Mental health is a term used to describe emotional, psychological, and social well-being. A person’s mental health quality is often measured by how adaptively they can cope with everyday stressors. Mental health allows people to use their abilities, be productive, make decisions, and play an active role in their communities.
Having poor mental health is often confused with having a mental illness. But mental health actually refers to a person’s state of mental well-being whether or not they have a psychiatric condition. The truth is that mental health is about a lot more than just avoiding conditions like anxiety or depression. It’s also about how you feel, cope, and adapt to life’s inevitable ups and downs.
Keep reading to learn more about what mental health means in modern-day psychology, how it can affect everything from your mood to your relationships, and what you can do to make sure that you stay mentally healthy.
A Historical Look at Mental Health in Psychology
Since psychology first emerged as a discipline separate from philosophy and biology, researchers have sought to understand the origins of mental illness. Mental health became an official field of study in 1946 during the International Health Conference. It was during this conference that the World Health Organization (WHO) was founded. The WHO Constitution stated that mental well-being is an integral part of overall health, even in the absence of psychiatric illness.
Before mental health, “mental hygiene” was a term used in the 19th and 20th centuries to refer to the impact that mental processes have on overall health.
A mental hygiene movement had formed in the United States during the early part of the 20th century. Its goal was to advocate for people who were “mentally sick,” or people who had psychiatric conditions, in a more humane way as historically, people with mental illnesses were abused, neglected, and lacked adequate care.
Though stigma surrounding mental illness still exists, more and more people have realized the importance of receiving treatment—like psychotherapy—to maintain and protect their mental well-being, regardless of whether they have a mental illness.
Additionally, there is an abundance of research linking positive mental health to improved quality of life, including better productivity, closer social connections, higher educational achievement, and healthier relationships.
Key Characteristics of Mental Health
Mental health isn’t just about how we feel (aka our emotional well-being)—it’s also about how we think, act, and cope with different situations in our daily lives. These are all shaped by a complex mix of factors, including biology and life experiences. The following are just some of the things that experts have found can have a powerful influence on mental health.
Life Satisfaction
It turns out, how much we actually feel fulfilled and satisfied with our lives is a big part of the psychology of mental health. A person’s ability to enjoy life is frequently used to indicate mental health and wellness.
Life satisfaction is often defined as the degree to which a person enjoys the most important aspects of their life.
But what makes us feel satisfied with the lives we lead? Some factors that have been found to play an essential role in life satisfaction include:
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 for positive mental health. Loneliness is linked with both physical and mental health issues including cardiovascular disease, depression, memory problems, drug misuse, alcohol misuse, and altered brain function.
Sometimes, life changes—such as going to college, facing social adversity, changing jobs, or getting divorced —can decrease social support. That may be why our mental health tends to take a hit when we are going through a big change.
Fortunately, research suggests that it is not necessarily how many supportive connections you have, it’s the quality of these relationships that matters the most.
Flexibility
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 them. However, some people find certain emotions unacceptable or overwhelming, leading them to suppress, avoid, or deny them.
Lack of psychological flexibility has been linked to some types of psychopathology, while research suggests that increased flexibility is connected to better life balance and improved resilience.
Challenges to Mental Health
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) states that an estimated one in five U.S. adults experiences a mental health problem each year. There are a number of risk factors that can increase the likelihood that a person may experience poor mental health.
Discrimination
Research has shown that experiencing discrimination can have a detrimental impact on mental health. Being treated unfairly due to personal characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity is linked with increased anxiety and depression.
Exposure to Trauma
Being exposed to traumatic situations can lead to both short and long term effects on mental well-being. Trauma is linked with anxiety, depression, changes in mood (increased anger and irritability), feelings of hopelessness, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Family History of Mental Illness
Research suggests that a variety of mental illnesses run in families such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia.
Low Income
Low income is linked with increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Low income may also prevent someone from accessing necessary mental health services.
Medical Illness
Illnesses, particularly those that are chronic and force a person to adjust their lifestyle, can create psychological distress (especially depression).
Poor Access to Health Services
Access to health services is linked to positive long-term health outcomes. However, when people can’t get access to the health care they need, their physical and mental health may suffer as a result.
Poor Self-Esteem
Having low self-esteem often means you don’t believe you’re worthy of being happy or having positive relationships. People with low self-esteem are at higher risk of developing substance use disorders, anxiety, and depression.
Poor Social Skills
Relationships are an important cornerstone of mental health, so if you don’t have the skills to maintain those connections, your well-being may suffer. Having poor social skills is linked with loneliness and increased stress levels, as well as worsened physical health.
Social Inequalities
Lacking access to goods and services in society based on personal characteristics like your age, gender, religion, race, disability, or another social category can increase the risk of depression.
Substance Use
Misusing alcohol, prescription drugs, and other substances can have a serious detrimental impact on mental health. It may also contribute to the onset of mental health conditions. Substance use is linked with high rates of anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
How Your Mental Health Affects Your Life
The state of our mental health has a significant impact on our quality of life.
Taking care of your mental health allows you to contribute to your community, cope with stress, have quality relationships, and maintain physical health.
Mental health can help you to work toward your full potential in all aspects of your life. Improved mental health is also linked with better physical health. Research has found that positive mental health can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Poor mental health, on the other hand, is linked with issues like increased stress, sleep problems, smoking, and substance use. If your mental health is suffering, you might feel overwhelmed more easily, have trouble maintaining relationships, and experience low self-esteem.
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 the below.
Physical Exercise
Physical exercise can reduce stress and even improve the symptoms of anxiety disorders and depression. It reduces the body’s levels of stress hormones and elevates levels of endorphins, which promote mood regulation and feelings of well-being.
Your workout doesn’t need to be strenuous either. Try taking a 20-minute walk and you might just notice the effect it has on clearing and relaxing your mind.
Adequate Sleep
Not getting enough sleep can worsen mental health and cause mental distress, especially in people with existing mental health conditions. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends getting at least seven hours per night.
Mental health conditions can make it extra challenging to fulfill your sleep requirements, but there are ways you can improve your sleeping habits.
Try adhering to a consistent sleep schedule (going to bed and waking up at the same times each night), limiting distractions like using your phone before bed, and making sure you get some exercise during the day. Be sure to consult a healthcare provider if your lack of sleep is causing mental distress.
Help Others
Research has found that helping behavior and other kinds of social interactions were linked with reduced stress and even longer lifespans.
Try volunteering in your community or even lending a hand to people in your everyday life. Performing small acts of kindness can make you and the recipient of your generosity feel a boost in mood and well-being.
Learn Coping Skills
Learning healthy coping mechanisms for managing stress can go a long way in improving mental health.
Some productive coping mechanisms include getting emotional support from loved ones, finding humor in your everyday life, and taking action to better your situation. It’s all about finding what works best for you.
Stay Connected to Others
Social interaction can reduce our stress levels, improve the symptoms of depression, and even benefit our physical health.
Research has found that social connection has positive impacts on health categories like cancer, weight management, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Having social interactions in a setting such as group therapy, for instance, might be especially helpful if you are coping with a specific mental health condition like post-traumatic stress disorder or an eating disorder.
Keep a Positive Outlook
There are many health benefits to using optimism and positive thinking in your everyday life.
One study found that participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) who practiced replacing thoughts of negative outcomes with thoughts of positive ones experienced less worry over time than participants who didn’t imagine positive outcomes.
