What is mental health?

We all know what mental health problems are – depression, anxiety, psychosis, PTSD, and so on. Many of us experience symptoms of mental health problems at some point in our life. Most of us know what poor mental health feels like or looks like. Mental health affects everyone.

But what does it mean to be mentally healthy? What is good or positive mental health?

To me, mental health isn’t the absence of symptoms of mental health problems. It isn’t about never feeling depressed or anxious.

From my personal experience, and working with people experiencing mental health problems, I believe mental health is linked to self-awareness and self-care.

I believe being mentally healthy involves knowing how I’m feeling, and knowing what I need in that moment in response to how I’m feeling.

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So, in the first instance, I need to know how I’m feeling to be mentally healthy. I do this by mentally checking-in with myself.

How do I feel?

There is a bit of a caveat here, in that knowing how you feel requires some level of self-awareness. You need to be able to recognise and differentiate your emotions, which is easier said than done, particularly with those emotions we tend to avoid or numb out.

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The second aspect of mental health is knowing what I need in response to how I’m feeling, and practicing self-care accordingly. And what goes hand in hand with that is having the resources to meet those needs.

There is no right way to cope with adversity and distress. Different people have different needs, and people have different needs at different times or in different circumstances.

Some days I need to be around people, and some days I need to be alone. Some days I need to challenge myself mentally, while others I need physical challenge, and others still I need no challenges at all. Some days, I feel powerful like I could do anything in the world, while on others I feel vulnerable and need to feel safe and protected. Sometimes I need to push myself, and sometimes I need to nurture myself.

Again, self-awareness comes into this. In my experiences, developing my awareness of how to meet my needs has involved trial and error, self-reflection and learning, and a whole lot more trial and error.

For instance, I used to isolate myself when I felt low… which would result in my sinking deeper and deeper into feelings of worthlessness, loneliness, rejection…

Now, I (hopefully) notice the signs that my mood is getting low a bit sooner. Now, I know that when I feel low, isolating is the worst thing I can do, because it forces me to stay with my internal negative, self-critical dialogue, with no back-up, no one to help challenge those thoughts. When I’m feeling low, I need to be reminded that I’m loved, I need to be around people that nurture me. It doesn’t have to be in a big way, sometimes just knowing that someone was willing to chat to me for a while is enough of a reminder that I’m not all that bad.

That’s not to say it’s easy. Seeing people is pretty much the last thing I feel like doing when I’m feeling low. But from my trial and error, I know that interacting with people that I care about is significant in lifting my mood.

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This brings in the final aspect of mental health that I want to mention; trusting in my ability to self-care and cope, trusting that feelings (and circumstances) change and that I can actively contribute towards that change.

I believe this trust develops with trial and error, and experience. But it’s important to acknowledge and reflect on what’s going on for you, and validate yourself when you’ve practiced self-care. Start collecting evidence that you have the power and ability to do something about how you feel.

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