What would be the first thing which will come to your mind when you think about mental health? Does it seem as important to you as your physical health? Does it sound more like a made-up thing?

I think we’ve got far from the time when people used to think about mental illnesses as purely supernatural. Much like a deviant behavior portrayed by an evil soul. But, where I come from, mental health is still confused with something which is not genuine enough to talk about. To get out of this chaos, we need to learn how to define mental health and mental illness. What is it, and how do we differentiate it? 

Mental Health V/S Mental Illness

Mental health is the ability to deal with daily life stressors in an operative manner, one which is not demanding. Conversely, mental illnesses can be described as a variety of disorders that hinders the mental health of a person. Namely, it could be described as distress which blocks the person’s ability to perform daily life activities accurately. It can be as serious as a psychotic disorder, or something associated with specific stressors such as phobias.

Brain V/S Mind

While discussing mental illnesses, we word it as a problem in the mind, as if the mind isn’t a part of the body itself. This kind of reasoning put forward towards people who are suffering from mental illnesses compels them to feel like their problems are imaginary. At this point, many people fail to recognize how the brain and the mind are different.

According to many psychological experts, the brain is defined as a physical form or organ in the body, whereas the mind is thought to be an invisible structure that concords mostly with the brain and is responsible for the emotions you feel, and the thoughts you have. The Mind is in control of your imagination, consciousness, the ability to think and how to perceive things, and people the way you do through your experiences. Brain functioning, on the other hand, is identified with the memory, speech, and/or motor control of the body.

When we say, the phrase, are you out of your mind, we aren’t referring to the physical organ, we refer it to the mind, which is an invisible part of the brain. Does it mean, it doesn’t exist? It surely does, and when we understand the concept of its existence, it is fairly important to address the issues which come with it.

Mental health in other forms

We need to have an equal essence of how our mind works as much as we want to acquire knowledge about the physical form of the body. To create a safer and more comfortable environment for the people who live with such illnesses, it is vital for all of us to accept mental illnesses in the pool of other health-related illnesses. Whereas, as I said earlier when I say mental health, it certainly just doesn’t mean mental illnesses, as it comprises the state of progressive wellbeing, life satisfaction, and contentment in one’s life.

What is contentment?

How do we define contentment related to mental health? Is it just about how many times we feel happy, or does it also link with life satisfaction described as being in a state of happiness whilst experiencing certain situations or fulfilling emotions? Well, the latter is the winner here.

One person may not feel particularly happy when they think they are happy and another might feel unhappy in situations which generally make them happy. Why do you think this happens? Is it just about the physical state of happiness in the form of a smile or laughter? or it can be something relating to inner contentment. In other words, happiness is not something universal as in the form of an emotion, one can feel contentment in life with things others feel unhappy about. Here, I am not talking about how making others unhappy might make you happy, NO, that’s a false behavior, what I am trying to say is, all of us feel different types of emotions with different things and people and that’s how every mind works differently.

The mental health of one person can not be defined as productive and as destructive of another. But, there are various means of universally accepting and segregating behaviors and actions associated with a healthy mind than that with a mind that needs assistance.

Why do we need to address mental health?

Over the years, there have been many reforms made to generalize the concept of mental health and to talk about it freely. I can say, sitting on my desk right now, that people are changing, the world is changing, and it is the right time that we come out and speak about the mental issues we are suffering from. There are many ways to do so, and some of these can be:

  • Speaking to people who are not directly related to you, if you feel that them knowing might create a problem for you. Some of these safe places can be to talk to a counselor, whether online or in person. It is very important to let your feelings out, as you never know how just talking solves if not all, much of your problems.
  • Another way can be jotting down your thoughts and feelings earlier than progressing towards speaking to someone about it. By doing this, you could get away with a hard time speaking to your loved one or someone you don’t know and talk about how you feel swimmingly.

Know that you are on the right path

The key to realizing its imperativeness is to discern that things might be tough when you initiate it, but it equally important to understand that seeking help is something you should do when you are feeling that things are going south and to know that doing this, would make you feel and be okay in the end is equally critical. It is finally time to talk about it.

Anticipation can be deceptive

I understand that some of us aren’t always lucky to come across people who understand the problems, and you might not always get the response which you anticipated in the first place, but it is critical to know that you took the first step and if they aren’t the one, some person will be. You need to keep going forward with your approach and not outlook your problems when you encounter your first few setbacks.

On the whole, it is essential to fathom the expertise and learning about mental health and its related knowledge to make yourself aware of what is the real problem we are dealing with, it happens both ways, one, when we talk about issues concerning mental health and also for our own overall wellbeing.