A healthy mind


It is not very often that you hear people talking about a health mind. I have often heard people talking about the importance of having a healthy heart and a healthy body but what about a healthy mind? Do we not feel it is important to have a healthy mind? Is our emotional well-being and mental health not as important as our physical health? Our society has created a stigma attached to mental health and well that certainly needs to be changed because the fact of the matter is that mental health is just as important as our physical health. Often when people think about mental health they think about it as something negative but the reality of it is that mental health is not a negative thing. Mental illness may be considered a negative thing but not mental health, mental health is something we all have. "Mental health is not just the absence of a mental illness. It is defined as a state of well-being in whig every individual realises his or her own potential, can sole with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community." (WHO, 2007)

There are many differences between mental health and physical health. While there are many differences which allow us to distinguish between mental health and physical health it does not mean that one is more important than the other. People are very educated on physical health in many areas of the world and people are well educated about physical health in Ireland due to ad campaigns, television shows, education in schools and through books and other media forms such as social media. People in Ireland are well educated on physical health as it is not a taboo subject like mental health. Part of the purpose of my blog is to educate people about mental health in the hopes that i can help reduce the sigma of mental health and make it less of a taboo subject.

Mental health is all about the way we feel about ourselves, the way we feel about others and how we are able to met the demands of life. Often people get confused between mental illness and mental ill health. I was surprised to find that there is a difference as when I was diagnosed with depression I wasn't aware of mental ill health and mental illness.

Mental ill health is concerned with the general mental health problems we can all experience in certain circumstances. A common example which many people may be able to relate to is the pressures which may arise from your work. These pressures can lead people to experience poor concentration, mood swings and problems with our sleeping patterns. These problems are often only temporary, for example you may begin to have mood swings when you are stressed at work due to an important up and coming work pitch but then the pitch has been delivered, stress ma be relieved and your mood swings may disappear as a result of less stress. These problems are relative to the demands of specific situation and will often resolve and respond with support and reassurance.

"Mental illness can be defined as experiencing severe and distressing psychological symptoms to the extent that normal functioning is seriously impaired." (Mental Health Ireland) 
With a mental illness some form of professional help is needed in order to help in beginning the recovery process or helping with fining ways to manage the specific mental illness. This professional help may include counselling or psychotherapy, drug treatment and or lifestyle changes. Some mental illnesses which are known more than others include anxiety, depression, OCD, and PTSD while other mental illnesses include Bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, and many more. Check out shineonline.ie

"All of us suffer from mental health problems at times, and such temporary problems do not necessarily lead to mental illness. However, being mentally unhealthy limits our potential as human beings and may lead to more serious problems." (Mental Health Ireland)

Mental illness does not discriminate so please help spread the word of mental health to help promote positive mental health and reduce stigma.







Comments

The Girl said…
I love it!! I've got a blog that aims to do the same thing as yours.. help people and defeat the stigma. Mine is about generalized anxiety disorder. I like that you have this here for people who struggle with the same things as you. Keep it up.

-"The Girl"
http://thegadlife.blogspot.com
Chang said…
This is fantastic!

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