‘Mental
health’ is a sense of wellbeing, confidence, feeling good and being in control
of your life. If you start to feel frayed around the edges, swamped with work
and responsibilities, or emotionally flat and uninterested in the world around
you, your mental health may be suffering.
Humans are complex beings, with a variety of emotional, physical and spiritual
capacities and needs. The pressures and stresses of life often make it
difficult to maintain our balance by nurturing each of these areas. As a
result, we may neglect important parts of ourselves, such as our feelings, our
bodies, or our minds. However, each one of us needs to be aware of and take
responsibility for our mental health.
Various factors either contribute to or challenge our ability to look after our
‘whole person’. These include our degree of self-discipline, how aware we are
of our feelings and thoughts and how well we know ourselves. External factors
such as the nature of our home and work environment, our financial situation,
and the current state of our relationships with important people in our lives,
also play an important part.
Working through life’s difficulties can help us to grow and prepare for future
challenges, but at times the pressure can become too much for us to cope with.
We may then find that we are unable to carry on in the usual way and need to
ask for help or support. Many people live with disability, including physical
illness or long-term mental illness, and cope in a healthy way. The challenge
for all of us is to search out new ways to manage.
Try this quiz about your mental health
How many of the following do you experience in your life at the moment?
- The ability to love and be loved
- A feeling of security and belonging
- Spontaneity and a range of emotional responses
- The ability to trust
- The ability to take responsibility for your own feelings and behaviour
- The ability to accept criticism
- The ability to feel inspired and use your imagination and creativity
- A degree of self-knowledge to enable resilience and recovery from harm
- The ability to learn from experience
- The ability to express thoughts and feelings
- A feeling of comfort with your sexuality
- A sense of humour to help savour the joys and the absurdities of life.
Although
the essence of mental health is hard to define as it involves so many
individual aspects, healthy people generally have a number of the qualities
listed above.
Happiness and Resilience
In recent years, there has been a shift in thinking towards the development of
‘positive psychology’. Rather than looking at what is ‘wrong’ with people some
psychologists have become interested in exploring what is ‘right’.
Three major areas of ‘positive psychology’ are:
- subjective happiness – positive emotions and mood
- human excellence – positive personal strengths and virtues like optimism, wisdom, courage, spirituality, love, justice and temperance
- positive institutions – democracy, family and a free press.
There has also been a growing interest in ‘resilience’ – the ability to
cope with difficulties and ‘bounce back’. For Resilience Training see: https://eapassist.com.au/resilience-training/
Some things you can do to maintain your mental health
Talk
Talking to friends &, family about your thoughts and feelings can help sort
out problems. It can also help relieve stress and anxiety.
Eat, sleep and exercise properly
When anxious or under stress, we often neglect ourselves; we don’t eat
nutritious food, don’t exercise, and don’t sleep properly. Paying attention
to these areas of our lives can make a significant difference to our
mental health.
Relax
Most of us need to learn how to relax. There are a number of techniques, so
it’s best to find what best suits your personality and way of life. There are
plenty of books, tapes and courses available on relaxation.
Seek help
Sometimes a problem is hard to solve alone or with the help of friends and
family. At these times it is important to get professional help or advice,
including talking with your EAP Assist counsellor
Think and feel
We are bombarded daily with many demands and sometimes we don’t take time to
think. Some time for reflection each day helps us to get to know ourselves, to
gain some perspective on life and to develop a positive outlook. It is
also important to acknowledge our feelings and not be afraid of them. By
acknowledging our feelings we gain a greater insight into ourselves.