Mental Health – What Are We Talking About

Let’s Break it Down…

Mental + Health = Mental Health.

Mental Health is the modern term used to refer to a person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions in much the same way we refer to physical health, or health in general.

So – What is Health?

The Government of Canada shares the definition of health that was created by the World Health Organization:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

World Health Organization, 1946

Health can be influenced by a number of factors, including:

• Social connection
• Early Childhood
• Work/life balance
• Marital status
• Social mobility
• Access to recreation and affordable, healthy foods
• Income
• Education

Together, these make up social determinants of health. Along with these social determinants, health can be impacted by a person’s genetics, and lifestyle (exercise, diet, use or avoidance of alcohol and tobacco).

Then, what is mental health?

The Canadian definition of mental health is:

Mental health is the state of your psychological and emotional well-being. It is a necessary resource for living a healthy life and a main factor in overall health…. poor mental health can lead to mental and physical illness. Good mental health allows you to feel, think and act in ways that help you enjoy life and cope with its challenges

Government of Canada

Everyone has mental health. Mental health does not mean the presence or absence of a mental health problem, just like physical health does not mean the presence or absence of the flu.

Mental health has been approached in the past as being the presence or absence of a mental illness. However, similarly to how health in general is not just the presence or absence of disease, mental health is now understood as a continuum that individuals can live somewhere in the middle of four main extremes. An individual can have:

• Positive Mental Health, and minimal to no symptoms of a mental health problem, meaning they have the full ability to enjoy life and cope with stresses
• Negative mental health and a high degree of symptoms of a mental health problem, meaning they are experiencing symptoms of a mental health problem, and do not have the full ability to enjoy life and cope with stresses
• Negative mental health and minimal to no symptoms of a mental health problem, meaning that although their symptoms are not contributing, they do not have the full ability to enjoy life and cope with stresses
• Positive mental health, and a high degree of symptoms of a mental health problem, meaning that although they have symptoms of a mental health problem, they have the full ability to enjoy life and cope with stresses. Usually, this ability is developed through one or both of treatment or self management strategies.
  

Finally, what is a mental health problem?

Anything that impacts an individual’s ability to fully enjoy life and cope with stresses. This may or may not involve symptoms of a diagnosable condition.

If these symptoms are present, this is called a mental health disorder. The fields of psychology and medicine have classification guides for disorders, and an individual with a mental health disorder will meet a certain number of criteria defining the disorder.