What is Mental Health?
The explosion of social has brought forth an important collective conversation around mental health, including honest discussions of depression and/or anxiety and how truly common some of these struggles can be. It is a refreshing thing to see connection where previously there may have been judgement. In the online wellness space, however, it's easy to see these terms and assume we know what they mean without ever getting into a deeper understanding. So, let’s start at the beginning – what is mental health?
According to mentalhealth.gov, mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Your mental state can be compared to how you’re feeling, your mood, and your thoughts. As you can probably guess, this can be influenced by any number of situations, experiences, or relationships. A mental health “problem” or condition, can a range of symptoms ranging from isolation from friends and family, sleeping too much or too little, feeling scared, unable to focus, hearing voices, or suicidal ideation.
What Affects Mental Health?
You can categorize what affects your mental health into three main groups:
Biological factors
Family history
Life experiences
Biologically, our bodies are dependent on hormones and countless chemical processes to exist, let alone to thrive. If there is a miscommunication, so to speak, between any two processes this can absolutely affect how we interpret the world, the emotions we feel, or our physical health.
Family history plays a role as well in the sense that some conditions have been shown to be hereditary.
Life experience is broad but dealing with trauma or abuse, working a job you don’t like, living through a pandemic, just to name a few factors, absolutely affect the mental health of an individual.
These factors do not guarantee anything, though. Having a parent who dealt with depression does not automatically doom their child. The awareness is important so that in the event negative feelings come up more often or you being to suspect you need some help, you know where to start looking.
Being able to maintain a healthy mental state does not mean never having a “negative” feeling come up. It means being able to navigate the stresses of life, heightened emotions, difficult challenges, without being completely derailed. Cultivating a positive relationship to your mental health can lead to more fulfilling relationships, either romantically or platonically, increased focus or productivity, a fulfilling sense of self!
Seeking Treatment
It’s important to keep the conversation going around mental health because we’re learning that no one is alone in feeling one way or another. No one is alone in their experiences, no matter how it may seem in the moment. Hopefully the more aware our society becomes of these conditions, the more our society can embrace positive mental health practices like work-life balance, meditation in schools or the workplace, or seeking therapy.
Whether you are dealing with a diagnosed condition such as depression or anxiety or are just navigating a difficult experience, Crossing Wellness can help guide you towards better mental health. Our telehealth services are flexible and convenient, and we would love to get to know you. Please contact us today!