Mental Health and Well-being: What is it?
In an age of increasing anxiety, depression, and social isolation, many people seek solutions in the context of busy lives and multiple demands. With unprecedented degrees of distraction, numerous devices, and innumerable stressors, what does the term mental health, and its cousin, emotional well-being, even mean?
How do I know if I need professional help or medical intervention for the emotional or psychic distress that challenges me?
Life is full of ups and downs, the joys and sorrows of everyday life that come and go. The idea here is that these waves of change define life - and the human condition. Perhaps it is best to think of emotional well-being and mental health as the ability to ride these waves of change and return to a state of equilibrium and stability. It is this innate resilience that comes to define mental well-being and emotional health. With resiliency and the confidence it brings that this too shall pass, body and soul can be well, even in the face of suffering and life’s challenges.
Many define emotional well-being as a state of positive emotion, but perhaps we are better served to understand it as the ability to feel and experience the full range of emotions that come our way, and then be able to return to a place of peace or the very least a state of satisfying equilibrium.
One of the signs that we might do well to reach for professional support is when we find ourselves unable to easily shift from a state, for example, deep sadness or intense anxiety, to a more relaxed or tempered mood. When we become caught there and have tried all our usual efforts to change or ameliorate the situation, it is good to ask the question - what help do I need? The other important thing to keep in mind is when our usual coping strategies themselves become part of the problem. Is this third glass of wine three nights in a row becoming the problem on top of the problem? Both situations call for a reassessment of how we are coping and are signaling all is not well.
When family, friends, and community resources cannot adequately support you in your dilemma, it is time to discuss the situation with your physician and seek assessment and support from a credentialed mental health professional. When it comes to mental health concerns, the fit between you and your provider is a very important consideration when making your choice of who to work with.
