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Understanding that a person is physically healthy is quite easy. But what about mental well-being? It seems that the boundaries of the norm are somewhat blurred here. Let us help you find certainty. What are the signs of mental health?
1. Ability to stay active
Our distant ancestors in primitive society could not afford a passive lifestyle – they simply would not have survived. Therefore, evolution has adapted our body for constant physical and mental activity – both of which are extremely important for our overall health.
Withdrawal, isolation, passivity are common symptoms in mental disorders (especially depression). Any activity (walking in nature and hiking, socialization, sports and creativity) in turn helps to fight these phenomena, experience positive emotions and not withdraw into oneself.
2. Ability to deal with negativity
Our psyche is so arranged that dangers and negative phenomena attract our attention more than joyful and pleasant events. It was justified in a world full of dangers and helped our ancestors to survive.
Nevertheless, properly functioning defense mechanisms of a healthy psyche help to switch attention from unpleasant thoughts to joyful ones. For example, humor is one of the most powerful defensive tools. Thanks to him, you can redirect the accumulated negative emotions in a more positive and constructive direction.
Mindfulness practice and meditation can also be helpful. These techniques allow us to take a different look at situations that spoil our mood, and understand that in reality everything is not so bad.
3. Having close friends
It has been scientifically proven that strong social connections are absolutely essential for good mental health. Conversely, loneliness significantly increases the risk of developing various mental illnesses.
Of course, we are talking about positive communication with others. Meanwhile, negative communication (aggression, bullying, ridicule) can cause great harm to our psyche. That is why it is so important to avoid “toxic” people and to contact more often those who support us and give us joy.
4. Ability to manage emotions
The ability to control the emotional state is extremely important for mental health. In many mental disorders (depression, anxiety, mania, psychosis), the ability to control feelings and thinking is impaired.
Healthy emotional regulation helps us deal with adversity. Nevertheless, it is important not to go to extremes and not break away from reality in an attempt to simply suppress objectionable feelings.
5. Correct work of the main mental functions
Executive functions, social thinking and motivational processes – these basic human mental functions are extremely important for our mental health. The executive functions of our brain are responsible for attention, self-organization, planning, and multitasking.
Social thinking allows us to determine the emotions of other people by their facial expressions and body language, understand their actions and correctly understand our role in relationships.
Motivation can manifest itself in different forms – the desire for knowledge or self-improvement, the search for new friends or partners. All these mental functions can be developed and trained to some extent.
6. Self acceptance
The ability to accept yourself is the key to good mental health. Conversely, self-dislike is a big risk factor for mental disorders. Self-acceptance has two components: self-image and self-image. Self-esteem is our assessment of our own qualities. Self-image is the sum of all our ideas about ourselves.
Self-acceptance requires healthy self-esteem and an adequate image of ourselves: we see all our important positive qualities and recognize our worth. People with low self-esteem (or an inadequate image of themselves) are more prone to mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. Exercises will help to raise self-esteem – for example, keeping a diary of your achievements (albeit “insignificant”).
7. Ability to adapt
Life never stands still, and in order to maintain a healthy psyche, it is important to be able to quickly adapt to unexpected changes. Lack of mental flexibility can lead to undesirable consequences and deterioration of the emotional state.
In turn, mental disorders often deprive us of the ability to adapt, as a result of which we lose motivation and begin to avoid life itself. There is a vicious circle that can be extremely difficult to break.
But difficult does not mean impossible. You can get out of the impasse by making a purposeful effort, gradually replacing unhealthy habits (for example, staying at home all the time) with more productive ones (for example, forcing yourself to go out or meet friends).